Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Kenji’s Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde recipe

 https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-pressure-cooker-pork-chile-verde-recipe

To begin, combine a few pounds of nicely marbled pork shoulder, cut into large chunks, with some quartered tomatillos, a roughly chopped onion, garlic, and green chiles. After everything is cooked, you purée the sauce, so leaving the meat in big, two-inch chunks makes it easy to grab. Don't worry, the pieces get tender enough that you can shred them with a fork as you eat.

What chiles you use depends on your taste and availability. For my money, there's nothing better than green Hatch chiles in a stew like this. But if you can't get them, a combination of poblano, Anaheim, Cubanelle, jalapeño, and serrano peppers is fine.

I typically use fresh chiles for this, but if you have frozen or jarred roasted Hatch chiles, they'll also work. The tomatillos provide the bulk of the liquid in this recipe, so don't worry about that.

Next, I season everything with a big pinch of salt and toasted, ground cumin.

I dump the ingredients into a pressure cooker, heat it until things start sizzling and steaming, then close the lid. At this stage, you may be thinking, Wait a minute, aren't I breaking two of the basic rules of pressure cooking by overfilling the container and not adding any liquid? Believe me, everything is gonna be all right. Inside that sealed cooker, those tomatillos break down rapidly, releasing their juices to the bottom of the pot and lowering the level of the food at the same time. Once it reaches high pressure, it'll take just half an hour for the pork shoulder to break down to a spoonably tender, juicy texture.

To finish the chile, I remove the pork with tongs, add a handful of cilantro and a dash of fish sauce (to enhance the meatiness of the dish—it won't make anything taste fishy), then blend it all together with a hand blender before stirring the meat back in.

Next...there is no next. It's done. Wasn't that easy?

It really is one of the most mind-blowing weeknight dinner tricks I know. Every time I make this kind of dish, I can't believe how much flavor I get with so little work.

Ingredients

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4 pounds (1.9kg) boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks

3/4 pound tomatillos (about 4 large tomatillos; 350g), quartered, husks discarded

2/3 pound poblano peppers (about 2 peppers; 300g), roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded (see note)

6 ounces Anaheim or Cubanelle peppers (about 2 peppers; 170g), roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded (see note)

2 serrano or jalapeño chiles, roughly chopped, stems discarded (see note)

8 ounces white onion (about 1 medium; 225g), roughly chopped

6 medium cloves garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon (15g) whole cumin seed, toasted and ground (see note)

Kosher salt

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves and fine stems (about 1/2 ounce; 15g), plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon (15ml) Asian fish sauce, such as Red Boat

Fresh corn tortillas and lime wedges, for serving

Directions

In a pressure cooker, combine pork, tomatillos, poblano peppers, Anaheim peppers, serrano peppers, onion, garlic, cumin, and a big pinch of salt. Heat over high heat until gently sizzling, then seal pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, and cook for 30 minutes. Release pressure.

Using tongs, transfer pork pieces to a bowl and set aside. Add cilantro and fish sauce to remaining contents of pressure cooker. Blend with an immersion blender or in a countertop blender, then season to taste with salt. Return pork to sauce and stir gently to combine. Serve immediately with tortillas and lime wedges.

NOTES: 

You can use other fresh green chiles in place of Anaheims, poblanos, and serranos. Using 100% Hatch chiles is a good way to go. You can also replace the fresh chiles with frozen or jarred roasted green chiles, using the same amount by weight.

Toast cumin in a dry skillet and grind with a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle for the most flavor. If there's one thing you can do to improve the flavor of any dish that includes dry spices, it's to use whole spices and grind them with a mortar and pestle. The difference it makes in side-by-side tests is astonishing, and cleaning a mortar and pestle is easier than cleaning an electric spice grinder.


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