Serve this typical Sichuan dish with plenty of plain steamed rice and stir-fried greens such as bok choy.

• 2 whole chicken breasts

• 1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

• 2 teaspoons soy sauce

• ¼ cup peanut oil

• 1 cup shelled peanuts

• 5 or 6 small dried red chiles

• ½ teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Bone the chicken breasts and chop the meat with skin intact into 1-inch cubes. Combine the chicken, ginger, cornstarch and soy sauce in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat; add the peanuts and stir-fry 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels.

Add the chiles to the pan and stir-fry until browned and pungent, about 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Add the chicken to the pan and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar, vinegar, reserved peanuts and chiles and heat through. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Source: Adapted from Regional Cooking of China by Margaret Gin (101 Productions, 1975).

Wednesday, December 15, 2004
By Greg Thomas
Real estate writer
When little-noticed Baumer Foods Inc. bought a Texas condiment company in October, adding a meat flavoring called Hickory Liquid Smoke to its portfolio of hot sauces and other concoctions, the acquisition marked the end of a realignment of the New Orleans company’s products.

Baumer had long been locked in government contracts, providing jams and jellies for World War II combat rations early on and supplying Veterans hospitals in later years.

But in a gutsy move, the family-owned company said goodbye to the stable but strangling federal contracts in 1994 and hello to a niche market it would grow to dominate: bottling private-label condiments.

Baumer’s bottles 24 products under its Crystal label, including the table mainstay Crystal Hot Sauce. It also bottles condiments for others, a business that propelled the 81-year-old firm to $54 million in revenue last year.

Besides its hot sauce, Baumer is perhaps best known to locals for its iconic, 60-year-old art-deco billboard that rises from the roof of the 4301 Tulane Ave. plant, high enough to be seen by autos screaming by on the elevated Interstate 10.

The aluminum sign has spotlights on a smiling “jam cooker” stirring a pot of strawberry jam, while neon lights spell out simply, “Crystal Preserves.”

Baumer, which employs 205 people, is the only remaining large-scale condiment producer in the city since Wm. B. Reily & Co. Inc. moved production of Blue Plate mayonnaise out of state in 2000.

Best known now for its sauces, Baumer’s past included a large vegetable canning operation that employed 100 seasonal workers until about 20 years ago.

But it was jams and jellies packed into half-inch tall, olive-drab green cans included in each box of World War II combat rations that opened up a national market for the small company.

To this day, out-of-state World War II veterans who spy the I-10 sign while passing through often detour to the plant. The self-invited visitors always tell Baumer employees that Crystal strawberry preserves and other flavors were the only good thing they remember about old-style C-rations, and they wanted to see where they were made.

“We give them some jam,” said Alvin Baumer Jr., president and chief executive. Jams are still part of the company’s product line. The jam comes in squeeze-plastic bottles today, but originally came in 2 ½-pound wooden jars.

Military contracts for jams and jellies during the war propelled the company from local to national food processor and manufacturer, but those same federal contracts often hamstrung the firm.

“We always had to give them (the federal government) a price for the year” for a specific commodity, “but they wouldn’t commit to an amount. We didn’t know if it would be 10,000 or 100,000 cases,” Baumer said.

Baumer Foods’ canning operation included shrimp, okra, red and white beans and sweet potatoes, but after Alvin Baumer Jr. became top executive in 1980, canning and military contracts went out the door.

“I just didn’t see any future in it,” Baumer said. Baumer Foods still bottles whole small peppers under the Crystal brand, however.

In 1998, former food broker Terry Hanes came to Baumer Foods as senior vice president and chief operations officer. Baumer credits Hanes for seeing and jumping on the private label market.

Private labels now account for 46 percent of Baumer’s business, Hanes said, or about $24.8 million of the company’s 2003 revenue.

Private label production allowed Baumer to distribute more of its product to the public while avoiding the costly slotting fees retailers charge producers to put products on their shelves. The company that brands and distributes the private-label product pays the slotting fees, Baumer said.

Baumer Foods’ products may be known for their fiery tang, but its genesis in 1923 was the chill of sugary snowballs.

Alvin A. Baumer Sr. wanted to marry Mildred Wirth, but didn’t have a job. So he decided to create one. He borrowed money from his future father-in-law, Charles Wirth, a German immigrant who created a real estate company and brewery. The Wirth building at 1441 Canal St. bears his name.

