Cook's Illustrated Unframed Print: Mexican Dried Chiles

Over the past 20 years, renowned illustrator John Burgoyne has produced more than 150 intricate, hand-drawn illustrations for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Now, for the first time ever, America’s Test Kitchen is proud to partner with Mr. Burgoyne and offer a select number of fine art prints featuring this iconic artwork.

Early writings about the Aztec civilization describe rainbows of chiles at their marketplaces, ready to lend their spice to the first recipes for tamales, moles, and drinking chocolate. Experts believe the wild, scorching‑hot CHILTEPIN, whose name is derived from the Aztec language Nahuatl, is the closest relative to the world’s earliest chiles. The pEquín looks like a brilliant-red berry and grows on flowering bushes; it lends its heat to Cholula hot sauce. Leathery chipotles are smoke‑dried jalapeños with woody, chocolaty undertones. Anchos, or dried poblanos, are exceptionally versatile, lending raisiny sweetness to sauces. The name of the nutty cascabel, Spanish for “rattle,” refers to the noise its seeds make when the pepper is shaken. Guajillos are gentle giants: perfect for adding body to sauces and braised meats without the heat of more forceful peppers. Conversely, the diminutive árbol packs a fiery punch. Citrusy, pleasantly spicy costeño amarillo and its relative costeño rojo are popular choices for salsa among the Mixtecs, Indigenous inhabitants of southern Mexico whose culture predates the Spanish conquest by hundreds of years. The pasilla—Spanish for “little raisin”—is fittingly wrinkly, with grapelike, herby flavor. The rare and prized Oaxacan chilhuacle comes in three colors—rojo, amarillo, and negro (red, yellow, and black)—each of which lends an irreplaceable combination of heat, depth, and subtle smokiness to the region’s famed moles.