Chicken with Tiny Dried Chiles

Throughout Mexico, every region has its variety of miniature chiles, usually used dried. They tend to be among the hottest of chiles. So I expected real fireworks at Rancho La Unión, a delightful Papantla-area ranch-cum-family-museum, when I heard that its version of a traditional Totonac chicken dish uses 50 grams (close to 2 ounces, or about ½ cup) of the local small dried chiles. To my surprise, the sauce had only a pleasant bite, not a white-hot sting.

A few years later I was se