Beer and Hatch Chilies

Eric Braun's "What's On Tap" column in the San Antonio Express-News recently featured a rather lengthy list of beers to match the heat of Hatch Peppers.

A good Belgian-style wit or tripel would do nicely. For the former, Boulevard's Zon is a good one and widely available, and for the latter it's a good excuse to grab a sixer of Real Ale Brewing's Devil's Backbone before it's gone for the year. . .Santa Fe Brewing's Pale Ale. . .Bohemia or Negra Modelo. . .

Easier to find and also from Santa Fe Brewing, is the Chicken Killer Barley Wine. You won't want to try to cool down a burning tongue with this one that tips the scales at 10 percent alcohol.

It's a big beer, but for a Barley Wine it's not completely overpowering and could be sipped along with a nice dessert, like say, a Hatch chile brownie. Or, to really bring out the character of a barley wine and the chiles, stir some roasted peppers into a crème brulee recipe.

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The next day, I ran across this article in the Dallas Observer by Jesse Hughey, and she suggested Negro Modelo, an Oktoberfest beer, or a Blegian wit.  She also offered her basic chili recipe:

Along with 5 pounds of meat (4 beef, 1 sausage), I think this batch had about a pound of fire-roasted, peeled and seeded peppers, about half a dozen roasted jalapeños, sauteed onion, tomatoes, cumin, coriander seed and garlic, plus the kicker -- an entire Hershey bar, which gives it a bit of sweetness and a sort of mole-sauce complexity. I also added the better part of an Oktoberfest to the pot.

I used to make a chili recipe from Justin Wilson that added baking chocolate.  That was pretty good, too.