The Hirshon New Mexico Blue Corn Fried Chicken Tenders with Hatch Pepper Honey Sauce

Citizens – the unsurpassed Chief of Chiles is embarking on a two-pronged journey to the mighty State of of New Mexico and city of Santa Fe to unlock achievements related to both family AND work! My beloved father is turning 85 (!) and I am also advising a new Augmented Reality tech startup founded by a member of the Navajo First Nation!

I had the privilege of judging Akilah Martinzez and her team at the acclaimed MIT Reality Hack back in January and was proud to have recommended them as the overall winners of the event and they are now looking to commercialize their technology to help the elderly through AR-assisted walker optimization.

This recipe – unlike virtually EVERY one here on TFD – has zero historic provenance.

I created it to honor My dad for His birthday but it IS spicy, delicious and utilizes all the bounty New Mexico has to offer! This includes blue cornmeal (sacred to the First Citizens (aka Native Americans)), sage, sage honey, Mexican oregano, juniper berries, and most ESPECIALLY – HATCH NEW MEXICO CHILES!

The Navajo Nation extends into the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, covering over 27,000 square miles of unparalleled beauty. Diné Bikéyah, or Navajoland, is larger than 10 of the 50 states in America!

Visitors from around the world are intrigued and mystified when they hear the Navajo language – so, too, were the enemy during World War II. Unknown to many, the Navajo language was used to create a secret code to battle the Japanese.

Navajo men were selected to create codes and serve on the front line to overcome and deceive those on the other side of the battlefield. Today, these men are recognized as the famous Navajo Code Talkers, who exemplify the unequaled bravery and patriotism of the Navajo people.

Today, the Navajo Nation is striving to sustain a viable economy for an ever increasing population that now surpasses 250,000. In years past, Navajoland often appeared to be little more than a desolate section of the Southwest, but it was only a matter of time before the Navajo Nation became known as a wealthy nation in a world of its own.

The discovery of oil on Navajoland in the early 1920’s promoted the need for a more systematic form of government. In 1923, a tribal government was established to help meet the increasing desires of American oil companies to lease Navajoland for exploration. Navajo government has evolved into the largest and most sophisticated form of American Indian government.

The Navajo Nation Council Chambers hosts 88 council delegates representing 110 Navajo Nation chapters. Reorganized in 1991 to form a three-branch system (executive, legislative and judicial), the Navajos conduct what is considered to be the most sophisticated form of Indian government.

While the Council is in session, you’ll likely hear delegates carry on the tradition of speaking in Navajo, providing a perfect example of how the Navajo Nation retains its valuable cultural heritage while forging ahead with modern progress.

When the Council is not in session, legislative work is done by 12 “standing committees” of the Council. Inside the circular Council Chambers, the walls are adorned with colorful murals that depict the history of the Navajo people and the Navajo way of life.

As to the mighty New Mexico chile pepper – it’s SO beloved it is actually on the license plate!

New Mexico chile or New Mexican chile (Scientific name: Capsicum annuum ‘New Mexico Group’; Spanish: chile de Nuevo México, chile del norte) is a cultivar group of the chile pepper from the US state of New Mexico, first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communities throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

These landrace chile plants were used to develop the modern New Mexico chile peppers by horticulturist Fabián García and his students, including Roy Nakayama, at what is now New Mexico State University in 1894.

New Mexico chile, which typically grows from a green to a ripened red, is popular in the cuisines of the Southwestern United States, including Sonoran and Arizonan cuisine, and it is an integral staple of New Mexican cuisine. It is also sometimes featured in broader Mexican cuisine. Chile is one of New Mexico’s state vegetables, and is referenced in the New Mexico state question “Red or Green?”.

The flavor of New Mexico green chile has been described as lightly pungent, similar to an onion, or like garlic with a subtly sweet, spicy, crisp, and smoky taste. The ripened red chile retains this flavor, but adds an earthiness and bite. The spiciness depends on the variety.

Various types of chile plants were first grown by the Puebloan peoples, who continue to grow their own strains, each with a distinct pungency, sweetness, taste, and heat.

For example, the Zia Pueblo chile has a bitter-sweet flavor when it matures into its red color. When the Spanish arrived, they introduced European cultivation techniques to the chile plants, and eventually created cultivars in their towns.

The New Mexican type cultivars were developed by the horticulturist Fabián García, whose major release was the ‘New Mexico No. 9’ chile pepper in 1913. Earlier work was done by Emelio Ortega. These cultivars are “hotter” than others to suit the tastes of New Mexicans in their traditional foods.

Selective breeding began with 14 lineages of ‘Pasilla’, ‘Colorado’, and ‘Negro‘ cultivars, from throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado. These first commercially viable peppers were created to have a “larger, smoother, fleshier, more tapering and shoulderless pod for canning purposes”.

Paul Bosland, an expert on chile genetics, breeding, and germplasm evaluation, founded the Chile Pepper Institute in 1992 at New Mexico State University to study New Mexico’s state vegetable and peppers from around the world. New Mexico chile is exported worldwide to Europe, Australia, and Japan, among other places.

Fruits of New Mexico chile plants are grown from seeds – and each individual strain is specifically bred and grown to be disease-resistant and provide consistent and healthy plants within their specific regions.

Altitude, climate, soil, and acreage affects a crop’s taste, making the New Mexican region, including the Rio Grande bosque, mountains, and high deserts, a favorable environment for plant propagation and growth.

To ensure that a variety’s lineage remains disease-resistant and maintains optimal growth within its heritage region, seeds from specific plants are carefully selected.

