Sunday, December 14, 2008

Carne de Puerco con Chile


This dish was the star of our meal, as pork should always be! I love nothing better than really good, tender juicy pork carnitas, and this was the real thing. I usually don’t do well frying meat in lard, but I do have to admit this was really amazing! You can stop at that point if you want, but you can also infuse the meat with a lot of flavor after it’s cooked by braising it in sofrito, as this recipe shows. This recipe is really spicy, if you like a more mild dish, just reduce the amount of peppers, or remove the seeds.

Carne de Puerco con Chile

4 Pounds Pork Loin, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tablespoons Salt
¼ Cup Beef Stock
2 Cloves Garlic
¼ Onion
4 Jalapeno Peppers, charred and stems removed
2 Roma Tomatoes, halved
1 Cup Water
1 Pound Lard (For Frying)

Place the pork loin in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt, stir to coat and let sit for a couple of hours.
To make the sofrito, combine all remaining ingredients in a blender and puree.
Heat the lard in a very large wide deep pan and fry the meat over medium heat until very tender and just barely starting to brown, about 30 minutes. Remove the meat and drain on paper towels. Next pour lard from pan and wipe out, place meat back in, add sofrito and cook for one hour over low heat. Serve with tortillas and beans.

4 comments:

Pam said...

Can I come for dinner please? This looks amazing. I have never used lard in my cooking (I just can't bring myself to do it) but I have no problem eating someone elses cooking that used lard. It looks fantastic Jason!

Jan said...

Sounds delish, Jason. I have no problem with the lard, my mum used to use lard in her cooking when I was a kid.

Jan said...

Just stopping by to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Pam said...

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas Jason! Hope your new year is filled with great fun and delicious food.