If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably surmised that few things excite me more than good Mexican food. When it comes to home-cooking, my go-to recipes are almost always those of the very un-Mexican Rick Bayless.
The reason is simple: He very rarely steers me wrong, and while his skin may be more pale than mine, his recipes almost always are praised for their authenticity.
So, it should come as no surprise that my newest discovery was due in no small part to Mr. Bayless’ “Mexican Everyday.”
Not only was the pork fall-apart-in-your-mouth tender, but the spiciness was heavy on flavor, while staying easy on your stomach. The potatoes provide a next textural accompaniment. I topped mine off with a mustard-based slaw I adapted from the “Silver Palate Cookbook.”
Making this dish a real winner, though, was how easy it was to make. Literally four steps if you don’t include dicing and chopping. Total prep time is maybe 15 minutes, with the bulk of the work being done in either the slow cooker or dutch oven.
To top it all off, it makes between six and eight healthy servings, which pencils out to about $2 a person.
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 8 medium (about 2 pounds) Yukon Gold or red-skin boiling potatoes, diced
- 8 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 15oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
Instructions
If you’re using a slow cooker, spread the potatoes out along the bottom along with the onions and put the pork on top of that. If you’re using a dutch oven, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, reverse the layers, making sure to sprinkle the pork with just a little salt.
Toast the dried chiles. It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. You’ll know when they’re done when you can smell them. Tear the chiles into pieces, and put them in a blender along with the canned tomatoes and their juices, the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, a little salt, oregano and about 1.5 cups of water. Blend until smooth.
Placing a medium-mesh strainer over the pot, strain the sauce over the meat and potatoes. Stir to combine.
If you’re using a slow-cooker, just let it cook for about six hours on high. If you’re using a dutch oven, let it sit in the oven for about three hours.
Service
I thought this worked perfectly along with this mustard-based slaw:
- 1 pound cabbage, chopped
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 2 tsp caraway seeds
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Mix the mustard, caraway seeds, vinegar, oil, sugar and salt. Mix the onions, carrots and cabbage. Combine.
Cost: Pork, $3/lb or $9; chiles, $2; can of tomatoes, $1.50; onion, $.20; spices, $1. Sub-Total: $13.70 ($1.71). Cabbage, $.50; onion, $.20; carrots, $.40; oil, vinegar and spices, $.50. Sub-total: $1.60. Total: $15.30 ($1.91).
bayarearefugee
