THE PARTIAL ENCHILADA BY ARI LEVAUX

THE PARTIAL ENCHILADA Chile for those chilly nights

BY ARI LEVAUX

Winter is the season for red chile enchilada sauce. You can almost smell the pinon and juniper smoke drifting from the leaky wood stove, as your mouth explores the profound depths of a good red chile made from scratch. In addition to Mexicanstyle foods, a good enchilada sauce is good an many more foods that you may not think of offhand, like baked potatoes and squash, roast fatty meats, scrambled eggs, and anything savory. Enchilada, after all, being the past participle of enchilar, simply means “covered in chile.” Enchilar literally means “to put chile on something.” In the popular dish enchiladas, named after that verb, that “something” is corn tortillas.

You can find the ingredients for a good red chile nearly everywhere, from the bulk section of Whole Foods to the “Ethnic foods” aisle of a small town supermarket with little more than salsa, soy sauce and ramen. We aren’t going to call it “chili,” by the way. The Mexican word for the plant from Mexico is “chile.”

In Spanish language slang, enchilada can mean red-faced and triggered. And researchers have determined RED CHILE. capsaicin does indeed trigger endorphins, the rush of which have been compared to those of sex, drugs, rock and roll and runner’s high, depending on what you’re into. Endorphins can dull pain, too, including, fortuitously, the pain of hot chile.

I once fed cayenne powder to my chickens to make their yolks extra-red, just to see if it could be done. Although they didn’t taste spicy — the capsaicin doesn’t make it to the eggs, even though the beta-carotene does — those yolks, grammatically speaking, were enchilados.

The world’s first enchiladas were little more than tortillas dipped in chile sauce. Generations of Mexican chefs took this initial breakthrough in countless directions. Chips and salsa is one derivative, although some might argue the chips are actually entomatadas, aka treated with tomato. (Not to be confused with enfrijoladas, covered with beans).

I’ve got some red chile drying in my living room, strung up in ristras New Mexico-style. The peppers are Italian Long Hots, a thin, crinkled chile that’s like playing Russian Roulette, because you never know when one will be searing. It’s a great pepper for red chile sauce, but most any whole pod will work. If

you can’t get whole pods, substitute ground chile, the redder the better.

If you eat as much chile as I do, you must pace yourself. I don’t go for the extra-hot chile. Sure, I can handle it, but I prefer a session chile that keeps me on the edge of my seat, but won’t slow me down.

At some point folks like myself might as well concede that we aren’t actually applying chile to this or that substrate, because chile IS the substrate. And all the other stuff like tortillas, chicken, cheese, et al, are all just different ways to season and decorate the chile.

But until then, we’ll keep calling it red chile enchilada sauce, which if you think about it, is redundant.

Red Chile Treatment

While most New Mexican red chile recipes are thickened with a little flour, I prefer corn masa, the same stuff tortillas and tamales are made of. Masa is a flour made from corn treated with calcium hydroxide, an ancient process (it used to employ wood ash) called nixtamalization that gives the cornmeal a creamier texture. simply apply this thick chile sauce to my choice of protein. I’ll garnish with onions, cilantro and avocado and call it good.

1 quart chicken stock (1+ tablespoons Better than Bouillon paste in a quart of water, or equivalent) 1 ounce dried red chile pod, clean and devoid of seeds and stems 3 cloves garlic 1 tablespoon oregano 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon oil 2 tablespoons masa 1 pound minced onion

Optional: cooked chicken meat, corn tortillas, grated jack or similar cheese for the entire enchilada; fresh onions

Heat the stock to a simmer. Add the cleaned chile and simmer 10 minutes. Then let sit for an hour. When it’s cool, add to a blender with the oregano and garlic, and blend until smooth. It will coalesce into a magical, near translucent state of chile gel that’s thick like a good pudding. Some cooks will call it good and stop here. Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the masa and stir it into the oil and butter. When it starts to brown, add the onions and a cup of water. Cook until the onions are translucent, stirring as necessary to prevent sticking; about ten minutes. Then add the chile blend and heat to a simmer. Keep it there 5-10 minutes, stirring often. Don’t PHOTO BY ARI LEVAUX overcook. You want to keep that bright red hue.

I gently fry the masa in butter into a roux. It’s I prefer to make stacked noticeably easier to manage than a flour-based enchiladas, rather than rolled, as it’s so much easier. roux, and has a fun, smooth foaming action that will You just fill a tray like making a lasagna. Heat the develops a nutty brown color and flavor, and doesn’t chicken in the chile sauce for a few minutes before seem eager to burn. layering it all together with tortillas and cheese.

Just a few spoonfuls of masa adds a distinct Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts, and dissolved tortilla flavor that is so noticeable I often serve garnished with raw onion. skip making the “whole enchilada,” if you will, and INFO@QCNERVE.COM

SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE.

©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved. TRIVIA TEST BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ 1. MOVIES: Who was the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor? 2. ASTRONOMY: How many phases does the Moon go through each month? 3. MEDICAL: What are leukocytes? 4. TELEVISION: What are the names of the three animated “Powerpuff Girls”? 5. INVENTIONS: Who is credited with inventing the first battery? 6. GEOGRAPHY: What is the largest country in Africa in land area? 7. MEASUREMENTS: What does a Geiger counter measure? 8. LITERATURE: What item did the crocodile swallow in “Peter Pan”? 9. FOOD & DRINK: What is grenadine made from? 10. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a baby goat called?

PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS CROSSWORD

ACROSS

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LIFESTYLE COLUMN COVID-19 have continued. Friend: “I’ve been on it and off [dating apps] for I certain dating apps and the “psychos” they’ve attracted from others. He ended up, or so he said, creating two last-minute profiles on Tinder and Bumble with a single picture and a profile/selling point suggesting he was, “Looking for a New Year’s kiss,” plus his phone number.