Baumer bought Miss Fruit Products, a bottler of syrups for snowballs, and peddled the syrups to snowball vendors.

But among the syrup recipes that came with Miss Fruit was one for a hot sauce using the relatively mild but flavorful cayenne pepper.

The sauce was originally named Crystal Louisiana Pure Hot Sauce, which Baumer first hand-ground, aged and bottled in a small industrial building on Tchoupitoulas Street, adding salt and vinegar to produce the table mainstay. The formula was modified by the family a few times over the early years to create its present flavor.

Baumer dropped sugary syrups and moved to its Tulane location just before World War II. Both Alvin and Mildred Baumer ran the plant, with Alvin focusing on operations and Mildred dealing with hundreds of food brokers across the nation.

In 1952, Alvin Baumer Jr. was adopted at birth by Mildred and Alvin when they were nearly 50. Baumer practically grew up in the plant, and was unofficially working there as early as 12.

“He was working the old-style switchboard, the kind with the plugs, and the government came in and cited Baumer Senior for employing an underage worker,” Hanes said.

At 16, the younger Baumer legitimately began working in the family business, driving a Volkswagen Beetle with no air conditioning to stock area grocery stores with Crystal Hot Sauce.

He finished college and in 1980 became president of the company. His parents, however, continued to work at the plant. The elder Baumer kept that routine up until two weeks before he died in 1991 at the age of 88. His wife died at age 85 in 1988. “She was here just two or three days before she died,” her son said.

Doug Wakefield, Baumer vice president of operations, recently watched as noisy conveyor lines whirled by, bottles being filled with hot sauce and labeled.

He shouted above the clamor that the line runs three shifts a day. It takes about one hour to clear and clean the bottling lines for a different product, such as switching from steak to soy sauce or mustard to barbecue sauce.

Baumer said that the October acquisition of The Figaro Co. of Mesquite, Texas, was a chance to get market presence in the Southwest, where the company’s flavoring products are most popular. Figaro’s condiments are now being made at the Tulane Avenue plant and will retain their original labels. Along with Figaro came several condiments, the most well-known being Hickory Liquid Smoke.

The Figaro products are being produced without additional employees. Only one Figaro employee, a national sales executive, was retained in the purchase.

Baumer and Hanes said they watch for potential acquisitions, but have none in their sights presently.

Through the years, it’s the cayenne pepper that has been the one constant.

Every August, Baumer treks to northern Mexico to inspect pepper fields. The peppers are trucked to New Mexico where a processor grinds the peppers to mash.

The mash, aged for 60 days, is trucked from New Mexico to New Orleans.

Outdoor tanks hold the mash until it’s time to blend with salt and vinegar and head to bottling lines.

Crystal Hot Sauce is a hit internationally, with Saudi Arabia being the largest single importing country, Baumer said, complete with Arabic labels.

Not only is the company’s past based on pepper, its future will be based on pepper — in more ways than one.

Alvin “Pepper” Baumer III, 16, is completing boarding school, eyeing college, and determined to one day head the family business, his father said. And he doesn’t mind the nickname.

“The only child will take over the family business from an only child,” Baumer said. “He’s anxious to finish school and start working here.”

Hard Rock Café’s in the USA are now serving a new dish – Joe Perry’s Rock Your World Quesadillas.

Hard Rock chef’s developed the menu item with Joe’s approval.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has released his second signature sauce.

The 30 year veteran of the classic rock band has formulated his sauce ‘Rock Your World’ and it is now available in US Hard Rock Cafes. According to his site “the quesadilla consists of a flour tortilla dusted with chili powder and grilled on each side. Putting the filler in this thriller is Monterey Jack cheese and seasoned chicken or steak tossed with grilled pineapple and Joe’s Mango Peach Tango hot sauce, made with fresh peppers, mangos, peaches, onions, garlic, lime juice and red wine vinegar. The quesadilla is served with a hot tropical fruit salsa, sour cream and guacamole”.

The sauce mentioned is another of Joe’s non-Aerosmith side projects. He has developed two sauces – Joe’s Boneyard Brew and Mango Peach Tango.

“Great food is something you rarely get on the road–that is why cooking has become one of my passions,” said Joe Perry in a statement. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help create this delicious quesadilla that will bring my rockin’ hot sauce to Hard Rock’s world-famous menu. It truly is an honor to have my original hot sauce creations featured at one of my favorite restaurants, Hard Rock Cafe.”

