KITCHEN PRACTICE 2 — Ancho vs. Chipotle by Smell ================================================== Chapter: Mexican Cookery 1 — Foundations & the Mexican Pantry TASK ---- Smell a dried ancho chile and a dried chipotle chile side by side, and note how different they smell from each other and from a fresh poblano or jalapeño, if you have one on hand to compare. WHAT TO DO ---------- 1. Hold a dried ancho chile close and smell it. 2. Do the same with a dried chipotle chile. 3. If you have a fresh poblano or jalapeño available, smell that too for comparison. 4. Note the real differences — sweet, smoky, sharp, fruity. WHAT TO EXPECT -------------- - The ancho should smell sweet, raisin-like, and mild. - The chipotle should smell distinctly smoky, quite different from the ancho despite both being dried chiles. - A fresh poblano or jalapeño, if compared, should smell noticeably sharper and greener than either dried chile — genuinely different from what its own dried version smells like. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ---------------------------- This exercise makes the chapter's own central point about drying (and smoking) transforming a chile's real character something directly experienced through smell, before any of these chiles are ever cooked with in Chapter 5.