Kitchen Tip

Chiles come in three forms: fresh, dried or canned in some kind of liquid--typically either vinegar (en escabeche) or a tomatoey sauce (en adobo). Each form is highly individual and you shouldn’t substitute one for another.

For example, you can find fresh jalapen~o chiles, either red or green. You can find jalapen~os that have been dried and smoked , which are called chile chipotle. And you can find jalapen~os that have been pickled in vinegar and chipotles that have been canned en adobo.

There are three main chiles called for in this section. In the Great Marriages wine recipe on H9, Rick Bayless calls for guajillo chile, which he describes as “a workhorse with a lot of dazzle.” This dried red chile is very common and can usually be found in supermarkets in cellophane bags. The taste is spicy and tangy with a slight smokiness. As with almost all dried chiles, it should be toasted and rehydrated before using.

For this Party Plans menu, you’ll need ancho, a large, mild dried red chile, fresh jalapen~os and pickled serranos: slender, spicy green chiles canned in vinegar.