Oh yeah, and for those who still think of Joe as a musician, he will release his 4th solo album in April 2005.

By Brian Louis
JOURNAL REPORTER
T.W. Garner Food Co., the maker of Texas Pete Hot Sauce, has bought a Vermont salsa and tortilla-strip company for an undisclosed amount, T.W. Garner’s president said yesterday.

The deal to buy the maker of Green Mountain Gringo salsa and tortilla strips is the first acquisition by T.W. Garner, which is based in Winston-Salem.

“There’s a first time for everything, and we just figured this was the time for us,” said Reg Garner, the president of T.W. Garner, a privately held company.

The purchase expands T.W. Garner’s brand base, and it views the deal as an extension of its sauce business. The purchase gives the company entry into the salsa and tortilla-strip product categories and into a new market – the growing natural-foods market.

“It broadened our horizons on a couple of different fronts,” Garner said.

T.W. Garner, which has about 65 employees in Winston-Salem, also makes jams, jellies and preserves.

Christine and David Hume started the salsa business in their Chester, Vt., farmhouse, selling homemade, all-natural salsa to local stores.

They incorporated Hume Specialties Inc. in 1988, according to records with the Vermont secretary of state.

Sales increased, and the business moved into a former building-supply building and has been expanded over the years to handle increased business.

Green Mountain Gringo salsa and tortilla strips are distributed in natural-, health- and specialty-food stores, and in a number of grocery-store chains, including Winn-Dixie, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, according to Green Mountain Gringo’s Web site.

Production of the salsa and tortilla strips will be moved to Winston-Salem, Garner said.

He said it will take several months before production starts here.

The deal will result in the loss of from 18 to 23 jobs in Vermont. Those workers will receive severance packages.

T.W. Garner expects that it will have to hire additional workers because of the deal, but it is unclear how many, Garner said.

He said that the company will concentrate on digesting this purchase before thinking about the possibility of doing other deals.

“We’re very excited about this,” Garner said.

The X-Factor
by Jim Bone

Hard Rock Cafe
Joe Perry, guitarist for Aerosmith, has another hot sauce on the market, Mango Peach Tango Hot Sauce. He says he has a passion for cooking. Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony also has a line of hot sauces. If and when these two rock-n-rollers decide to open restaurants to showcase their sauces, who would run the better place to eat and hang out.

Joe Perry vs. Michael Anthony

Pros

- Fresh seafood flown in daily aboard AERO-FORCE ONE.

- Free dessert if you can name one song by “The Joe Perry Project.” – - Nice commemorative guitar pick you can actually use as a toothpick.

Cons

- Don’t get there late. When it comes to the food, the earlier stuff is much better (just like the band’s music).

- When entering the restaurant, the annoying greeting you get when Steven Tyler’s recorded voice says: “ARE YOU READY TO EAT?!!”

- Joe refuses to take “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” out of the jukebox

Michael Anthony

Pros

-Each meal comes with a free shot of Jack Daniels.

-You might see David Lee Roth doing dishes.

-Waitresses are forced to wear leopard-skin spandex.

Cons

- Random 20 minute bass solos played over the sound system.

- Don’t even think about bringing brown M&Ms in with you.

- Can’t avoid overhearing two guys in the corner debating the whole Van Halen/Van Hagar argument.

the x factor-

I have to go with Michael Anthony on this one. Let’s be honest, Joe is too skinny to know what kind of food to serve up. People who open restaurants need a few extra pounds on them. It’s their way of saying “welcome to my restaurant, I love to eat too.”

The views expressed in X-Factor are that of 97.9 X air personality Jim Bone and not necessarily those of the Weekender or Knight Ridder newspapers.

In case you missed it here in New York City, Joe Perry greeted fans and fanatics this morning at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC. Sweat ‘N Spice Hot Sauces was there to meet ‘n greet with Joe and his crew. We got a case of bottles signed for all you Rock ‘N Roll Fans out there, so let us know if you want a signed bottle. Below are some pictures (that turned out) of the event.

Joe Perry & the X-mas Hard Rock Cafe Sign
Joe Perry Signing His New Mango Tango Hot Sauce
Joe & Nick

For all of you that missed the signing, there are going to be many more at Hard Rock Cafe’s across the country. Joe is basically going on tour with his hot sauce – and Hot Sauce lovers across the nation couldn’t be happier to have Joe on our side.

