Preparing Dried Chiles for Cooking

Until I watched Veracruzan cooks at work, I would have said that a good Mexican cook regularly griddle-dries or toasts dried chiles (that is, puts the lightly rinsed chiles on a hot griddle just long enough to evaporate the moisture and make them fragrant). This is followed by soaking them for (usually) 15–20 minutes in hot water. But, surprisingly, I found no unanimity at all on these points in Veracruz. Many people throw dried chiles right into a sauce or soup with no griddle-cooking or soaking. Or they will toast them (especially the tiny wild-type chiles) and grind them to a seasoning powder rather than soaking and grinding them to a paste with other ingredients, the more orthodox Mexican method. And sometimes a cook threw me a curve. The gifted Lupita Armenta Guzmán (whom you will meet through several wonderful recipes) insisted that toasted chiles taste best when soaked in hot homemade stock rather than water. Now she has me doing it!