Poblano: the mild one you have to peel

Large, heart-shaped, dark green, with a thick wall — the chile you stuff, the chile you cut into rajas, and the base of most creamy Mexican chile sauces.

Everyone in the US has eaten it, usually without knowing what it was called.

How hot it is: almost not at all

1,000 to 2,000 Scoville. Below a jalapeño, and often well below.

The catch is that it is inconsistent. Most poblanos are effectively mild, and then roughly one in ten is noticeably hot, for reasons having to do with growing stress rather than variety. If you are cooking for people who cannot take heat, taste a raw sliver before you commit a whole dish.

It has to be peeled

This is the one non-negotiable thing about the poblano. Its skin is tough, waxy and does not soften with cooking, and left on it comes away in unpleasant sheets in the finished dish.

The procedure:

1. Char it whole over a gas flame, under a broiler, or on a dry skillet, turning until the skin is blistered and black in patches. It should look ruined. It is not.
2. Sweat it — into a bowl covered with a plate, or a paper bag, for ten minutes. The trapped steam lifts the skin off the flesh.
3. Peel with your fingers, not under running water. Water carries the roasted flavor away with the skin. Leaving a few black flecks is normal and good.
4. Slit it open and take out the seeds and the top vein.

Rinsing at step three is the most common mistake and it costs you most of what the roasting was for.

What it becomes when dried

Dried ripe poblano is the ancho — or the mulato, depending on which strain. It is the single most useful fact for connecting the fresh and dried shelves: the biggest, mildest fresh chile becomes the sweetest, mildest dried one.

You cannot substitute one for the other, though. Fresh poblano is watery and vegetal; ancho is concentrated and raisiny. They are used in entirely different dishes.

What it is for

Rajas — roasted strips, cooked with onion and cream. This is the default use and the reason most people buy them.

Chiles rellenos — the thick wall is what makes it stuffable. Nothing else fresh in this pantry can hold a filling.

Creamy chile sauce — roasted poblano blended with cream or evaporated milk. Mild, green, and one of the few Mexican sauces that appeals to people who do not want heat at all.

Corn dishes — poblano and corn is one of the reliable pairings of central Mexican cooking.

Buying

Firm, glossy, deep green almost to black, heavy in the hand. Look for a flat, wide shoulder — those peel and stuff more easily than twisted ones.

Skip anything with soft spots or a dried-out stem. In the crisper drawer, unbagged, they hold about a week, less than most fresh chiles because the flesh carries so much water.

Roasted and peeled, they freeze well for months, which is worth doing when they are cheap.