An example of a New Mexican chile grown outside the state is the ‘Anaheim’ pepper which is extremely resilient in multiple altitudes. An aspect of the New Mexico chile plants regards reintroducing seeds from their heritage soil, since each successive generation becomes susceptible to disease and loss of flavor.

Therefore, local chile farmers usually order seeds from their heritage soils, every few generations, to reinvigorate their crop. This allows New Mexico chile growers to perpetuate successful productions.

New Mexico chile plants grown in New Mexico are valued for their flavor, texture, and hardiness due to their growing environment. The plants were originally grown by the Puebloans, and each of their distinct Pueblo plants grows best in its heritage soil.

This same trend has continued with other New Mexico chile varietals grown by Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers. Among New Mexico-grown chile, the ones with the most accolades are grown along the Rio Grande, especially along the Hatch Valley.

Multiple other locations in the Rio Grande Valley, outside of the Hatch Valley, also grow award-winning chile. Towns and cities across New Mexico have strong chile traditions, including Hatch, Chimayó, Española, Lemitar, and San Antonio; and in the Albuquerque metropolitan area from Albuquerque, Bosque, Corrales, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, and Bosque Farms.

Hatch chile refers to varieties of species of the genus Capsicum which are grown in the Hatch Valley, an area stretching north and south along the Rio Grande from Arrey, New Mexico, in the north to Tonuco Mountain to the southeast of Hatch, New Mexico.

The soil and growing conditions in the Hatch Valley create a unique terroir which contributes to the flavor of chile grown there. Most of the varieties of chile cultivated in the Hatch Valley have been developed at New Mexico State University over the last 130 years.

Hatch chile can be purchased locally in many parts of the Southwest. Some distributors use the “Hatch” name, but do not actually grow and process their chile in the Hatch Valley. To protect Hatch and other New Mexican growers, state legislators passed a 2012 law prohibiting the sale in New Mexico of chile described as “New Mexican” unless grown in New Mexico or came with a prominent “Not grown in New Mexico” disclaimer.

Chile grown around the town are marketed under the name of the town, and are often sold fresh-roasted in New Mexico and nationwide in late summer and early autumn. Pueblo chile plants have been cultivated by the Puebloan peoples of New Mexico for centuries.

The Acoma Pueblo chile is mild, with a lightly flavorful pungency. The Isleta Pueblo chile develops a fruity sweet flavor as it grows into its red chile state. The Zia Pueblo chile develops a bitter-sweet flavor when it matures into its red color, and its heat is similar to the ‘Heritage 6-4’.

These ancient Pueblo varieties should not be confused with a chile grown in Pueblo, Colorado, also called “Pueblo chile”, which is the green Numex Mirasol chile, another cultivar of the New Mexico chile.

On July 12, 2021, NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station started growing New Mexico chile from seeds packaged in soil on Earth, in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH). ‘Numex Española Improved’ was chosen from more than two dozen varieties for its performance in testing environments.

The peppers were grown aboard the spacecraft utilizing specially formulated fertilizers, with the fruit later evaluated for flavor, texture, and piquancy. These were the first Capsicum plants grown off of Earth. In October, after tending and pollinating the plants for three months, the astronauts harvested the chile and prepared “space tacos”!

Green chile is served roasted and peeled, whole or diced, as a powder, and in various sauces. The most common uses are often served diced, or in sauces and is elemental to dishes such as enchiladas, burritos, burgers, french fries, or rice.

Chile is also served whole raw, fried, or baked chiles rellenos. New Mexican-style chile rellenos follow the much more traditional Mexican technique of being covered with egg batter and fried, although variations and casseroles do exist.

The red chile (the matured green chile) is frequently dried and ground to a powder. These dried or powdered fruits are turned into a red chile sauce. The dried peppers are rehydrated by boiling in a pot, and then blended with various herbs and spices, such as onion, garlic, and occasionally Mexican oregano.

Red chile powder is usually simply blended with water, herbs, and spices; the addition of flour or other thickening agents is often considered to be non-traditional or non-purist. Serving both red and green chile on a dish is sometimes referred to as “Christmas” style. Both green and red chile can be dried and turned into a powder, though this is more common with red chile.

The Titan of Tenders is EXTREMELY fond of fried chicken tenders, and making them in the New Mexico style is perhaps helping them to achieve their ultimate Super Saiyan form! Tenderizing the breast meat with a bath of hot sauce and garlic-laced marinade is –  of course – de rigeur.

Frying in corn oil is a respectful nod to the First Nation reliance on Mother Corn (I add some bacon fat to add additional smoky richness, as all fried chicken of any form shoudl have!) and using sacred nutty-tasting blue corn meal brings the Southwest to your tastebuds! My preferred source of blue cornmeal is this one!

To achieve ultimate crispiness, I double-dip the tenders – LAST in blue cornmeal but FIRST in pancake mix, flavored as only the Sultan of Spice can! I prefer to use Knorr Aromat seasoning whenever possible in place of regular salt as I find it adds an inimitable umami savor in addition to just saltiness – buy it from here.

As part of the egg wash between double dippings, I like to add wild onion (aka ramp) flakes as opposed to pedestrian onion powder (and it is akin to the wild onions used by the Navajo!) – you can buy it from here. Juniper berries are a classic seasoning of the First Nations of the Southwest – buy excellent quality ones from here.

Sagebrush honey is a New Mexico staple, and this one is exceptionally flavorful! Last and MOST importantly, you are going to need GENUINE medium heat New Mexican Hatch red chile powder and this one fits the bill, Citizens! Please use only MEXICAN oregano in this recipe, NOT Italian!

So – to My dad – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To Akilah – see you soon!

Battle on – the Generalissimo

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