Chicos: A gift of the autumn harvest
Autumn arrives with falling leaves and brisk temperatures, and I always feel excited with anticipation. Fall is, for me, a time for snuggling near a fire in the fireplace, and for indulging in rich and comforting stews and soups. I love the smell of a pot of tasty beans simmering on the stove. And living in Taos, I have learned to sometimes add to the pot the smoked dried corn kernels known as chicos. For me, chicos are truly a gift of the harvest.
Here in New Mexico, chicos are a very old culinary tradition. Corn is relatively easy to grow, harvest, roast, dry, grind and preserve, making it an ideal universal food. Long enjoyed by the original inhabitants and later settlers of our region, chicos-like dried corn kernels have even been found in Ancestral Puebloan sites throughout the Southwest.
Historically, chicos are created by roasting dozens of ears of corn in an outdoor adobe oven known as an horno. The corn is soaked in water, while a wood fire is built in the oven. Once the fire has turned to embers, the ash and coals are raked out, the corn is piled in, and the oven is sealed overnight. After the corn is removed in the morning, the ears are cooled, and the husks are pulled back to remove the silk. The husks are then used to hang the corn from string or a portal for a couple of weeks until fully dry. The resulting hard kernels are removed from the cobs by rubbing the cobs by hand. Prized for their smoky-sweet flavor, chicos are a seasonal treat. Dried chicos, however, can be saved and used for the rest of the year…or as long as they last.
Each ear only makes about 1/4 cup of chicos. Therefore, because of the amount of work involved in harvesting, roasting and shelling the kernels, chicos are often used sparingly. Many cooks will use a 3:1 ratio of beans to chicos when making a stew, or will even just throw a mere handful into a longcooking dish for extra flavor. When a winter holiday comes around, though, an indulgent all-chico stew brings back happy memories to those who grew up eating them for special occasions.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you may want to roast your own corn for chicos. Although a lot of work, chicos are one of the ways for us to bridge the generations and continue a long-held tradition. An horno oven is the most traditional for roasting chicos and gives them their unique smoky flavor.
But if you don’t have access to an horno, you can still make chicos in your own oven at home (although they won’t have that distinctive smoky flavor). Soak a dozen un-shucked ears of corn in water for an hour, then place directly on the oven rack and roast in their husks at 300 degrees for four hours or so until the husks are browned. After the ears are husked and tied and fully dried for a couple of weeks, rub the corn with your hands to remove the kernels. (You can also make chicos on your barbecue gas grill or smoker if you can set it to run consistently at about 300 degrees for around two hours.)
Personally, I am much too impatient to wait until I can make my own chicos. Fortunately, locally grown chicos are available at farmers markets and at local grocery stores. In my recipe, chicos and beans are soaked together overnight. The next day, I brown some pork, onions and garlic, and add the herbs and spices. I drain the beans and chicos, and add them to the pot, cover with broth or water, and simmer. In a few hours, the beans and chicos are tender and delectable.
So whether you’re making your own chicos, or buying locallyproduced chicos from your favorite market, they are a wonderful ingredient to keep on hand for use in delicious traditional stews for those chilly autumn harvest evenings. I hope you will give this excellent and historic New Mexico dish a try. Bon provecho!