Food Pork - the other white meat

Can't have it this week, Passover.

 

Sorry, I've been cooking this since I was a teenager and it kind of goes on automatic pilot for me.

Brown the meat first, if the meat is really lean, add some oil or , better yet, lard or pork fat, like bacon drippings. Add the onions, cumin, ~1 T per lb of meat(I like to toast the cumin in a little skillet first, allow to cool, and coarse crush/rough it up with a mortar and pestle) oregano ~ 1 tsp per lb of meat (use Mexican oregano -- buy it in a Mexican grocery, or online, it's different from the oregano used in Italian and other Mediterranean cooking) and garlic (to taste.) Cook for long enough to drive the water out of the meat, and when the onions start to brown/turn translucent, add about half of the chiles,
(best to use fresh mild chiles like poblano, pasilla, TAM jalapenos, or Anaheim, and use plenty. I cut the stems off, and cut the peppers into rings, with seeds, skins, and all. The could also be chopped or diced, whatever. This should be a stew of peppers as well as meat. Don't be afraid of the peppers -- if you use the right kind, this is pretty mild. You can always add some chopped serrano or other hotter pepper later for more heat)
and stir in with the meat/onion mix. Fry (don't saute) over medium heat (not like a stir-fry, but not too gently either) for a few minutes.
Add enough water or stock to more than cover and simmer for an hour at least, if using coarse ground pork, longer if using larger cubes of meat. Or, put it in a slow-cooker and forget it for a while.
Towards the end, last half hour, and the rest of the peppers, and thicken if desired with whatever you use to thicken (flour, cornstarch, arrowroot, masa harina). Sometimes I add salt or garlic powder toward the end.
This always turns out good, though not always the same.

Chile should be simple and pretty forgiving, it's not haute cuisine.

Lindy