And a for all of you that we met & photographed, we’ve got your pictures ready! Email us your name & what you were wearing and we’ll send you your pics!

Buy Joe Perry’s Mango Peach Tango Hot Sauce W/ Guitar Pick
Buy Joe Perry’s Mango Peach Tango Hot Sauce

Uncle Brutha was born to be a hot sauce king.

As a child, he wanted to be just like his older cousins, who put hot sauce on everything from wings to vegetables. So he did.

Uncle Brutha, a Washington native whose real name is Brennan Proctor, said he learned how to make a Denver omelet from his first book, a cookbook.

He said that knowledge helped him when, years later, tired of looking for tasty wings and hot sauces during happy hour and coming up empty, his co-workers challenged him to make some good ones. One thing led to another, and the 41-year-old entrepreneur now owns a fiery online business based in College Park, selling his specialty hot sauces to local restaurants, stores and individual customers.

Proctor said he chose College Park for the business’ virtual address because it sounded cool, and hopes more local stores start carrying his sauces soon, including the Maryland Food Co-op.

Always looking for new customers, Proctor goes to Eastern Market on Capitol Hill every weekend to give out samples of his product with his cousin and aide, university student Faruq Robinson.

Robinson, a senior music major, said getting up at 6 a.m. on the weekend and working until 6 p.m. can be hard, but it is worth it.

“We have a bunch of tortillas chips and we just stand behind the booth letting people get chips and dip it into a bowl of hot sauce,” he said.

Proctor said he also ends up selling hot sauce on the weekends with his mother and cousin – that is, if Robinson doesn’t buy it all.

“I live off the stuff,” Robinson said with a laugh. “I like a little bit of food with my hot sauce.”

Proctor said it took him 10 years after his co-workers’ challenge to make the product exactly what he wanted, and he soon became the most popular guy in town.

“I had people going nuts about the wings,” Proctor said. “I would make them for receptions and was invited everywhere. Actually, I think all the invitations I was getting were more for the wings and hot sauce than my wonderful personality.”

Proctor was working in the music industry when he decided to bottle his hot sauces and give them out as gifts. He said soon he was getting more jobs with the hot sauces than music. In 2002, with digital downloading hurting the industry, Proctor decided to switch his focus to the hot sauces and put them on the market.

He started with Uncle Brutha’s Fire Sauce No. 10 and Fire Sauce No. 9. No. 10 mixes the four hottest and flavorable chilies with “a little extra kick of flavor,” while No. 9 blends green Serrano chili pepper, ginger, garlic, cilantro and green onion to produce a “southwestern kick with an Asian flair,” according to his website.

Rahman Harper, a chef at B. Smiths, a southern Creole-cajun restaurant in Washington, said clients love the hot sauces. Harper, known as “Chef Roc,” said he is an avid fan.

“I’ve seen a lot of sauces where there is a lot of spice but no flavor,” he said. “But Uncle Brutha’s hot sauces don’t just taste like fire; they’re spicy but have flavor and zest. They’re versatile.”

Proctor got his nickname from a pet name his sister gave him. As children, he called her “sista” and he called her “brotha,” so when she had a son, Proctor said, “Well, I guess now my name is Uncle Brutha.” He used his nickname for his business, adding a unique spelling.

Catherine Alexander, an employee at the Glut Food Co-op in Mount Rainier, said when Proctor first came in to present the product, she had never heard of it, but was pleased with the sample. She said the co-op ordered only two cases of each sauce last month to test their popularity, but has placed an order for many more.

“We never had to plug it to the customers,” she said. “Customers plug it themselves.”

Proctor said he is lucky so many people have been so interested in his product, but said he feels a little bit overwhelmed.

“Things are really taking off, but I need to find help so that I can stay on top of everything. I don’t want little things to fall through the cracks,” Proctor said. “I need some time too, lately I’ve been a fast food junkie.”

Proctor hopes to see his business expand and proudly boasts the awards he won last month. No. 10 won second place in the Hot Sauce-Habanero/No Extract Category as part of the Zest Fest put on by Chili Pepper magazine. It was his first major trade show, and there were more than 800 entries in 75 categories.

Tropical Storm!
Aerosmith’s lead guitarist Joe Perry is devastating taste buds with his “Rock Your World” MANGO-PEACH TANGO hot sauce. He is hitting HARD ROCK Cafes: December 6th in New York, December 7th in Dallas, and December 9th in Los Angeles.

