Poblano, Ancho, Mulato Chilis

Another white rabbit day is here and we're trying to stay warm. I was watching Pati's Mexican Table the other day on the cooking channel. She was making Chicken in a Pecan and Ancho Chili Sauce. Since the recipe contained pecans I was intrigued but I wondered what type of chili an ancho was. I had dried guajillo chilis in my pantry but knew ancho was a different type of chili. Since I planned to make a big batch of sauce and I didn't want to make a sauce that was too hot to eat I decided to learn if the ancho chili was milder and learned it is.

After researching various descriptions of chilis I learned a poblano is the name for the fresh green version of the chili and an ancho is a dried version. An ancho is a partially ripened poblano which is then dried. And further a mulato is the fully ripened poblano which is dried. The Spruce Eats, Curious Cuisiniere and Mexico in my Kitchen all have good descriptions of versatile chili peppers. Of course my local grocery didn't carry ancho or mulato peppers so I called around to Mexican grocery stores to see if I could locate either variety of chili pepper. I was in luck the next town over had both dried versions. A bonus was the Mexican grocery chilis were much less costly than my local grocery. I got two packages of both ancho and mulato chili peppers.

After all my research I surprised myself by making quite a large and delicious batch of ancho sauce. I made enough to put on our boned and skinless chicken thighs with a plenty left over to freeze for another time. I plan to use the ancho sauce as a base for some mole sauce. I've always thought mole sauce has chocolate in it but does it? I'm not sure so I'll do some research on that sauce as well. All of this sauce making was just in time for the expected high of just 34 F today. Having a sauce with some mild heat helps us stay warm. When it's chilly make a recipe with some chilis and you'll be glad you did. (Links to the photos I've used are contained in this post).

Be Safe, Be Well