Chili Verde

[Termy]

If you go on a websearch for green chili you will get a mountain of results, mostly for chili pepper that are green. Growing, know what I mean ?

Friend of mine makes it, he uses a bunch of tomatillos, pork in pieces, not ground and who knows what else. But he gets the spices, heat and salt all perfect.

He usually serves it with a side of refried beans, which he also spices right.

Anyway, does he just cook the tomatillos down to nothing ? Is that actually the recipe ?

T

 

[GotGarlic]

Pork chile verde is a stew with pork shoulder, tomatillos and a few kinds of green peppers. I make it regularly during the winter. It can be eaten over rice or in a tortilla as a taco or burrito filling. Here's a good recipe for it.

https://www.seriouseats.com/chile-verde-with-pork-recipe

 

[karadekoolaid]

Green chiles in Mexico are usually jalapeños or serranos, the latter being hotter. the tomatillos will add acidity more than anything else. When we make salsa for chilaquiles, it´s a handful of tomatillos, an onion, coriander, a bunch of coriander, and water. Bring to the boil and cook until the tomatillos change colour - then blend.

 

[pepperhead212]

There most common chile in Mexican cooking is the poblano (when fresh)/ancho (when dried). For many of those green dishes they are charred, peeled, and the flesh is blended with grilled or broiled tomatillos, with some serranos for some heat, but not that much. My favorite "green dish" is Posole Verde, the best made with newly made nixtamal, not canned hominy. Absolutely delicious!

Here are some tomatillos I grilled the other day, before blending:
Grilled tomatillos. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Numex, or "Hatch" varieties may also be used in these, but the flesh is a lighter green, so the dishes aren't as dark.

 

[skilletlicker]

Termy: I'm guessing you're thinking of Salsa Verde which usually has tomatillos as the main ingredient. Lots of recipes online. I'd recommend watching a Rick Bayless YouTube where it is often included as an extra to serve with some other dish. Tomatillos can be boiled, broiled, roasted, blackened etc., then combined with other vegetables, herbs, peppers, and or chillis all cooked in various ways and usually finished in a blender. Even if you're really interested in a pork chile verde, experience making salsa verde first would almost surely be a worthwhile exercise.

Pepperhead: Around 2000 I got interested in nixtamalization primarily for homemade masa and tortillas. I had extended conversations in DC and elsewhere about sourcing corn, choosing a grinder, and other related topics. Treating the corn with lime to remove the outer layer wasn't particularly hard but after several attempts, grinding the fresh "hominy" into a usable masa that could improve upon grocery store tortillas or equal fresh masa purchased from a nearby tortilleria was more trouble than it was worth to me at the time. If you're interested in discussing this at length do you have the time and interest in expanding upon your experience either here or in a separate thread devoted to the topic?

 

[pepperhead212]

skillet My experiences were the pretty much the same, with the nixtamal - easy to make, but not to grind, unless you have a metate, or a specialized electric mill. I don't make it often enough to get either, and a food processor didn't work right. And now I can get really good tortillas at the Mexican grocery right here in town! And sometimes he gets in the best ones made with nixtamal, instead of masa harina.

 

[Bitser]

In the fall, I buy a bag of anaheim-type green chile and roast it on the grill. When it's well-charred, it gets popped in a plastic bag to steam and cool.

I do the same with poblanos. Then it gets topped and peeled and the seeds scraped out before vacuum packing and freezing. If you're careful to keep the flesh intact, it makes great rellenos. Much of it goes into chile verde stew with pork shoulder, onions, garlic, bay leaves, cumin, and oregano. I save the bits from the bottom of bags of tortilla chips to thicken and salt the stew. Also good in omelettes or scrambled eggs.