(PRWEB) December 3, 2004 — Aerosmith’s lead guitarist Joe Perry is devastating taste buds with his “Rock Your World” MANGO-PEACH TANGO hot sauce. He is hitting HARD ROCK Cafes: December 6th in New York, December 7th in Dallas, and December 9th in Los Angeles. ‘MANGO’ is featured on the menu, in both a steak and a chicken Quesadilla dish, and is available for purchase in select HARD ROCK Cafés; also online. From his own kitchen, through production, to your salivating palate, Joe has overseen every step. He was a hit on EMERIL and FOOD FINDS, with more shows scheduled, and will be on the Westwood One radio network. ‘Axeman’ Joe Perry will be on the HOWARD STERN show – look for outrageous fireworks – December 7th, 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Warm peachy-amber in color, MANGO-PEACH TANGO is an exotic sauce with a Caribbean flair. It comes in a whiskey flask bottle with a striking label of a mango and peach tango-ing. The sauce’s texture is medium thickness, not overwhelming to foods, but complimentary, and the heat would be considered medium-hot. Its main ingredients are peach, mango, bell pepper, lime juice, onion, garlic, and Habanero chile pepper – all fresh. Its burst of fruit is followed by a serious wallop of heat to the palate.

MANGO-PEACH TANGO is ideal for seafood, fowl, game or meat, or mixed with sour cream/yogurt for veggies and chips. With premium ingredients, no preservatives and extreme flavor, it joins Joe Perry’s hit, BONEYARD BREW hot sauce, a fusion BBQ/hot sauce with rockin’ muscular heat, and a trio of Habanero, Chipotle and Bell peppers. Both sauces are sensational for cold-weather cooking! Try a spicy splash on that tired turkey sandwich, or in those upscale hors d’oeuvres.

Joe Perry’s sauces are made by award-winning Ashley Foods, makers of MAD DOG BBQ, MAD CAT Habanero hot sauce, and many others, including the ‘world’s hottest’ sauce – 357 with a brass bullet containing a sampling spoon.

Enchanted by chiles
New Mexico’s sparse desert beauty provides perfect backdrop for spicy meals

AMY CULBERTSON
Knight Ridder

In late September and early October, the roofs of south-facing portales — porches — all over New Mexico sprout brilliant red ristras, vivid stalactites of chile peppers strung from the eaves to dry for winter.

Chiles are the soul of New Mexican cooking, which blends Native American and Hispanic influences into a cuisine unto itself. And these ristras — beloved by tourists as souvenirs — may be the state’s universal symbol.

To follow the chile’s fragrant trail is to follow the Rio Grande as it cuts through the mountainous terrain between El Paso, Texas, and Santa Fe, N.M. It parallels the four-centuries-old Camino Real — the “Royal Road” that linked the Spanish colonial capital of Mexico City with the northern interior of New Spain. Known these days as Interstate 25, it’s one of America’s great drives, more than 300 miles through the scenery of a thousand Western movie matinees of our childhood.

We flew into El Paso, rented a car and drove north to Albuquerque, N.M., making Santa Fe a day trip from there and breaking the drive in the middle with a one-night stop in Truth or Consequences, N.M.

The mountains, silent and ancient, are never far away on this drive, and neither is a bowl of green chile pork stew. In galleries and gift shops along the way, you can buy every kind of chile-themed knickknacks, from pens to place mats.

And in coffee shops and car washes, at diner counters or white-linened tables, you might sample chiles rellenos, stacked blue-corn enchiladas with red or green chile sauce, green chile cheeseburgers or tempura squash blossoms in a red chile beurre blanc.

The first question you’ll likely hear from your waiter is, “red or green?”

Both chile sauces are made from the same chile, but the red chile has been allowed to hang on the plant longer and become fully ripened. Green chile sauce has a sharper, “greener” flavor, and is usually hotter than the red, which tastes deeper, rounder, sweeter and earthier.

Actually, you don’t have to choose between the two: You can have both. The code word, when you’re ordering, is “Christmas.” And for chile-heads and adventurous eaters, driving the chile trail during New Mexico’s brilliant fall is certainly Christmas come early.

