Pasilla de Oaxaca ✦

Pasilla de Oaxaca

What it is

Despite the name it is not the chilaca: this is a Oaxacan chilli grown in the Sierra Mixe and effectively nowhere else, smoked over smouldering wood for two or three days after picking. It carries real heat, roughly ten times a plain pasilla, on top of a smoke heavier than any chipotle.

In the kitchen

One chilli seasons a whole pot; treat it the way you would a smoked ham hock rather than a spice. Toast it barely or not at all — the smoke is already there, and heat only turns it to ash.

Goes with

Tomatillo Garlic Onion Black bean Pork Avocado Lime Cilantro / Coriander

Same species

Ají amarillo Ají panca Ajvar Aleppo pepper Ancho chilli Bell pepper

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