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spiceberry · green-tea · tangy · dried-fruit · mild

Guajillo chilli

The workhorse of Mexican red sauces. Berry-tart, barely hot, and the reason birria is that colour.

on its own
2.0sour
1.0sweet
2.0savoury
2.0bitter
1.0umami
order · canon first15 pairings for Guajillo chilli.

Epazote

common

Dried chilli fruitiness needs a bitter herb, not more sweetness.

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

Garlic

common

Toasting turns allicin to sweet diallyl sulfides; that against berry tartness is adobo.

Cumin

common

Musk grounds the fruit note so the sauce does not taste like juice.

Lime

common

The chilli is already sour; lime sharpens it rather than adding anything new.

Tomato

common

Shared acid and lycopene. The chilli deepens the colour, not the heat.

Masa

common

Fruity dried chilli toasted and ground into the dough, not onto it.

Tortilla

common

Toasted and blended into the braise; fruity heat soaks into the corn from inside.

Cocoa

uncommon

Berry-tart against bitter roast, the half of mole nobody credits.

Orange

uncommon

Bitter peel and tart chilli; the marinade for pork before it hits the spit.

Both dried, both tart, both red. One drinkable, one not, blended anyway.

Cherry

rare

Sour cherry and guajillo share the same tart-berry register almost exactly.