This blog post is courtesy of Joseph Griffo
Facebook Link Here: Fred’s Socorro Chile Stand

Yes folks, Fred’s Socorro Chile has opened up and is roasting!!!

Fred’s is open every day from 9-4 until October.
Location: Corner of St. Michaels and Llano St.

I got my steamy hot bushels yesterday. 1/2 Sack of Extra Hot and a 1/2 sack of Hot, and 20 raw Big Jims that I’ll blister over wood today for some Rellenos down the road.

I took some shots, chatted with the owners, and went home with the car filled with such an aroma it sent me into green chile ecstasy. A feeling I highly recommended emulating by getting some, putting it in your own car, and rolling up the windows to get the full effect. Don’t get in a wreck. I spent the rest of the day cooling and packing it for storage like ya do. 

The place slaps. No frills all because they don’t need any. I talked with Larry Gallegos. He and his brother David have run things since Fred passed. Fred used to have an A&W Root Beer stand in the eighties where he sold some bushels of his chile. People went nuts for it, and the rest is history. 

Larry said they now have fields and fields of this incomparable Socorro that they’ll be roasting at Llano St. and St. Michaels til early October.

If you look through these shots you’ll see a few of me straining the roasted chiles and letting the juices from the bags collect into a broth that tastes like nothing else on earth. I let the silt settle and it becomes a golden smokey green chile elixir I collect for future sauce magic.

As a chef, there’ve been many moments I’ve used this chile and these interesting drippings. A spectacular gastrique with venison I served for Wine and Chile fest was memorable. And even having it shipped to my New Orleans restaurant at the time for a dish called Steak Santiago, which was basically a ribeye seared with tequila and lime and a silky, topping Fred’s Socorro over most of it.   

Enjoy the shots. I have to drop by there again soon because Larry promised me a T-shirt!