- Seasoned pieces of pork shoulder, deep fried in fresh lard
- Cooked sous vide in pouch with tequila/beer/chile sauce for 24 hours @ 155F
- Served on fresh corn tortillas with cooked-down sauce
Ultra-tender, juicy meat with a mellow, yet spicy sauce. Keeper!
Took some of the leftover pork from yesterday (see below) with the caramelized pineapple and some Oaxacan cheese and stuffed them into roasted poblanos.
Of course carnitas and tacos al pastor are different dishes. And they definitely do NOT involve sous vide techniques. But stay with me here and see what may be the best dish I have ever cooked.
I took a big pork shoulder roast (picnic portion) and cut it into big chunks.The skin/rind was removed. The pork chunks went into pouches with my standard al pastor marinade, sealed, and left to marinate overnight. The next day the pouches went into a 154F water bath and left for 24 hours. The chunks were throughly dried and then fried in very hot lard for about 1 minute to form a nice crust.
Meanwhile the skin/rind was cut into small pieces and fried in lard for cracklings (chicharrones). Some dried chile-spiced pineapple chunks were sealed in a pouch with some orange juice to rehydrate for a few hours in the water bath. These were then caramelized with some onion with the cracklings:
The pork was fall-apart tender and extremely juicy due to the lower cooking temp.
Served on very fresh corn tortillas with some of the marinade that had been cooked down into a “manchamantel”-like sauce.
This casserole had a new twist for me. The fresh masa is dissolved in chicken stock. It is then fried in a little fresh lard until it is thick and shiny resulting in something akin to polenta. A layer of this masa was spread on the bottom of a casserole. The some pork in mole sauce was spread on top, then another layer of the masa on top of the mole. Baked in the oven for about an hour. Better than steamed tamales? Different animal. But it was outstanding. Next time, banana leaves will be involved.
Tortillas filled with marinated chicken, refried beans, chicharrones, avocado, tomato, rajas de chile poblano, cheese, and roasted corn chipotle salsa. The chicharrones were little pieces of fried pork rind from a big pot of lard that I had just rendered. As usual, the norteños had flour tortillas; the chilangos had corn tortillas.
This was the very best mole I have ever eaten. I would have preferred it with turkey rather than chicken. And we usually serve it with black beans, but these local pinto beans are so good and we have a 20 pound bag that we’ve barely put a dent in. Anyway, this dish is a labor of love and worth every bit of effort.
So my wife and decided to make the king of all sauces, Mole Poblano, a fabulous amalgam of chiles (3 kinds), seeds, nuts, spices, herbs, chocolate, etc. Definitely the poster dish for “the total is greater than the sum of its parts”. And this dish has so many parts, imagine how great the total is! We spent about 45 minutes hands-on time, but the dish took the better part of the day. Plan is to let it meld and mellow out for a couple of days and to serve it on top of some roast chicken. Stay tuned.
Poblano chiles, roasted in the fire of my wood-burning oven for about 90 seconds. This were then peeled, seeded, deveined, and stuffed with cheese.
Carne Adovada Burrito with Pico de Gallo and Refried Beans.
This is NOT the kind of food I order from restaurants. It is usually loaded with too much burning heat and way too much cumin. So I made some this weekend at home just the way I like it. The cure for the pork was made with Chimayo red chile and also a hit of chipotle salsa bufalo. And a little cumin, coriander, garlic, onions, cinnamon, etc. The beans were made from new-crop local pintos. The pico included tomatoes from the garden (which are still producing!!!!). The balance of textures and flavors could not have been more perfect. Such humble ingredients and such a magnificent result. My taste buds are still singing.
Baked-stuffed chayote squash – with cheese and sauce from the recent pizzas.