El Paso

If you’re used to Tex-Mex cooking, El Paso is a good transition into the New Mexico frame of mind. It’s set on the cusp of Mexico amid the Franklin Mountains, with its mirror city, Ciudad Juarez, across the now-diminished Rio Grande.Chiles await even before you leave the El Paso airport, at the El Paso Chile Co., which sells all manner of chile-abilia. El Paso Chile Co. honcho W. Park Kerr is the crown prince of chile hereabouts, and he has a larger shop downtown where his business is headquartered.

Also downtown is the city’s hippest restaurant, Cafe Central, whose eclectic menu pays homage to home with cream of green chile soup. But you’ll want to get out into the neighborhoods for your immersion in chile cuisine.

Start with one of the locals’ favorites, L&J Cafe, a landmark next to Concordia Cemetery. They roast green chiles out back on the patio, and chile guru Kerr calls L&J’s chile con queso and green chile chicken enchiladas paradigms of their genre.

El Paso is a gold mine of dives and diners. It’s home to the famous H&H Coffee Shop, a 10-stool diner attached to a car wash. From the well-seasoned grill come breakfast tacos, hotcakes and carne picada — chunks of tri-tip beef griddled with onion, tomato and jalapeno, and served with fresh flour tortillas. On Tuesdays, perfect chiles rellenos stuffed with melting Muenster are made from scratch.

Machaca — shredded brisket, scrambled with eggs, chiles, tomatoes and jalapenos — is one of the specialties at the even humbler Lucy’s Coffee Shop, a blue-and-white-tiled diner attached to the Budget Lodge Motel at 1305 N. Mesa.

To wash it all down, saunter across the international bridge to Cuidad Juarez (take your driver’s license), onto Avenido Juarez for an evening of bar-hopping. Have a margarita at the Kentucky Club Cantina (reputed to be the birthplace of the drink).

The Mesilla Valley

From El Paso, less than an hour’s drive north will bring you to New Mexico’s Chile Central: the Mesilla Valley.

Take the “Old Road,” which parallels I-25: N.M. Highway 28 to La Mesilla and Las Cruces; then N.M. Highway 185 to Hatch, winding peacefully past adobe houses painted in bright turquoises and blues, through the dappled shade of pecan orchards. Vast fields of peppers make this area New Mexico’s Napa Valley of chiles.

The little village of Hatch, in fact, has given its name to New Mexico green chiles, familiarly known as Hatch chiles.

A few miles south of Hatch, Las Cruces, southern New Mexico’s largest metropolis, has the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University.

But it is little Mesilla, on the western edge of Las Cruces, that draws the tourists, with its faithfully preserved frontier atmosphere.

Today, the adobe buildings house jewelry and gift shops, and the main dining draws are La Posta de Mesilla and the Double Eagle Restaurant and Peppers Cafe.

La Posta is practically a tourist destination in itself, with several gift shops and a plant-filled courtyard housing tropical birds. On the plaza, the Double Eagle is two restaurants in one, the more casual being Peppers Cafe, in a colorful interior courtyard. The Double Eagle’s ornate rooms are filled with antiques, gilt and Baccarat chandeliers.

Both serve inventive New Mexican cuisine such as green chile red snapper.

Truth or Consequences

North of Hatch on N.M. Highway 187, the terrain gets rougher: dry washes, arroyos, canyons, mesas dotted with sage and scrub. Beyond, the mountains rise higher, in shades of sand and sienna, roses and lavenders.Past the Caballo Reservoir, the road rises into Truth or Consequences, which locals call “T or C.” It was originally named Hot Springs, but changed its name in 1950 when host Ralph Edwards promised to broadcast his radio game show from any town that would take the name of the program.

Back in the days when society “took the waters,” the town was known for its mineral springs, and it exudes the faded, funky appeal of resorts that have seen better days. There are a few signs of yuppification, though, and one of them is the renovated Sierra Grande Lodge, perched on a walled hillside block overlooking the quiet downtown.

The restaurant at the Sierra Grande is several notches more ambitious than you’d expect in a place like T or C. For our leisurely meal under the restaurant’s portal, the chef sent out chilled oysters with twin sorbets of green chile and heirloom tomato.

After an evening of massage and mineral soaks, and gazing out over the moonlit town from the Sierra Grande’s balcony, we dare you not to feel rested the next morning.

So it’s on to Albuquerque — with a couple of stops for lunch along the way.

