By September in a season-less fall. This is the strangest football month I've ever experienced — the weather has turned perfect, the kind of September air that was made for Friday nights, and there are no Friday nights. The school looks right. The field looks right. Everything is there except the game.
We're doing fall training anyway. Not the same volume, but enough to keep the players connected to the program and to each other. Small groups, distanced, outside. The seniors are practicing for a spring season that might not look like what they've always known. They're doing it anyway. That's character. That's the thing I've been trying to teach in a context where it now has to be demonstrated rather than coached.
Green chile roasting this week. Year four. The smell rises in the parking lot and the smoke catches the September light and for forty-five minutes the world smells exactly like it should. I bought fifty pounds this year because I wanted to. Because the bigger the project the more of my attention it demands, and this fall my attention needs somewhere to go.
I called Hector during the roasting. He answered immediately — he always answers immediately for me now, which I've noticed and which I try not to make too much of. I held the phone up and said, "Listen to that." The sound of the propane and the turning chiles and the distant traffic. He was quiet for a moment and then he said, "I can smell it from here." He can't. But maybe he could. I told him I'd bring him a bag the next time I drove down. He said I'd better. He said my chile was better than his neighbor's and the neighbor had been roasting in Las Cruces for forty years. This is the highest praise available from Hector Medina.
Once the chiles are roasted, cooled, and bagged, the question becomes what to do with fifty pounds of them—and the answer, every year, is chili. I mix my own spice blend because Hector taught me that the chile does half the work and the spices do the other half, and neither one should embarrass the other. This is the blend I’ve landed on after four seasons of getting it closer to right. If the roasting is the ceremony, this is the thing that carries it forward into something you can actually eat on a Tuesday night when the season is still strange and the world still smells slightly like smoke.
Spice Mix for Chili
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 5 min | Servings: Makes enough for one large pot of chili (6–8 servings)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano (or regular oregano)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust to heat preference)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
Instructions
- Measure and combine. Add all spices to a small bowl and whisk together until evenly blended. There should be no streaks of a single spice.
- Taste and adjust. Dip a clean fingertip and taste the dry mix. If you want more heat, add cayenne in 1/8 teaspoon increments. If you want deeper earthiness, add a pinch more cumin.
- Store or use immediately. Transfer to a small jar with a tight-fitting lid. The blend keeps at room temperature for up to 3 months with no loss of potency. Label it with the date so you know when to make a fresh batch.
- To use with roasted Hatch green chiles. Add the full batch to 1.5 lbs of browned ground beef or pork along with 2–3 cups of peeled, chopped roasted green chiles, one 14-oz can of diced tomatoes, and enough broth to cover. Simmer uncovered for 30–40 minutes until thick.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 18 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Carbs: 3g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 148mg