I haven’t made anything worthy of a post in the last few days, so I thought I’d show a meal that is a favorite of mine to cook, and I haven’t posted about here before; adobo de puerco.
To make this dish will require a little work, possibly a burning eye or two, and a desire to make a meal that tastes almost as good as you’d find on the Texas/Mexico border. If you Google this recipe, the first page of links is all Spanish! Yeah, it’s an authentic Mexican entree for sure.
Here’s my ingredient list:
2 – pounds pork cubed (what ever cube size you like)
4 – ancho chilies de seeded and stems removed
6 – arbol chilies de seeded and stems removed (more if you want more heat)
1 – small yellow onion quartered
1 – white onion chopped
6 – cloves garlic (3-whole and 3- chopped with white onion)
1 – green bell pepper chopped
1 – red bell pepper chopped
1 – Tbs dried Mexican oregano
2 – bay leaves whole
2 – cups water for rehydration of peppers
2 – Tbs cooking oil of choice
Water required to add to pot
Cumin to taste if you want
Salt and pepper to taste
Ready? First of all, a toast! Not toasting with a drink, we shall toast our peppers in a cast iron skillet, or whatever skillet you have on hand.
Place the deseeded peppers into the skillet that has been preheated on high for about 3 minutes. This is where the eye burn can come in! DO NOT inhale the vapors or look directly over the skillet! Turn on the vent above the stove top.
Turn and toast the peppers until they begin to turn about 2 shades darker than they were originally. Once you reach the desired color, put the toasted chilies into a bowl that has your 2-cups of water. Let them sit while you do the rest of the process. This is the rehydration step for the peppers to blend good later on.
Get your yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves, and your green bell pepper looking like this, and then set aside.
Chop the white onion, red bell pepper, and remaining garlic, and set aside separate from the previously cut veggies.
It’s now time to get the pork from the frig and cube it up. Mine were about 1.5″ x 1.5″, but you can do strips, or what ever you want, as long as it’s in pieces that will cook evenly. I had a pork loin chunk left over from something else and used it.
Place the cubed pork and the chopped white onion, red bell pepper, oregano, and chopped garlic into a large skillet with about 2-Tbs of oil. I used olive oil, but even lard would work. Cook on medium high heat until the meat is browned a bit on the outside and the onions and garlic begin to get a bit translucent.
After the pork and veggies are where they need to be, pour them over into a big stock pot, and then add enough water to cover the meat and veggies. Just cover it, you still have stuff to add! Turn the burner to medium high and place the pot on it.
Time to make a mess in the blender! Pour the bowl of water and peppers into the blender and then add the yellow onion, green bell pepper, and whole garlic.
Now that all the makings of the adobo are in the blender, cover it up, and purée until it is very smooth! You want everything turned to juice pretty much.
OK, at this point you can pour the liquid from the blender straight into the stock pot, or you can strain it. By straining it you will remove seed pieces and other gunk that didn’t blend well. The pics below show why I like to strain mine, LOTS of left over solids.
After straining, add the bay leaves, give it a good stir, and bring to a boil.
After you’ve reached the boiling point, reduce the heat to a simmer and let it go until you’ve reduced the amount of liquid by at least 1/4. Yes, it takes a while, but it really brings out the flavors and makes the meat fall apart tender. Notice the color difference below after simmering for a few hours and reducing down.
Well, we’ve reduced it down, the house smells great, and it’s time to eat! Sorry about the partial bowl pic, I was ready to dig in! You’ll understand after you make your first batch of adobo de puerco!
Until next time, Bone Appetite!
cranky buzzard 