In San Antonio, N.M., a tiny Western town on the Rio Grande, stop at the Owl Bar & Cafe. Even the mayor of Hatch concedes that the Owl has the best green chile cheeseburger in New Mexico.

Next comes Socorro, an 1858-vintage village with an old-fashioned bandstand under a shaded plaza. Off the plaza is Martha’s Black Dog Coffeehouse. We’re pretty sure there isn’t another place within a 100-mile radius to get sushi with shrimp, cucumber and green chile.

Albuquerque

Albuquerque, in New Mexico’s high desert, is not just another dusty adobe town. Its downtown — readying for the city’s tricentennial in April — is in the midst of a lively renaissance. You can hardly turn around there without bumping into a chile dish.

A personal favorite is the quirky little university-area El Patio, with delightful outdoor dining and incendiary carne adovada.

On this trip, though, we motored out to the cottonwood-shaded village of Corrales. Casa Vieja, an old hacienda that’s the domain of local TV chef Jim White, sets a festive outdoor table with the likes of green chile pork carnitas, in a crispy tortilla shell perched on a mound of garlic mashed potatoes.

You can balance all that chile consumption with visits to a couple of Albuquerque’s wineries. Gruet, owned by a French family, makes strikingly fine sparkling wine for the price. And Casa Rondeña is a Mediterranean oasis with plashing fountains and gorgeous grounds.

Santa Fe

You can eat a different breakfast every day of the week without venturing more than a few blocks from Santa Fe’s central plaza. Tia Sophia’s is famous for its huevos rancheros (chile-topped eggs on tortillas), and the Plaza Cafe, with its soda-fountain counter, for its divine blue corn piñon hotcakes.For innovative New Mexican fare, you can’t beat the colorful Cafe Pasqual’s, decorated with whimsical Mexican murals and named for the folk saint of Mexican kitchens and cooks. This busy corner dining room buzzes with tourists and locals digging into dishes like smoked trout hash with chile de arbol salsa.

If you’ve missed any New Mexican specialties on your trip, you can redress that omission at Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen, a Santa Fe favorite since the ’50s. Maria’s can serve you a spread that includes a rich layered green chile chicken enchilada casserole and plump tamales with piñon nuts, green corn and green chile.

And you would be remiss if you didn’t crown your trip with a splurge at one of Santa Fe’s many fine-dining spots. Mark Miller practically put chiles on the national foodie map with his Coyote Cafe, but we chose Ristra, with its spare, serene dining rooms and its elegant French owner, Eric Lamalle.

Executive chef Xavier Grenet, a Joel Robuchon protege, sends out dishes like an ethereal tempura of squash blossoms atop Dungeness crab and zucchini dice, set in a subtle thyme and red chile butter sauce.

Sipping the last drops of our black Mediterranean mussels’ chipotle-mint broth, we found ourselves wishing we didn’t have to drive back to Albuquerque, so we could linger over a glass of wine in the lushly planted front garden.

Still, the mountains beckoned, and the hostess reminded us: “There’s a full moon; it’ll keep you company all the way home.”

½ to 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 to 2 teaspoons seafood seasoning (preferably Old Bay brand)
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Several drops hot pepper sauce (optional)
2 cups whole almonds or cashews, or pecan or English walnut halves, or a combination
In a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Or, place butter in a deep small glass bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and microwave at HIGH power for 35 to 40 seconds or until butter is melted. Stir in seafood seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Add nuts of choice, coating each nut well with butter mixture. Spread nut mixture in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated slow oven (300 degrees F.) for 15 to 20 minutes or until nuts are lightly toasted. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in a tightly sealed container in a cool dark area for up to three weeks.

Variations:

Omit seafood seasoning; use 1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder. May add a pinch of saffron, if desired.
Omit seafood seasoning: use 1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder. May add a pinch or to taste of ground cumin, if desired.
Sweet Spiced Nuts
2 cups

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
Salt as desired
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted, or 2 tablespoons cooking oil (corn or canola or safflower oil)
2 cups nuts of choice
Combine confectioners’ sugar and spices. In a large heavy skillet, combine 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar mixture and salt to taste. Add nuts, mixing well. Adjust seasoning, if desired. Cook, stirring constantly, over moderate heat until nuts are lightly toasted. Drain off excess liquid. Spread half of the remaining sugar mixture in a shallow pan; arrange warm nuts in one layer over sugar mixture. Evenly sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over nuts. Allow mixture to cool. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry area.