Green Chili

Submitted by 6174

This is a recipe I was given by my friends mother many years ago. I later came to discover that she had modified a recipe that can be found in the book The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy. Her recipe is called Carne con Chile Verde and varies from mine in that she uses beef, whereas I use pork. I also use a slowcooker, whereas Kennedy's recipe is purely on the stovetop.

First, the ingredients:

   * 20-25 Hatch green chiles that have been roasted, deskinned and deseeded. That is the green blob in the bowl. 
   * One medium onion.
   * 16 roma tomatoes. If tomatoes are out of season, a 28 oz can of whole tomatoes.
   * 3-5 cloves of garlic.
   * 1.5-2 lbs of pork shoulder. Pictured is a 6.69 lb roast, only half of which is going into the recipe. The rest was frozen for another recipe later.

Not pictured ingredients include water, salt, and cooking oil. Near the end of cooking, corn starch is used.

I had the green chiles roasted at the farmers market and previously deskinned, deseeded and froze them. These were hot Hatch chiles, so if you don't have them use normal Anaheim chiles and bump up the heat with a few jalepenos or serranos. Definitely roast them if you have time. If you can't get fresh chiles, use one 7 oz can of diced green chiles and two 4 oz cans of diced jalepenos.

First, peel and core the tomatoes. I did this by cutting an 'X' in the base of the tomato and putting it into boiling water. After 30-60 seconds the tomato is removed and put into an ice bath. At this point the skin just falls off. Pictured below is all the tomatoes peeled and cored. The tomatoes get chopped and put into the crock of a slow cooker.

The onion gets chopped up and set aside. The garlic gets minced and set aside. The green chiles also get chopped and then added to the crock.

The pork shoulder gets cut up into approximately 1/4 inch pieces, removing the chunks of fat, gristle and silver skin. After the pork is cut up, salt the meat.

In a skillet, add some oil. Add the pork, being careful not to overcrowd the skillet. If you do overcrowd the skillet you get the first picture below. If this happens, just be patient and let the water evaporate. Let the pork continue to cook and develop some nice browning and fond on the pan. Take the pork out and add it to the crock.

Add a little more oil to the skillet. Add the onion, salt it and let it sweat down a bit. Once the onions begin to turn translucent, add the garlic. Once the garlic is very fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute, deglaze the pan with a half cup to cup of water. Add onion and garlic mixture to the crock.

Stir the crock well to get everything distributed and add enough water to submerge most of the chunks. At this point you have a choice. Either you can put the crock straight into the slow cooker, or put it in the refrigerator to slow cook the next day.

Once you have put the crock into the slow cooker, set it to low. The cooking will take at least 6-8 hours. You will know it is complete when the onions are completely translucent and the meat tender.

At this point we need to make a corn starch slurry. Simply take one tablespoon of cornstarch and put it into a bowl. Mix in two to three tablespoons of water and mix thoroughly. Pour the corn starch slurry into the crock. Stir to combine. Let the mixture cook another 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes is up, serve in a bowl and enjoy.

The chili is great straight from the bowl. Serve with tortillas. It can also be used to smother a burrito. The chili also freezes well.