Recipe: How to Toast Chiles Peppers and How to Make Chile Powder

WAYS TOAST CHILES PEPPERS

WHY TOAST DRIED CHILES?
To my tongue, toasted dried chiles have more flavor. Toasting adds complexity, a hint of char and a bit of smokiness, all elements that balance a chile's natural astringency.

Toasting chiles isn't a very exact science; in fact, you could skip it altogether and your dish would come out all right, though a bit less rich. Overtoasting is a greater problem than not toasting at all, since overtoasted chiles have an acrid flavor.

HOW TO TOAST DRIED CHILES:

USING A GRIDDLE:
Many Mexican cooks prefer to toast whole dried pods on their medium-hot comales (griddles), turning them until they're fragrant and slightly browned at the spots the chiles directly touched the hot surface; those cooks break off the stems and shake out the seeds after toasting. I use that method for small chiles like chipote and arbol.

For toasting large chiles (like ancho, pasilla, mulato, guajillo and New Mexico), I feel more comfortable following the lead of a Pueblan cook who first stems and seeds the chiles, tears them into flat pieces, then presses them against the hot surface with a spatula. The toasting seems to be more even, though a bit slower, since you can only work with one or two chiles at a time.

The actual time each chile is on the griddle may surprise you. If you have an even, medium heat under your griddle (or heavy skillet), you'll hear a faint crackle when the chile is pressed flat, skin-side up. In a few seconds, you'll smell a roasty, chile-spiked perfume, and, when you flip the chile, you'll notice it's changed to a mottled tan. Press it down to toast the other side and that's it.

FRYING IN OIL:
Another widely used toasting method is frying in oil. The flavor difference is remarkable-so much so that even a novice can tell the difference in the finished dish. You sense a richer toastiness and texture.

BROILING:
Our restaurant-style chile-toasting method involves a broiler, though only when you've mastered griddle-toasting should you try this. We open the stemmed and seeded chiles fiat on a baking sheet and place them about 6-inches below a commercial salamander heated to its lowest setting (about medium on a home broiler); the chiles begin to move about (it's quite a sight), and within seconds we catch their aroma and see a faint wisp of smoke. That's when we quickly pull them out, flip them over and toast the other side.

HOW TO MAKE CHILE POWDER:
When pulverizing chiles into powder, you can toast them thoroughly on the griddle or bake them in the oven until thoroughly crisp. Oven-crisping is okay for powder (where thorough, dry toasting and crispness is important), though it doesn't add the complexity you get from the direct-surface or oil toasting.

Source: Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen by Rick Bayless