Guide to Mexican Dried Chiles - CHOW Tip

There are three chiles that often crop up in Mexican recipes: pasillas, guajillos, and chiles de arbol. Chef Deborah Schneider, author of¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge, shows how to distinguish among them.

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TRANSCRIPT
These are the three main kinds of dried chiles used in Mexican cooking. There's a Pasilla Chile, which is dried, wrinkly, rather like a raisin. And this is going to have kind of a sweeter taste. Thesecond kind is smooth. This is called a Guajillo Chile, might also be called a New Mexico or a California Chile. It'll range in color anywhere from a really bright cherry red to sort of a dark brown color. This is a very mild chile. This is called a Chile de Arbol. The narrower the pepper, thehotter. The more seeds, the hotter. So if you have a narrow pepper with lots of seeds, you have a very hot pepper.