Chile Time

Most people don’t realize all that goes into the food we eat.  Yes, you can know what ingredients are inside of the jar of salsa sitting on your refrigerator shelf just by reading the label.  But how did that jar get to be there?  Like most things, it starts with knowing what the hell you’re doing.  Everyone here at The Truck Farm has been through Better Process Control School approved by the FDA.   This is a weeklong, all day lecture and exam series with qualified instructors teaching all present how to process food safely for mass consumption.   They teach the students how hot and for how long the food has to be before being bottled, the methods to achieve that heat, and most importantly the proper acidification process.  Foods must have the right pH to ensure that any microorganisms inherent in the ingredients aren’t allowed to grow or reproduce.  That, combined with the high heat, kills the stuff that could be harmful in the jars.  After passing the class, the participants are certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration to supervise the canning and bottling of food.    That is just the beginning of the road to your mouth.

Justin Hawman

After the FDA has certified the people, the facility must also be registered with them.  The Food Canning Establishment registration gives each commercial kitchen their FCE number and opens them up to be inspected by the FDA to ensure that the facility, record keeping, and personnel are all within regulations.  The FDA inspects establishments every few years.  In the interim, at least here in New Mexico, our local Environmental Department inspects at least once a year.  They also check on local restaurants and any kind of local gathering where food will be sold. Whenever we sample product at one of our shows, we have to clear it with the local environmental department to get a temporary food permit.   During either inspection, they watch us process the food through every step.   After these two agencies have made sure we are doing everything safely, we are allowed to continue on the road to your mouth.

Justin Hawman

Once we’re smart and safe as acknowledged by the FDA and the EPA, we’re ready to cook.  For everything that we bottle we have to supply a process authority letter stating that someone has reviewed our recipe and that it falls within the established parameters.  The BPCS certifies that a person is able to be a supervisor at a food canning facility, but the process authority is often much better educated.  The person we use locally is a PhD of Food Microbiology.  To present the recipe fully to the process authority we must provide an accurate pH for all the ingredients that will go into the food.  We make a slurry out of everything individually by putting it in a blender, and then we use our pH meter to determine its acidity.  Once the process authority has reviewed our process, ensuring that we will keep it hot enough long enough, that the pH is correct, and that the sealing of the containers is proper, we fill out another form to be filed with the FDA that also has to be approved.  It takes about a month from the first time something is made before we get the go ahead that it can be made safely and continue down the road to your mouth.
Justin Hawman

Now, the stuff has been fully vetted.  It is made and ready to go out to you.  Sort of.  After the stuff is made, it has to pass one more test.  We are required to keep a sample to be opened after 48 hours.  The 48 hour jar is once more pH’d to make certain that the acidity didn’t drop to unsafe levels once it had enough time to fully homogenize in the jar.  After the batch finally passes that last test, it is ready to be ordered by you.  When we get an order an invoice is typed up, usually by Justin or Cleda.  Then the paperwork is handed over to the shipping department, usually Jim and sometimes Justin.  The shipper then gathers together the product to be sent out and reads.  Every jar, as well as all of our dried product, has a batch code designating what batch each individual product is a part of.  Each batch has a sheet that has the total number of units in each batch.  As each unit is packed up, it is subtracted from this sheet with the corresponding invoice number entered next to it.  This is another FDA requirement, as we have to log where our finished product goes.   This goes for the individual ingredients and their suppliers as well.  Once the information is logged, the products are packed and shipped to complete the road to your mouth.

Justin Hawman

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut into pieces
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup Just Plain Green Chile
1/2 cup red bell pepper, sliced (fresh red if available)
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 each jalapeno, minced
12 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained
2 quarts water (chicken broth or stock)
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp. Ground cumin
1 pkg  Mexican Meat Seasoning
½ cup Masa or corn flour
1 cup cilantro, chopped (optional or see note beow))
(one corn tortilla per serving, sliced in thin strips and deep fried, as garnish)
Instructions: Put olive oil in a medium size pot, heat it up and add chicken. Brown chicken slightly. Then add onion, Just Plain Green Chile, bell peppers, and garlic and sauté for about a minute. Add diced tomatoes and water. Then bring mixture to a simmer. Add seasonings and cilantro. Then check for flavor; if you think you need more seasoning add some. Bring mixture to a boil and whisk in Masa or corn flour until slightly thickened. Simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Take out chicken pieces and take the meat off of the bone and add it back to the soup, discard the bones. Serve the soup hot with fried tortilla chips, avocado, and cheese of your liking.
Justin Hawman

One of the classic dishes served in New Mexican cuisine is posole.  Good posole has been known to make restaurants, with some here in Las Cruces serving it by the gallon.  Anywho, here's a recipe if you're interested in making some yourself.

1 1/2 lbs. pork shoulder

1/2 onion stuck with 2 cloves

2 cloves garlic, peeled

5 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seed

oregano, pinch

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

4 cups canned white hominy, drained and rinsed

3 to 5 cups pork broth from cooking pork shoulder

1 cup Just Plain Green Chile
Salt to taste

 

Place the meat in a large saucepan and just cover with lightly salted water. Add the clove studded onion, 2 cloves peeled garlic, peppercorns, cumin seed, and oregano. Bring to a boil over medium heat, skim off any foam that rises, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove meat and broth, reserving both.

Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in oil until translucent. Add the remaining spices, stir for a minute. Cut the reserved pork into 1 inch cubes and add to the pan. Stir in the canned hominy, pork broth (if there is not enough pork broth, add chicken stock), and Just Plain Green Chile. 

Cook at a simmer, covered, for 45 to 60 minutes until the meat and hominy are tender. If necessary, cook for up to an additional 60 minutes until the chilies and onions are well blended into the broth. Degrease the stew, taste for salt, and serve in soup bowls. 
Justin Hawman

Ingredients

           Directions

1. Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl; add condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour mixture into the pie crust. Chill for 5 hours. DO NOT FREEZE!!!
2. Unscrew lid off of Cherry A'More.  Replace the lid lightly over the top of the bottle at an angle to provide a gap for the Cherry A'More to come out of.  Keeping the lid in place with your forefinger, drizzle the Cherry A'More over the cheescake in what ever pattern you'd like.  Zig-zag, heart, "Marry Me", or a giraffe depending what you're in to.

Justin Hawman

Those of you who are constant readers of our blog might remember a film crew from the local PBS station visiting us some months ago for a documentary series on agriculture.  The series has started airing locally and last night they did a story on red chile.  While we are not featured in this particular segment, it does might hold some interest in those curious about red chile.  You can watch that episode as well as the others that have aired online if you’re interested.  We’ll keep you updated and let you know when the one we’re in will be showing.
Justin Hawman

24 Shelled, deveined uncooked extra large shrimp

3/4 cup Red Chile Marmalade

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

Thread shrimp onto skewers, heat grill.  Combine remaining ingredients, reserve about half, brush the remaining glaze over shrimp.  Oil grill grates and grill shrimp, covered for about 2 minutes, brush both sides with glaze, grill an additional 4-6 minutes or until shrimp turn pink.

Cleda Hawman