Anastacia Quiñones, Executive Chef at Komali in Uptown, guides us through the world of the Poblano pepper. (Photo by Rich Vana)
They’re a whole lot bigger than most of their chile cousins, but in that sense they could be considered a gentle giant; lacking the sometimes-scalding heat a jalapeno can punch but with the size and strength to carry enough ingredients so that stuffing it almost comes naturally, the poblano is understandably the poster child for chiles rellenos – peppers stuffed with one or some of any number of ingredients. But while that might be their most apparent contribution to the casual observer, poblanos have become a staple in kitchens around the world; both in their dried forms (ancho) and fresh, these peppers have myriad culinary uses – many of which are a little more subtle than stuffing, and can fly under the radar on the plate.
To help us explore the poblano a little further and delve into the depths of what it can do, we asked Komali Executive Chef Anastacia Quiñones to lead the way. From oils to sauces and yes, even the art of stuffing, Anastacia sings the merits of the poblano in both its forms, and shows us some of her favorite applications for this most versatile of chiles.
Thanks for talking poblanos with us, Anastacia. Walking through the store, you can’t help but notice peppers everywhere – so what is it about poblanos that makes them particularly unique?
Well, you can use them dried or raw, and each one has its own characteristics that make it unique – but neither are really spicy. In the raw state, if you fry them up, peel the skin and then kind of roast them, they take on a really nice earthy, green, vegetative flavor that almost doesn’t even taste like a pepper. You can stuff it, you can use it a lot in purees – which a lot of people don’t really use; they think you just use it as a vessel for stuffing. But we’ll add it into a lot of our sauces: we add it into our tomatillo sauce and we do a poblano corn puree. We even do a poblano soup, just because by itself it has such a great flavor and if you add one or two different things, it takes on a completely new characteristic.
Then, the great thing about it dried is the sauce that it makes. It’s got this really beautiful red color, and it’s not smoky like people might think it is; it’s a little more mellow. You can add cream to it and get it to almost an orange color. There’s just so many things you can do with poblanos, dried or fresh.
You say that they aren’t really spicy; they’ve still got a little heat, right?
Yes, and it also depends on what time of year it is; I tend to find that in the summer, when they’ve been in the heat a little longer – same thing with jalapenos or serranos – that they tend to take on a little more spice. We can always tell when they have that spice, because our prep girl will wear gloves when she’s working with them!
But we never know when we’re going to get a spicy one. Like shishito peppers, where one in 10 are spicy, I would say that one in 20 poblanos are like that, though like I said, the odds are a little greater in the summer.
So there’s the poblano, and then there’s the dried version, the ancho. What’s your favorite way to prep them when they’re fresh?
Rajas. To get the skin off, you can roast them, but we stick them right in the fryer – it makes the skin nice and pliable, so you can peel it right off, and then you have this nice, almost-roasted pepper. Then we’ll slice them into strips or dice it and add them to a hot pan with some oil. When you throw them in that pan it releases these aromas from the pepper that you’re not going to get raw or straight out of the fryer. You can add onions to it, or potatoes – or eggs in the morning – and the rajas themselves, just when sauteed with a little oil and salt, taste just amazing. They almost taste like what you would get with a jalapeno – that really green, tasty flavor – but with almost no spice. We do that with our queso fundito, our potato-poblano gratin, and some of our sauces.
So when you’re buying one at the store, what are you looking for? What makes for a good poblano?
It actually depends on what I’m using them for. If I’m going to cook them down in oil or fry them, then I like to see a little vein on them; that means they’re a little older, softer, and more pliable. I’m going to eventually cook them, so the fact that they’re not firm and bright green is okay. If I’m going to stuff them, I want larger ones, and since I’m going to stuff them and then cook them again, they need to be firmer and a little less ripe. Think of an apple – if you get a really ripe apple, it’s going to be a little softer, not quite as crunchy. That’s the same as a poblano.
But then the dried poblanos – anchos – are a different texture entirely. Different applications, too, right?
Yes – sauces. Almost always sauces, because their texture isn’t ideal for eating. You’d want to puree them with the same water you’ve reconstituted them with – never use plain water or tap water, because all the flavor from the peppers soaks into the water. From there you can use whatever you want. Garlic is good, I like to use raw onion to bring the earthiness out, some people use cilantro, some people use oregano; it just depends on what your tastes are, but usually garlic and raw onions are a good bet for making the base of most sauces.
But, for example, if you want to chop it us and throw it into your chilaquiles instead of pureeing it whole, that’s great too – you get a little more earthiness. We’ll make ancho oil here; instead of reconstituting the peppers with water, we replace the water with oil and kind of let them simmer. We then puree them with the oil – after they’ve been de-seeded – and then strain it. What you’re left with is the oil, and it makes for this beautiful red garnish.
You mentioned reconstituting; what does that entail?
It’s very simple. You can easily reconstitute them in hot water – either simmer them in a pot of water on the stove or just take a pot of boiling water and place the poblanos in a bowl. Pour the water over the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. You want them to be pliable and soft – they’re almost black when they’re completely dried; when you see a little bit of redness, when you can peel it open with your hands and get the seeds out, then you’re ready to go.
And we’re talking about the poblano, so we have to ask about chiles relleno. They’re basically just stuffed peppers, right? Are they terribly difficult to make?
Very. There are actually two different major types: there is the floured and battered one, which we used to make to order; they were very popular, but they’re also very difficult. The others are immensely stuffed and served over a nice sauce. Those are a little easier, but there’s still a technique you have to get down when it comes to cleaning the peppers. We fry them and put them in a bowl wrapped with plastic wrap, so that it kind of steams itself and it’s easier to get the skin off – all the skin, since it’s bitter and gets stuck in your teeth, and it just doesn’t taste good – but there’s also a fine line between how long you can fry or steam them, because if you let them go too long, you’ll overcook them and won’t be able to work with them; they become too pliable. A lot of people blister them over the grill or they broil them, and while the charred flavor is nice, when you’re doing a hundred of them, it’s a lot more difficult and inefficient to clean them that way.
From there you have to take the seeds out through one little slit and still have the pepper look perfect. It’s not easy, but our girl has it down.
So it’s probably not the right dish for a kitchen beginner to undertake?
(laughs) No, probably not.
Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us, Anastacia.
Any time.