Chilorio

Pork cooked tender first and the chilli paste added only at the end, then dried until it coats every strand and goes sticky.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains lard, pork.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork shoulder, in large chunks
• 6 ancho chillies, stalks and seeds removed
• 2 guajillo chillies, stalks and seeds removed
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons lard
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve

Method

1. THE CHILLI PASTE GOES IN AT THE END AND IS THEN COOKED DRY UNTIL IT COATS EVERY STRAND AND GOES STICKY. That order is the dish. The pork is boiled plain until it shreds, which takes two hours and contributes no flavour of its own worth speaking of; only then does the paste go in, with the pan over a medium heat and no liquid added, and the next twenty minutes are spent driving off everything watery until what is left is pork strands in a glaze rather than pork in a sauce. Cooked together from the start it is a perfectly good chilli stew with something else's name on it.
2. IT IS SHREDDED BEFORE THE PASTE GOES NEAR IT. Whole chunks take up the paste on their outside only and the inside stays plain boiled pork. Pulled into strands first, every surface is new and every strand gets coated, which is what the long dry cooking is for.
3. THE POACHING WATER IS KEPT AND USED A LADLE AT A TIME. The pan goes dry long before the glaze has formed and will catch and burn. A ladle of the pork's own cooking liquid whenever that happens loosens it, carries the paste further into the meat and then evaporates again. Three or four ladles over twenty minutes.
4. THE DONE SIGNAL IS THE PAN AND NOT THE CLOCK. When a spoon is drawn through the middle it should leave a trail that holds its shape, and the mass should pull away from the sides in one piece with a film of red fat separating out at the edge. That is a glaze. Stopped earlier it is loose and will make a taco soggy.
5. VINEGAR AND NOT CITRUS, AND THERE IS A GOOD DEAL OF IT. Three tablespoons. It is what keeps a dish this concentrated from tasting like a paste, and it is also why chilorio keeps a week in the fridge where most shredded pork does not.
6. The pork put in a pan, covered with water with 1 teaspoon of the salt, brought to the boil and simmered 2 HOURS until it shreds easily.
7. Lifted out and the COOKING LIQUID KEPT. The pork pulled into fine strands with two forks.
8. The chillies toasted on a dry pan 30 SECONDS a side, then soaked in hot water 20 minutes and DRAINED.
9. Blended with the garlic, oregano, cumin, cloves, vinegar, the remaining salt and 4 tablespoons of the pork liquid, to a thick paste.
10. The lard melted in a wide pan over a medium heat and the SHREDDED pork added and turned in it 5 minutes.
11. The paste poured in and stirred through until every strand is coated.
12. Cooked 20 MINUTES over a medium heat, stirred often, with a ladle of the pork liquid whenever the pan threatens to catch.
13. Cooked on until a spoon drawn through leaves a TRAIL THAT HOLDS, the mass pulls from the sides, and red fat separates at the edge.
14. Tasted for salt and vinegar. Served with tortillas; it keeps a week in the fridge.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes