A Southwest Icon

There’s no better smell than the heady aroma of chiles roasting in the fall. As they hiss and pop and their skins wrinkle, then char and blacken, the toasty, grassy, vegetal scent intoxicates.

Chiles and the Southwest are inextricably linked. So much so that they’ve passed into kitsch along with bandana-wearing coyotes and stylized saguaro cacti that always have the same two perfectly placed arms. But beyond the shellacked tourist ristras and scarily named hot sauces, the essence of chiles endures on the Southwest plate.

So in this issue, we celebrate the chile pepper, that quintessential icon of Southwest cuisine. Whether you’re an all-out fan of green or red (or Christmas), or you just prefer a whisper of heat, you’ll find a story and a recipe to enjoy. (We’re partial not only to chiles in all their varieties, but to their milder sister peppers as well.) From our native chiltepin in Chef Badman’s Two Wash chicken, to the roasted peppers in the muhammara from a refugee-owned Lebanese food truck, chiles now circle the culinary globe.

As you savor our native American treasure, keep an ear out. You just might hear that coyote howling at the moon.