Chile ancho

Both bitter, both dried-fruit. The chilli is the fruit, cocoa the shadow.

Dried-chilli raisin sweetness against pit smoke, which is how sal de gusano works.

Nixtamalised corn is sweet and flat; the ancho gives it depth, not heat.

Prune sugars caramelise onto the meat in a long braise.

Shared glutamate and acid; the chilli supplies the dried half of the fruit.

Sweet-warm phenols against the raisin note. Standard adobo pairing.

Guajillo brings acid and colour, ancho brings sugar. Neither works alone.

Same aroma compounds, doubled. Blend both into the sauce, not one.

Roast bitterness plus dried fruit; the two read as a single ingredient.

The peel oil cuts the tobacco note that otherwise dominates the paste.

Dried chilli with raisin sweetness — the bean reads sweeter than it is.

Dark stone fruit meets dark chilli; both carry benzaldehyde-adjacent sweetness.

Prune on prune, plus alcohol to extract the capsaicin properly.