We ate at a Mexican restaurant last week at Universal's Citywalk in Orlando and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was, seemed pretty authentic and not fake-Mexican or Tex-Mex.

One of my favorite Mexican dishes is Chile Rellenos, so I ordered a combo that had one in it.

What arrived was far different that what I'd ever eaten before as a Chile Relleno; instead of a battered Poblano pepper stuffed with cheese and covered in a red sauce, I got a very dark and chewy, what seemed like a re-hydrated pepper that was kind of smoky and tasted almost like it was marinated in Worcestershire sauce and stuffed with chopped pork and nuts and raisins? It was delicious but not what I had expected! It seemed like it had been grilled and was not battered and fried and didn't have a sauce on it.

Are there different versions of this in Mexico? Am I used to one version from a certain region and this was another version from a different region?

Growing up, we had an El Salvadoran housekeeper/babysitter who frequently cooked chiles rellenos.

Her version used fresh poblano peppers stuffed with ground beef, slivered almonds, yellow raisins, and a bunch of spices (lots of cumin), battered in egg and fried, then baked in some kind of orange-colored sauce, and served with rice.

Poblanos are big peppers, one pepper plus some rice was plenty for an entire meal for an adult.

The versions I get in restaurants in Texas are almost invariably stuffed with ground meat, usually with some extra stuff, and usually but not always battered in egg.

There's a phenomenal fancy Mexican restaurant in Houston called Armando's. They use poblano peppers, too, but the filling is exclusively heavily spiced ground beef and they aren't battered.

I don't think I've ever ordered a chile relleno at a restaurant and gotten a pepper with just cheese inside. I would be surprised if that's what I got. Of course, Mexico is a big country and there's a lot of regional variation in cuisine, and what we get in Texas isn't necessarily representative of all of that (or sometimes, of any of it!).

I have never seen a chile relleno made with a rehydrated dried pepper.

Also, "chile relleno" literally just means "stuffed pepper" in Spanish, so there's a lot of leeway in what you can get away with calling a chile relleno.

This is the recipe we got from a Mexican friend from Mexico City. It's the only way we make it. She submitted to Allrecipes.com.

"This is an authentic Mexican recipe that has been handed down for generations in my family."
Ingredients
6 fresh Anaheim chile peppers
1 (8 ounce) package queso asadero (white Mexican cheese), cut into 3/4-inch thick strips
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable shortening for frying
Directions
Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack at about 6 inches from the heat source. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place peppers onto the prepared baking sheet, and cook under the preheated broiler until the skin of the peppers has blackened and blistered, about 10 minutes. Turn the peppers often to blacken all sides. Place the blackened peppers into a bowl, and tightly seal with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to steam as they cool, about 15 minutes.
Rinse cooled peppers under cold water to peel off the skins, and cut a slit along the long side of each pepper to remove the seeds and core. Rinse the peppers inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Stuff the peppers with strips of the cheese.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl with the baking powder. In a second metal bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until the whites form stiff peaks. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture. Place flour into a shallow bowl.
Heat the vegetable shortening in a skillet over medium heat. Roll each stuffed pepper in flour, tap off excess flour, and dip the peppers into the egg mixture to coat both sides. Gently lay the coated peppers into the hot shortening. Fry peppers until lightly golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes per side.

Jim

That sounds like one of the traditional fillings for a Mex-Mex chili relleno. I've had that kind in actual Mexican restaurants. (I love Tex-Mex, too, of course.)

Perhaps the chili was a reconstituted dried/smoked chili? I am not sure.

quote:

Originally posted by bigeinkcmo:
Jimbo54 - That's basically what I do but with poblanos. I'm not a anaheim fan.

When we can't find fresh Anaheim peppers we use Poblanos as well. I like them both ways. Same thing with the cheese. We've used Monterey Jack at times.

Jim

I looked up what mine looked like and they were very similar to these which appear to be made with Ancho peppers and not Poblanos:

That's not Chile Rellenos Pasig. I don't know what it is, but it sure as hell isn't Chile Rellenos. The real deal is always breaded and fried with cheese. Always.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
That's not Chile Rellenos Pasig. I don't know what it is, but it sure as hell isn't Chile Rellenos. The real deal is always breaded and fried with cheese. Always.

Jim

Not according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_relleno

quote:

In Mexico, it consists of a stuffed, roasted, fresh poblano pepper (a large and mild chili pepper named after the city of Puebla), sometimes replaced with a Hatch chile, Anaheim, pasilla or even jalapeño chili pepper. In 1858 it was described as a "green chile pepper stuffed with minced meat and coated with eggs".[1]

In current cuisine, it is typically stuffed with melted cheese, such as queso Chihuahua or queso Oaxaca or with picadillo meat made of diced pork, raisins and nuts, seasoned with canella; covered in an egg white batter, simply corn masa flour and fried, or without any batter at all.[2][3] Although it is often served in a tomato sauce, the sauces can vary.

Some versions in Mexico use rehydrated dry chiles such as anchos or pasillas.[2]

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
That's not Chile Rellenos Pasig. I don't know what it is, but it sure as hell isn't Chile Rellenos. The real deal is always breaded and fried with cheese. Always.

