Chiles en Nogada

Chiles en nogada is the most seasonal dish in Mexican cooking, and the reason is agricultural rather than ceremonial: the fresh walnuts that make the sauce and the pomegranates that top it are only available together for a few weeks in late summer, so the dish appears in late July and is gone by the end of September. A roasted poblano chilli is stuffed with a picadillo of pork and beef with fruit, apple, pear, peach and plantain among them, then covered in a cream of fresh peeled walnuts and topped with pomegranate seeds and parsley. It is served at room temperature. Peeling the walnuts by hand, skin by skin, is what makes it expensive.

What you actually see

• The walnut sauce - fresh nuts peeled by hand, blended with cream and cheese.
• The picadillo - meat cooked with apple, pear, peach and plantain.
• The season - late July to September, dictated by nut and pomegranate.
• Puebla's convent kitchens - where the dish and mole poblano both belong.

When to go

Late July to the end of September, and no other time; anything served outside that window uses preserved or imported ingredients and is not the same dish. Puebla makes the most of it, with festivals and menus across the city through August.

Honest expectations

It is expensive by Mexican restaurant standards because peeling walnuts by hand takes hours, and cheap versions cut that corner with unpeeled nuts, which turn the sauce grey and bitter. It is rich and served cool, which surprises people expecting a hot chilli dish. It is not spicy. Vegetarian versions exist but are uncommon.

Nearby

Puebla's old centre is the place to eat it; Cholula and Atlixco also do it well.