Serrano Chile Peppers (Dried)

PURPOSE

WHAT IS IT?

All chiles in Mexico have two names for fresh, and dried. Serrano chiles, dried, are usually labeled “chiles secos” in Spanish, although they go by several regional names (See AKA, below.).

They have a medium heat, at 10,000-23,000 SHU, and light flavor. Unripe, they are green. The color, once they mature, can vary from a darker green to red, brown, orange, or yellow. Serranos, for their size, are more fleshy.

Dried can be reconstituted in water, or ground, or cooked/removed from a dish, but they really are more about the heat than the flavor, as they lose a lot of that bell-pepper like pop when they dry.

It’s a good medium heat/pungency pepper for beans, sauces, or grinding.

EXPERIENCE

Unlike the raw, where you get hit with bell-pepper flavor and medium heat, you’ll get a more intensified heat with the powder, with a trace of the sweet, and fruity notes of the bell pepper, with a more rounded, mellow expression, free of the fresh’s acids, in the dried.

CULINARY GEOGRAPHY

The majority of Serrano chile pepper production comes from Mexico. Sinaloa, Veracruz, Nayarit and Tamaulipas states produce the most.

TRADITIONAL USES

• Chuletas;
• Tamales verdes de puerco;
• Salsa de Seco;
• Camarones a la Mexicana.

A FEW IMPROVISATIONAL RIFFS:

• Tagine roasted chicken with onions, garlic, and a dried seco ;
• Ramen Mexicano – Seco shoyu broth with stir-fried roasted goat, calabacitas (squash), corn, tomatoes, and seco;
• Poutine chaud – A spicy beef poutine, with queso fresco, fries, and seco “gravy.”

THE BACKSTORY

The Serrano pepper is believed to have originated in Mexico, near the mountains of Puebla and Hidalgo. The chiles get their name from the mountains of the Sierra Madres. In the Mexican stable of chiles, they are one of the hotter domestic peppers.

AKA

• Chiles secos
• Chiles balin
• Chiles chico
• Chiles tipico
• Chiles largo

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