Hatch Green Chile Cheeseburger

The green chile cheeseburger is most often credited to the Owl Bar & Café in San Antonio, New Mexico, a town about ninety minutes from Hatch, where green chile grew locally; the café opened in 1945 and dates its unchanged burger recipe to 1948, though it is described as one of the likeliest first sellers rather than the certain inventor. The dish is woven into state identity to the point that the New Mexico tourism department maintains an official Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail of notable purveyors. The "Hatch" qualifier refers to the prized chile-growing district whose name has become shorthand for New Mexico green chile generally.

The green chile hits first and hardest — a roasted, vegetal pungency with a building heat that varies from gentle to genuinely fierce depending on the season's crop. Beneath it the cheese has melted into the chile and the seared, crusted beef patty, and the soft bun soaks up the chile juices and fat. There is no sweetness from ketchup or relish to get in the way; this is beef, cheese and chile, salt and char. By the last bite the bun is stained green and the chile heat sits on the lips.

Two browning reactions define the burger. The patty is seared hard on a flat-top so its surface undergoes Maillard browning into a savory crust while the inside stays juicy. Separately, the green chile is fire-roasted until its tough skin blisters and chars, which is then peeled away — this roasting both removes the inedible skin and deepens the chile's flavor by caramelizing its sugars and concentrating its pungency. Stacking the hot chile and cheese on the patty lets the residual heat melt the cheese and bind the layers, the chile's moisture working into the meat.