Puerco Con Adobo de Tres Chiles

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pepperhead212

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I got that pork today, when a friend cleaned some stuff out of his freezer, and I had to make a Mexican dish, since I had been craving it, with all the talk about it! Amazingly, with all these chiles, there was no discernible heat, and not just to me, but the other two, as well.

I served this on some corn tortillas, reheated over an open flame, with some monterey jack cheese, and some leaf lettuce torn up on them, and on the last few, some mizuna, which was more flavorful, but nobody preferred one over the other.

This is sort of a simplified mole type sauce, with the spices, plus the small amount of chocolate. I adjusted the amount of pork to about the amount of sauce - I only had 1 1/2 lbs pork, and had about 1/3 of the adobo paste leftover. But it may be good for even more.

Puerco Con Adobo de Tres Chiles

1 oz Guajillo Chiles
1 oz Cascabel Chiles
1 oz Pasilla Chiles
10 medium cloves garlic
12 whole allspice
15 black peppercorns
3 triangles of a circle of Mexican chocolate
1 tb apple cider vinegar
about 2 1/4 lbs pork, cut into about 3/4" cubes
1 medium onion, peeled, and sliced lengthwise
about 3 tb oil, divided
water, as needed
Salt to taste - I used about 2 tsp in the smaller amount

A. Slit the guajillos and pasillas lengthwise, then cut out the seeds and veins, and flatten the chiles, as much as possible. With the cascabels, pull the seed core out with the stem, then shake the seeds out through the hole.

B. Toast the chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat: press the flattened chiles against the skillet with a metal spatula, until you hear a brief crackle, and see a very small amount of smoke. Flip over, and repeat, then remove to a plate. When finished with the flat ones, put the cascabels - the round chiles - into the pan, and toss around for a minute, to soften them some, then press against the pan once, and remove. Place in a deep container to soak them in hot water for 30 minutes, using something to keep them submerged.

While soaking, put the allspice and peppercorns in the hot pan, off the heat, and toss around for a minute or two, while peeling the garlic. Place this, and the spices in the blender.

C. Drain the chiles, and place in the blender. Put the chocolate on top, and add 1 tsp salt and 1 c water (will probably need more), and the vinegar, and blend, starting low, and working to high speed, adding more water, to keep the sauce circulating. Blend until totally smooth, then (unless using a Vitamix, as this blends everything up totally) pour through a medium mesh strainer, pressing though with a rubber spatula, and scraping it off the bottom of the strainer.

D. Heat 1 tb oil in about a 10" sauté pan, or a wok (my favorite, as it is neater!) over medium high heat, and pour in the sauce from the blender. Cook, scraping constantly with a silicone spatula, for about 7 minutes, or until the spatula leaves a path when pulled through the paste. Remove from the heat, scraping occasionally as it cools.

E. Heat 1 tb oil in a 12" skillet over med-high heat, until it shimmers, and brown the cubes of meat, getting at least one side well browned, about 7 or 8 minutes. Remove to a plate. Rinse out the blender with a small amount of water, then pour this into the skillet, scraping to get up all that frond.

F. I did this in my Instant Pot, but it could be done in a Dutch oven - just simmer longer. Heat up 1 tb oil in the IP on medium sauté mode. Cook until it begins to brown some, then add the meat, the liquid from the skillet, and the adobo. Add enough water to get the sauce slightly liquidy, then cook on manual mode for 15 min., and let the pressure release on its own. (this is when I cleaned everything up, as this is messy!). If using a dutch oven I would suggest simmering for at least 45 minutes here.

G. Remove meat cubes to a bowl, and shred with a couple forks. The liquid had gotten a little watery, so I boiled it down on high sauté mode, then mixed the thickened adobo with the shredded meat, adjusted the salt, and it was ready, to use in the tacos.

I didn't photograph every step, as I got distracted, plus it would have been far too many!
Toasted chiles, for adobo de tres chiles - cascabel, guajillo, and pasilla. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooking adobo, after 1 minute. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Adobo, after 4 minutes of cooking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Adobo, finished cooking, after 7 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 3/4 c of the adobo paste, leftover. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Pork in adobo, for about 2 more tacos tomorrow. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Last taco (almost forgot to photograph one!) of the pork in adobo, with some mizuna. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
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