Quite the social experiment if you ask me, but with the 9 p.m. curfew closing in and no suspects chomping at the bit, the excitement was short-lived. Nevertheless, the chance encounter piqued my interest. I began to wonder, in these grim COVID-19 times, who’s taking a chance on finding love (short-lived or long-term) in the era of “quaranpeen?”

The dating app world has continuously befuddled me. I’ve always met people organically and therefore never had an interest in joining the online-dating world. I know very little about the mechanics of “swiping” or which apps allow women to control the interaction or how many dating apps even exist. And yet, the conversation constantly circles around me.

“A buddy of mine got banned from Hinge and he debacle. answers could come out, the conversation moved to the don’t know how long and I swear the same dudes are still

AERIN IT OUT on it ... like I’m talking years. And apparently, the apps will only show you profiles that have actually been active within a certain time frame like a week I think ... so when HOOKING UP IN A PANDEMIC Online dating means more than virtual meet-ups BY AERIN SPRUILL On New Year’s Eve, I had the “pleasure” of meeting a friend of a friend whose first introduction was a declaration that he had full intentions of finding a lady on a dating app that he could kiss at midnight. (For those that were questioning my integrity, yes, I was 6 feet of safe from this young fella.) I sized him up and chuckled. “This should be fun,” I thought to myself as I took a sip of my then-warm beer. After all, I was thoroughly intrigued. He took a poll around the table with a “wink and a gun” kind of smile on his face. “Which two apps do you think will be the most promising: Hinge, Bumble, or more serious nature of the ban. Apparently, “Hinge is like St. Lucia, Bumble is like Myrtle Beach, and tinder is like Shelby, NC!” These comparisons were all shared between exasperated bellows of laughter and the sense that the “buddy” had royally screwed up his chance for finding true, resort-style love. Bewilderment. Sheer terror. Gratitude. All were felt in that single moment as I thought about my friends braving the wild, searching for companionship during cuffing season in the midst of a pandemic! As a woman who’s spoken for, the dating scene remains one of the most intriguing aspects of nightlife. As the months of quarantine life have dragged on, I’ve watched friends become lovers, strangers become serious, singles serial dating, and thots still thotting. But it wasn’t until these recent conversations that I began to question if the dating world was simply “business as usual.” After putting my ear to the ground, the answer seems to be an unequivocal yes. Yes, people are still dating. Yes, in spite of the pandemic. And yes, the shenanigans, it properly…’ LIES! Also, the top bachelors on there have literally hooked up with every girl in Charlotte. I honestly have to ask ALL my friends before I talk to someone on it to confirm that they haven’t, one, been on a date with them or, two, slept with them ... chances are very slim they haven’t done either.” *Shrugs* some things never change. And yes, many app users are approaching with caution, citing anxiety over not only catching COVID-19 but catching a plethora of other “viruses,” because how safe can one be when there’s a chance the person you’re entertaining via text is also juggling 24 other potentials? Hinge. Bumble. Tinder. The League (allegedly home to the cream of the dating crop). Coffee Meets Bagel!? Whatever your preferred method of emotional or physical transaction, the dating world in the Queen City hasn’t shut down. A simple poll will reveal that even in the face of “extenuating circumstances,” the hunt for companionship is still on. Play on playa. But beware, you may just be falling right into the trap of the “Queen’s Gambit” and setting yourself up to fail right from the start. Tinder?” I admired his sprightly confidence. The entire table spiraled into the conversation around the success of complications, drama, and game-playing that preceded INFO@QCNERVE.COM

is DEVASTATED! [Not to mention] he was in Florida messaging 25 girls when it happened! He’s talking Connect with free virtual arts, science, about filing a lawsuit.” That’s the most recent unsolicited statement that tumbled onto my table following the NYE and history experiences for all ages. Curiosities have filled the corners of my brain. “How does one get banned from a dating app? What happened that was SO APPALLING that the app AGREED a ban was warranted? TWENTY-FIVE girls?” But before any of those CULTURE BLOCKS Find upcoming events at ArtsAndScience.org/CultureBlocks people say ‘Oh it must be from years ago, I didn’t delete

By Lucie Winborne

• To train new operatives during the Cold War, the Soviets built fully functional replicas of American towns. Their residents consisted of retired deep-cover operatives who taught the trainees everything they needed to know about blending into American life. • In 1963, the Bronx Zoo had an exhibit called “The Most Dangerous Animal in the World.” It was a mirror. • The U.S. Navy has a tradition that no submarine is ever considered lost at sea. Subs that don’t return, including 52 lost during World War II, are considered “still on patrol.” Every year at Christmas, sailors manning communications hubs send holiday greetings to those listed as still on patrol. • An outbreak of the common cold occurred at an Antarctic base after 17 weeks of complete isolation. • In the category of Best Song Titles Ever, country music stars Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty recorded a duet titled “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly.” (Despite which fact, the lyrics make clear that the couple is still in love.) • After high school senior Allison Closs dressed up a cardboard cutout of Danny DeVito to go with her to prom, the actor returned the favor by bringing a cardboard cutout of Allison to the set of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” • A $3 million lottery winner was sentenced to 21 years in prison after using his winnings to finance a meth trafficking ring. • Actual town names in the U.S. include Rabbit Hash (Kentucky), Two Egg (Florida), Ding Dong (Texas) and Bacon (Delaware). • Ever have trouble finishing your veggies? Try taking a tip from Leigh Knight, who in 2006 sold an unwanted brussels sprout left over from his Christmas dinner for £1,550 ($2,100.72 USD) to aid cancer research. ***

Thought for the Day: “May your coffee kick in before reality does.” — Unknown

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