Wednesday · cooks for Wed, Thu
Guajillo Braised Pork with Potatoes and Poblanos
pork shoulder, guajillo adobo, yukon golds, blistered green beans, corn tortillas
The chile lesson of the week. Guajillo is barely hot, closer to dried fruit, tea and a little tobacco, and the dish gets its depth from toasting and frying the chile rather than from heat. If you have only ever used chile powder from a jar, this resets the baseline.
Method
22 steps- Sunday: toast the chiles in dry cast iron over medium, 30 to 45 seconds a side, pressing them flat. They should smell like raisins and pipe tobacco and go slightly pliable.
- Pull them at the first wisp of smoke. Burnt chile is bitter and there is no fixing it.
- Soak the chiles in the 1 1/2 cups hot water for 20 minutes.
- Blend the soaked chiles with the onion, garlic, vinegar, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, pepper, cinnamon and 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Run it a full 2 minutes, until completely smooth.
- Set 1/2 cup of the adobo aside in its own container, before any of it meets raw pork. That is Wednesday's table sauce.
- Jar the rest of the adobo, salt the pork all over, and refrigerate both.
- Wednesday: Instant Pot on Saute with 1 tbsp neutral oil.
- Sear the pork in two batches, about 6 minutes a batch, until hard brown, then move it to a plate.
- Pour in 1 1/2 cups of the adobo and fry it, stirring, 4 to 5 minutes, until it darkens, thickens and stops smelling raw. The last 1/2 cup goes in the freezer.
- Add the stock and scrape the bottom of the pot completely clean. Thick chile puree left on the element is what triggers the Burn warning.
- Lay the pork on top of the sauce and add the bay leaf. Do not stir it back down.
- Lid on, high pressure 30 minutes.
- Quick release in short bursts, waiting for the sputtering to stop between them. A wide open valve sprays sauce at the ceiling.
- Add the potatoes and carrots, lid back on, high pressure 5 minutes, then natural release 10.
- While that runs, heat cast iron on high and blister the whole poblanos about 8 minutes, turning them, until blackened in patches and collapsing.
- Put them in a bowl, cover it with a plate for 5 minutes, then rub off whatever skin comes away easily and slice the peppers into strips.
- Same pan, add 1 tbsp oil and the green beans in a single layer. Cook 5 to 6 minutes over high heat, until blistered and still snapping.
- Open the pot, lift out the solids, and spoon the fat cap off the sauce. The chile reads much clearer without it.
- Reduce on Saute a few minutes if the sauce is loose, then taste for salt and add a squeeze of lime.
- Warm the tortillas directly over the burner or in a dry skillet, and thin the reserved 1/2 cup of adobo with lime juice.
- Plate the braise with poblano strips over the top and the green beans alongside.
- Put the tortillas, diced onion, cilantro, lime wedges and thinned adobo on the table.
Why It Works
- Toast, then fry. Dried chiles have two flavor unlocks and both are dry heat. Toasting wakes the oils, and frying the blended puree in fat before the liquid goes in rounds off the raw edge. Skip either and the sauce tastes flat and slightly sour no matter how long it braises.
- Two-stage pressure. Shoulder needs 30 minutes, potatoes need 5. Steam under pressure is the same temperature as the liquid, so stacking potatoes on top of the meat protects them from nothing. They need their own short second run or they dissolve into the sauce and thicken it to paste. This applies to every pressure braise you will ever build.
- Blister, do not steam. The pan has to be hot enough that the poblano skin blackens before the flesh collapses. A crowded, medium pan gives you a limp, wet pepper instead.
- If you buy beef chuck for this instead, use 1 3/4 lb, cut it the same size, and give the first stage 35 minutes rather than 30.
Day Two
Braise into one container, vegetables into another, and this one matters. The braise is better Thursday than Wednesday. Do not pack tortillas with anything wet.
Braise: covered on the stove over low for 10 minutes, or microwave 3 to 4 minutes. Green beans and poblanos: back into a dry hot skillet for 2 minutes. Do not microwave them unless you want them gray and soft. Warm fresh tortillas Thursday rather than reheating Wednesday's.
Negra Modelo, or another Vienna-style amber lager
The malt lines up with the toasted chile instead of fighting it. Wine version: a Spanish Garnacha, cheap and juicy, served slightly cool.