Got told my green chile was too watery so I changed my roasting game

I used to just roast my Hatch chiles straight from the bag and throw them in everything. Then my neighbor from the South Valley said my sauce was runny and had no depth. He told me to char them on a comal or in the oven until the skin is black and blistered, then sweat them in a plastic bag for 15 minutes. I started doing that last August and the difference is night and day. The flavor gets smoky and the sauce thickens up without adding flour. Has anyone else tried dry roasting versus boiling their chiles first?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.mary1mo ago

Green chile soup" is the perfect way to put it, @noranguyen basically called me out before I even knew I had a problem. I tried the paper bag trick too and it works but yeah, I still burnt my fingers half the time peeling those suckers. Now I just char em on the grill outside until they look like little black cigars and let the smoke do the talking. My neighbor still says my sauce is too thick now, jokes on him I guess.

noranguyen1mo ago

Dry roasting is the way to go for sure... I used to boil mine and it would always turn out like green chile soup no matter what I did. Started charring them on a gas burner till they were fully black and then let them steam in a paper bag for about 20 minutes. The skins peel right off and the meat gets this deep roasted flavor that you just don't get from any other method. My sauce finally had that thick body I was after without dumping in a bunch of cornstarch.