New Mexican red chile sauce — the foundation sauce of New Mexican cooking, appearing in enchiladas, tamales, stews, and as a table condiment — is made from rehydrated dried red chile pods (RC-01) blended with garlic, cumin, and oregano, then briefly cooked in fat. It is not a tomato sauce; it is not salsa. It is a sauce of pure dried chile — the simplest possible expression of the chile's depth.
- **The specific oregano:** Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) — a different plant from Mediterranean oregano (Origanum vulgare). Mexican oregano has a more complex, slightly citrus-inflected, less floral character. The two are not interchangeable. [VERIFY] Jamison's oregano specification. - **The garlic:** Raw garlic blended with the rehydrated chile — the raw garlic's allicin provides the sharp depth that moderates the chile's earthiness. - **The fat cooking:** The blended chile purée fried briefly in lard or neutral oil — 5 minutes at medium heat, stirring constantly. The fat cooking concentrates the sauce, deepens the colour slightly, and removes the raw chile note. The same principle as mole (MX-01). - **The salt:** Added after cooking — salting before concentrating produces an over-salted result. - **The consistency:** Should coat a wooden spoon — thicker than a broth, thinner than a paste. **The application:** - Christmas style (New Mexico's famous answer to "red or green?"): both red and green chile sauces applied to the same dish simultaneously — red on one half, green on the other.
Rancho de Chimayó