Jim

Not according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_relleno

quote:

In Mexico, it consists of a stuffed, roasted, fresh poblano pepper (a large and mild chili pepper named after the city of Puebla), sometimes replaced with a Hatch chile, Anaheim, pasilla or even jalapeño chili pepper. In 1858 it was described as a "green chile pepper stuffed with minced meat and coated with eggs".[1]

In current cuisine, it is typically stuffed with melted cheese, such as queso Chihuahua or queso Oaxaca or with picadillo meat made of diced pork, raisins and nuts, seasoned with canella; covered in an egg white batter, simply corn masa flour and fried, or without any batter at all.[2][3] Although it is often served in a tomato sauce, the sauces can vary.

Some versions in Mexico use rehydrated dry chiles such as anchos or pasillas.[2]

Huh, well okay, I've just never seen them served that way.

Here's a couple of pics that show what I'm used to.







Jim

"Relleno" translates to "stuffed".

"Chili Peppers" include:
Ancho, Anaheim, Poblano, Banana and even Bell Peppers, among many others. Some varieties are too small and/or too hot to be practical.

The actual stuffing usually includes cheese but beyond that almost anything goes.

They can be stuffed and grilled, stuffed battered and deep fried or baked.

Pretty much anything goes as long as it is a variety of chili pepper and it is "stuffed".

I've made them several different ways...different peppers, different stuffing's, different cooking methods. They have always been good. Pre-cooked the peppers a little before you stuff them, add your favorite stuffing (even if it's just cheese) and decide which cooking method you want to finish them with.

There was a place in Boston in the 79s and 80s (might still be there) called El Phoenix Room that made the best I've ever had.

They pre cooked the peppers, then stuffed them with cheese, cheese and more cheese. put them into a cast iron pan with a special batter covered them with sauce baked them then topped with more cheese and put them under a broiler to melt the cheese...Effen awesome sh!t.

I would absolutely love to try authentic Mexican food. I have had kinda chain Mexican food. It been good. I have never really had make your socks go up and down good. I don’t have a comparison.

quote:

I would absolutely love to try authentic Mexican food. I have had kinda chain Mexican food. It been good. I have never really had make your socks go up and down good. I don’t have a comparison.

The "real" mexican food we saw was a pot of refried beans with a solid layer of flies covering the top

That was many, many years ago in a pretty romote beach area. My wife makes real CR and they have no meat in them.

There's a lot of regional variation in Mexican dishes. I tend to side with Jimbo54, as that's my idea of what a chile relleno "is." The picture PASig posted later wildly dissonates with that, but again, I get it. Regional differences. The Chihuaha, Coahuila, and Tex-Mex style stuff I grew up on is slightly different than the Sonora, Oaxaca, Jalisco, and Yucatan stuff I run into here in Washington. But it's close enough that it makes me happy.

quote:

Originally posted by Bob at the Beach:
I would absolutely love to try authentic Mexican food. I have had kinda chain Mexican food. It been good. I have never really had make your socks go up and down good. I don’t have a comparison.

Not being overly familiar with VA, what with never having been there and whatnot, I still have to believe you've got some honest-to-goodness real Mexicans that have their own little tacqueria or mercado to service the local Mexican population. like the Chinese have traditionally done in our country, they really do bring their culture with them, and being from El Paso, I kinda don't mind, because no matter where I go in the country, I invariably find a legit place or two where the food tastes like home. There's a lot of Mexicans where I live now, and I can go in pretty much any direction but East and be at a place with real Mexican food in no time.

I typed in your location and "tacqueria" and got this as a first hit, looks like a place I would check out:
https://www.zmenu.com/taqueria...beach-6-online-menu/

After a quick glance at their Facebook page, if I lived locally, I would check that place out. Any Mexican place that advertises beef tripe street tacos isn't playing around with going after the gringo market, they're looking to feed real Mexicans. Find you a place that sells forehead, tongue or cheek meat and you've absolutely got the real deal.

What most folks think is authentic Mexican food and what really is Mexican are not always the same, like many dishes they get converted or convoluted in translation.

It's a stuffed pepper, I'd say what you got there represents a more Mexican type pepper than a re-hydrated frozen green pepper stuffed with cheese spread and battered then fried..

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
That's not Chile Rellenos Pasig. I don't know what it is, but it sure as hell isn't Chile Rellenos. The real deal is always breaded and fried with cheese. Always.

Jim

............................................................................................................

Jimbo54 100% correct.

In SoCal they look like mostly like is. Chili rellenos are my gauge of a Mexican restaurant, and the best ones in the world are in East LA/Boyle Heights at El Tepeyac Cafe :-) I have not found a relleno worth eating in Montana :-(

I have had what I assume are the Tex-Mex versions - which are like the ones in Aeileron and Jimbo's photos. I like them.

But I like the kind in PASig's post better. Meat, raisins, nuts (and sometimes rice) are the stuffing, and the pepper is only lightly dredged in egg and flour - it isn't a crust at all. I've usually had them with a fresh pepper, but I've seen them with a rehydrated dried pepper.

I don't know what parts of Mexico or Texas are the home of what kind. They are all good.