Chiles en nogada — poblano chillies stuffed with picadillo (sweet-savoury spiced meat with dried fruits and nuts), covered in walnut cream sauce (nogada), and garnished with pomegranate seeds and parsley — is the most symbolic preparation in Mexican cooking: its green (chilli and parsley), white (walnut sauce), and red (pomegranate) represent the Mexican flag. It is made exclusively in August and September, when all its ingredients — including the fresh green walnuts required for the sauce — are simultaneously in season.
- **Fresh walnuts for nogada:** The sauce requires fresh green walnuts (nogal — just-harvested, with white meat, not yet dried and browned). Dried walnuts produce a darker, more bitter sauce that lacks the creamy white colour of authentic nogada. [VERIFY] Arronte's walnut specification. - **The picadillo:** Pork and beef, slow-cooked with tomato, onion, garlic, plantain, pear, peach, raisins, almonds, pine nuts, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper — the sweet-savoury Spanish colonial combination in its most elaborated form. - **The nogada:** Fresh walnuts, fresh cheese (queso de cabra or similar fresh goat cheese), cream, cinnamon, and a small amount of sherry — blended to a creamy white sauce. - **Serving at room temperature:** Chiles en nogada are not served hot — the walnut sauce's character is best at room temperature.
Mexico: The Cookbook