An Introduction to New Mexican Cuisine

The Basic Ingredients:

There are many ingredients that typify New Mexican cuisine, such as goat cheese, pine nuts, squash, avocados, black and pinto beans. You will find these ingredients in almost every restaurant in Santa Fe, in some dish or another. But there are two food items that instantly come to mind when I think of New Mexican cuisine – chilies and corn. A food staple of New Mexico for many hundreds of years, you’ll find white, yellow and blue corn in many different dishes, some of which you are already familiar with.  Who doesn’t love some version of Nachos? Served best, in my opinion, with blue corn chips, black beans and lots of cilantro.

Corn is also the main ingredient in Tamales, where the cornmeal dough (known as Masa) is wrapped in a cornhusk and filled with shredded pork (my favorite) chicken or beef. Another corn-based regional specialty is Posole (po-SO-lay), often considered a seasonal winter dish, you can sometimes find Posole on menus across Santa Fe, year round. Posole is prepared by soaking hard kernels of white, yellow or blue field corn in powdered lime and water. After several hours, when the corn kernels have tripled in size, the liquid is allowed to evaporate and the kernels to dry. The dried Posole can be stored for years following this initial preparation, until the time comes when you have five hours to prepare the dish. This stew of onions, garlic, dried red chile pods, cilantro, chicken broth and corn is New Mexico’s medicinal answer to chicken noodle soup.

The chile pepper is truly one of the most interesting food items found across the Americas, indeed, the world. There are some widespread misnomers about the chile, that sadly deter sensitive palates from experiencing what could be defined as a true awakening of one’s senses. First off, a chile is not a vegetable. Much like the tomato, the chile is actually a fruit, specifically, a berry. While the origins of the chile pepper are still disputed by historians and food scientists, its varieties and uses are seemingly limitless, from the fresh addition of a red bell pepper to salads to the more intense use as a spice, found in cayenne pepper. A green chile is simply an unripe chile, and red chilies contain high amounts of vitamin C.  In addition, chile peppers are also a good source of most B vitamins, potassium, magnesium and iron.  The New Mexico Chile commonly used in New Mexican cooking is a subspecies of the Anaheim pepper, relatively mild in flavor and heat. The standard measuring formula for chilies is called the Scoville scale, which rates a chile’s intensity in measurable units. Some chiles are strong enough for military use, and simply not edible, no matter how brave one might be. The Habanero, Malagueta and Tabasco peppers are fairly high on the edible scale of peppers, while the standard Bell Pepper, is considered “heat free.”  The New Mexico Chile you’ll hopefully devour in Santa Fe falls roughly in the middle, between the Bell and Tobasco pepper. So you see, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Many dishes in New Mexico, such as Chile Relleno and Enchiladas, are offered with your choice of a red or green chile sauce. Again, these sauces are relatively mild, yet full of warm flavor. I suggest asking for “Christmas Style” when ordering, which will get you half green and half red, a beautiful combination any time of the year.

Santa Fe Classics:

The drink of choice in Santa Fe is the classic Margarita, made from real Mexican tequila, triple-sec and fresh-squeezed lemon or limejuice. A purist will order their margarita over ice with a salted rim, never blended, while fruity frozen versions are also popular. The Pink Adobe (www.thepinkadobe.com) is a landmark restaurant with cozy alcoves and romantic wood-burning fires in a 300-year-old house, easily spotted just opposite the San Miguel Mission in downtown Santa Fe. Step into the bar area, known as the Dragon Room Lounge, a favorite gathering place for locals. In addition to the classic Margarita, the lounge also serves a “lighter” bar menu, including a Green Chile Stew of pork loin cubes, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and New Mexican chile. If the heat of this must-have Green Chili Stew gets to be too much, try ordering another margarita.

Santacafé (www.santacafe.com) is a newer addition to the Santa Fe restaurant scene, at least when compared to The Pink Adobe’s prestigious 65 years. Since 1983, Santacafé has been serving a signature blend of American classics with a Southwestern twist. The dinner menu is a beautifully presented selection of fine steaks, chops and seafood, served in a charming 19th Century historic abode of four candlelit dining rooms with corner fireplaces. But the best time to visit this downtown destination is at lunch, especially in the summertime. The courtyard patio is a vibrant scene in the warmer months as locals and visitors-in-the-know flock here for delectable lunches at very low prices. I suggest starting off with a glass of wine in the quaint bar area, before settling into a patio table. Take special note of the glass-covered, twenty-foot well in the middle of the bar’s floor. Quirky accents like this preserved hand-dug well add a special ingredient of history and charm to the dining experience.

Santa Feans are an opinionated bunch of eccentric types, that dine regularly on gossip and season heavily with conjecture; perhaps that why I keep going back. Other than local politics and art, there’s nothing they take more seriously than their food. Specifically, the Northern New Mexico cuisine like you will find at Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen (www.marias-santafe.com) and at Tomasita’s (505-983-5721), two very similar culinary vanguards. It’s ill advised to ask a small group of Santa Fe friends which restaurant is better, Maria’s, or Tomasita’s. A verbal volley is sure to ensue, time that is better spent waiting for a table at either location. As a frequent visitor to Santa Fe, I can tell you both restaurants serve up mean cheese-filled Chile Rellenos, Enchiladas and Burritos in a casual setting, and both pour delicious margaritas to an endless stream of hungry diners at lunch and dinner. While my personal opinion is somewhat baseless, grounded in little more than a “feeling,” I risk offending half of my friends in Santa Fe by saying that Maria’s edges out ahead of Tomasita’s, if only by a smidge.

A great way to enjoy New Mexican cuisine is at home with friends over free-flowing margaritas. You don’t need to live in Santa Fe to learn the recipes and find the necessary ingredients. Los Chileros (www.888eatchile.com) is a small New Mexico-based company, and for the past 25 years chiles have been their business. Over the years they have expanded their offerings of whole, crushed and powdered chiles and spice blends to include other mixes, rubs and salsas while maintaining a high degree of quality in their authentic products. Their Green Chile Rub can help you whip up some Green Chile Chicken Burritos in practically no time, and a their New Mexican Red Chile Powder will help you impress your friends with a tantalizing Chile Colorado Con Carne. You can find recipes for these items, plus many more authentic New Mexican staples, on their website. You can also find their dozens of products nationwide, at Whole Foods, Dean & Deluca and The Fresh Market.

Buen provecho!