Mike’s Famous Burger

Ingredients:

• Hamburger ground however you like it and from whatever cuts you like but I recommend 80/20 in the final mix and formed into 1/3 lb. patties
• 1-2 onions cooked slowly and caramelized
• Good (not crap) blue cheese dressing
• NuMex Heritage Big Jim (hot) or Joe E Parker (medium but hot enough to taste) chiles peeled, stems removed, and sliced lengthwise
• Cheddar cheese slices
• Good (not crap here either) rolls

 I season the ground meat with salt, pepper, and a little garlic salt.  Grill burgers and when almost done add sliced peppers and cheddar cheese on top and continue to cook until meat is cooked the way you want it and cheese is melted.  Spread rolls with blue cheese, add burger, and top with caramelized onions.  If you don’t cook the meat to a grey death, you will experience a total brain orgasm and juices will run everywhere.  This just makes me weak thinking about it.

OK here is the “most excellent” blue cheese that is not crap:

• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
• Fresh ground black pepper

In blender, pour ¼ cup oil and ¼ cup vinegar.  Blend.  Add sour cream and blend.  Add the remaining oil and the seasonings; blend.  Add the bleu cheese to the mix and stir carefully.  Refrigerate.

This can be used as a dip as it is quite thick.

No Tomatillos Allowed

Source

MIKE’S GREEN CHILE
 
Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb pork roast, trimmed and cut in small cubes
• ½ cup shortening or oil
• 12- 14 Joe E Parker green chilies (medium heat) or Heritage Big Jims (hot) that have been roasted, skins and stems removed, and chopped in ¼” dice (or 1- 2 cups)
• ½ cup flour
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 8- 10 cups water or chicken stock
• Salt and pepper

Option 1:
Add finely diced small onion

Option 2:

Prepare as below but puree about 1/3 of the chiles with the onion and the water before adding the meat and the rest of the chiles back in.


Preparation:

Season the pork with salt and pepper and brown in heavy pot (do in batches). Set meat aside.  If you are using onion, add it now and cook until translucent.  Add flour to fat (and onions) and cook roux 2-3 minutes.   Add garlic and chopped chiles and cook briefly 1-2 minutes. Add water or chicken stock, and meat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Can simmer for thirty minutes and eat but I like to cook it slow with a lid on for a couple hours on the stove on low or in the oven 300 degrees until the meat is tender and falls apart.

You can add more stock or water as necessary but when finished it should have the consistency of a thin gravy.

Use as soup with warm tortillas or to smother burritos, enchiladas, tacos, or anything else.

A Note on Terminology

Might as well get this cleared up right away so we are all on the same page. “Chile” is the most common Spanish spelling of the word in Mexico and parts of the US. It refers specifically to the plant and its fruit (chile pepper). However, “chile” can also mean chile sauce which is a soup (or gravy like sauce) made with either green or red chiles, with or without meat, and served alone or “smothered” on anything. “Chile” and “chili” are often pronounced slightly differently. The pronunciation of “chile” is more Spanish – “chill-ay”, “shill-ay” or “chee-lay”.

Green chile (sauce) is made with roasted chopped green chiles and red chile is usually made from chiles dried and ground into powder although it can be made with the fresh roasted red chiles as well. The red is merely the mature form of the green. As the chile turns red it retains the heat characteristic to the specific variety but tastes milder because red chiles are sweeter and the heat is not as noticeable. The red, however, are usually allowed to dry and used as pods, flakes, or powder with different degrees of heat.

The Chile Man Cometh…

When I moved to the Pacific Northwest I found I could no longer get the green chile I grew up with in Wyoming. I miss the smell of chiles roasting behind trucks filled with sacks of New Mexico's finest from the Hatch Valley and southern New Mexico. Driven by an inability to find a burrito smothered with green, I established Mike's Chiles to provide a source for all Seattle area transplants from the I-25 corridor and the local true believers (yes it could be a cult) that know that real green chile (sauce) has nothing to do with tomatillos. Anyone who has ever eaten true New Mexico green or red chile knows that it is mandatory on burritos and enchiladas and highly recommended on hamburgers, fries, eggs, and just about everything else.

To those that long for the overpowering aroma of roasting chiles on a fall day I offer a source for your capsaicin fix and a means to broaden the pallets of the yet “un-addicted”.