©2022
AuthorDartagnan"fresh fire roasted chiles, seared and simmered pork, what a perfect combination for this TexMex favorite"
With your pork in 1" or slightly larger (smaller pieces will cook much faster, make them big), season pork pieces well on all sides with salt and pepper.
Heat a large stock pot over medium high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil, let heat. Once hot, sear pork in small batches (it usually takes 3 for this amount of pork) on all sides until well browned. Place your pork in the pan and don't touch it for a while, once it's crusted, it should come right up. NOTE: you will and you want the bottom of the pan to begin to crust a little, turn down heat slightly to not burn the crust. Doing it in small batches ensures they will sear and not boil. By your third and last batch, you'll want the bottom of the pan to be almost completely crusted. So watch the bottom of your pot and rotate it to get an even coverage of crust on it while searing. Don't rush this.
Remove the pork from the pot. Add a little additional oil to pan if needed and heat.
Add chopped onion and saute. When the onions begin to give up it's liquid, scrape up the crust from the bottom of the pan, it should come right up, if not, add a touch of stock. When the onions are tender, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Stir in the cumin and oregano.
Return pork and juices to the pot and add the chicken stock.
Bring to boil, cover and reduce to low for a low simmer, and simmer - shoulder or butt slow simmer for 3 hours for tender - Check along the way, but warning, don't sample it all. You will be tempted to. Salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Or you can make this a day or two in advance if desired.
Heat grill to 500-600° with a little pecan on the side. Secondly you can do in the oven (without the pecan), move rack to top third of oven.
If you are using your oven, foil a half sheet pan with foil, top with a cooling rack and lightly spray with oil.
The next couple of steps are to prepare the chile sauce (you can use the same technique to roast bell peppers for salads and sauces, in fact, I usually roast up red, orange and yellow bell peppers at the same time and vacuum pack them for later), this can be done in advance, like 2 days in advance if you want, or while the pork is cooking.
Hand rub peanut oil and all the chiles and green onions to be roasted. (I leave 1 serrano raw, spilt it, seed it and remove the vein)
Place the poblano, anaheim, 1 serrano and green onion on your grill or on a foil lined pan in your broiler oven. Turning along the way, grill or broil for about 7-10 minutes or until mostly blackened on all sides.. You can do the tomatillos at the same time, but keep an eye on them and pull when you see they are starting to split and lose liquid, they will not be black. You'll want the peppers well charred, don't worry, that all comes off.
Immediately place chiles and tomatillos in a sealable plastic container and seal. Allow them to self-steam in the sealed container for 10-20 minutes, the longer the better. When cool, by hand or with a knife edge, scrape outer skin of the peppers skin off. (It should come off easily if charred well), discard skin, open peppers and remove seeds and veins, discard.
Rough chop everything.
Add your roasted chiles, tomatillos, green onions and slurred cilantro to a processor or good blender and puree until well pureed, then puree again, and once more just for fun.
Add your pepper puree mixture to the pot of cooked pork and stock, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, add 1/2 the lime juice. Let simmer for 30 minutes uncovered and taste, add palm sugar, stir well. Simmer uncovered for 30 more minutes. (If you desire, let rest and cool completely, then reheat before serving.)
Serve with fresh hot tortillas, and a side of Mexican rice.
UPDATED: 2018
If you've made "dirty rice", searing your pork here is just like cooking the meat and crusting your pan.
You may want to double the chile sauce ingredients and save half. A tablespoon of this in your favorite Bloody Mary may be your new favorite.
Ingredients
Directions
With your pork in 1" or slightly larger (smaller pieces will cook much faster, make them big), season pork pieces well on all sides with salt and pepper.
Heat a large stock pot over medium high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil, let heat. Once hot, sear pork in small batches (it usually takes 3 for this amount of pork) on all sides until well browned. Place your pork in the pan and don't touch it for a while, once it's crusted, it should come right up. NOTE: you will and you want the bottom of the pan to begin to crust a little, turn down heat slightly to not burn the crust. Doing it in small batches ensures they will sear and not boil. By your third and last batch, you'll want the bottom of the pan to be almost completely crusted. So watch the bottom of your pot and rotate it to get an even coverage of crust on it while searing. Don't rush this.
Remove the pork from the pot. Add a little additional oil to pan if needed and heat.
Add chopped onion and saute. When the onions begin to give up it's liquid, scrape up the crust from the bottom of the pan, it should come right up, if not, add a touch of stock. When the onions are tender, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Stir in the cumin and oregano.
Return pork and juices to the pot and add the chicken stock.
Bring to boil, cover and reduce to low for a low simmer, and simmer - shoulder or butt slow simmer for 3 hours for tender - Check along the way, but warning, don't sample it all. You will be tempted to. Salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Or you can make this a day or two in advance if desired.
Heat grill to 500-600° with a little pecan on the side. Secondly you can do in the oven (without the pecan), move rack to top third of oven.
If you are using your oven, foil a half sheet pan with foil, top with a cooling rack and lightly spray with oil.
The next couple of steps are to prepare the chile sauce (you can use the same technique to roast bell peppers for salads and sauces, in fact, I usually roast up red, orange and yellow bell peppers at the same time and vacuum pack them for later), this can be done in advance, like 2 days in advance if you want, or while the pork is cooking.
Hand rub peanut oil and all the chiles and green onions to be roasted. (I leave 1 serrano raw, spilt it, seed it and remove the vein)
Place the poblano, anaheim, 1 serrano and green onion on your grill or on a foil lined pan in your broiler oven. Turning along the way, grill or broil for about 7-10 minutes or until mostly blackened on all sides.. You can do the tomatillos at the same time, but keep an eye on them and pull when you see they are starting to split and lose liquid, they will not be black. You'll want the peppers well charred, don't worry, that all comes off.
Immediately place chiles and tomatillos in a sealable plastic container and seal. Allow them to self-steam in the sealed container for 10-20 minutes, the longer the better. When cool, by hand or with a knife edge, scrape outer skin of the peppers skin off. (It should come off easily if charred well), discard skin, open peppers and remove seeds and veins, discard.
Rough chop everything.
Add your roasted chiles, tomatillos, green onions and slurred cilantro to a processor or good blender and puree until well pureed, then puree again, and once more just for fun.
Add your pepper puree mixture to the pot of cooked pork and stock, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, add 1/2 the lime juice. Let simmer for 30 minutes uncovered and taste, add palm sugar, stir well. Simmer uncovered for 30 more minutes. (If you desire, let rest and cool completely, then reheat before serving.)
Serve with fresh hot tortillas, and a side of Mexican rice.
UPDATED: 2018
If you've made "dirty rice", searing your pork here is just like cooking the meat and crusting your pan.
You may want to double the chile sauce ingredients and save half. A tablespoon of this in your favorite Bloody Mary may be your new favorite.