Carne Adovado

By RoketJSquerl

"I have made this many times for many people and every single person has said that it was absolutely the best meal they’ve ever had. My niece said if she had a choice, Carne Adovada is the only thing she’d eat for the rest of her life".

"This recipe calls for dried chilis – the kind you find in a ristra. The finets of these chilis are Hatch Valley chilis grown in Hatch Valley, New Mexico. While other chilis will work just fine – for the best final product use Hatch Valley chilis if you can find them. Typically these chilis are available in mild, medium and hot (medium can be hard to find outside the Southwest). Be sure you use the hot chilis".

Ingredients

• Red Chile Puree:
• 1 Cups Water (1 to 2)
• 8-10 Dried Red New Mexico Chile Pods
• – (get Hatch Valley if You Can) (Hot)
• Chile Colorado (basic Red Chile Sauce):
• 2 T. Butter
• 2 T. Flour
• 2 C. Red Chile Puree (see Below)
• 2 C. Chicken Broth
• 3/4 T. Salt
• 1/2 T. Garlic Powder
• 1 Dash Oregano (use Mexican Oregano if You Can Get It)
• The Marinated Pork:
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 1 T. Salt
• 1 T. Oregano
• 2 Recipes or More of the Red Chile Puree (above)
• 3 Lbs. Pork Tenderloin Roast (approx.) (3 to 5)

Preparation

Step 1

FOR THE CHILE PUREE: Tear tops off of chile pods and use knife or finger (use plastic food preparation gloves to protect your fingers as they will start to sting a bit — do not touch your eyes with your fingers until you’ve washed them) to clean out seeds and veins inside of each one. Place pods in medium sized pot and cover with water. Heat to boiling on high heat. Boil several minutes until pods are soft stirring occasionally to make sure they boil evenly. Place drained pods (save liquid) in blender container, then pour 1/2 of liquid into blender (keep the rest in the pot and add more water for the next batch) and blend until smooth, add 1-2 cloves garlic if desired. Add more water if needed, but keep in mind this is a puree, thicker than sauce or juice. When pureed, pour into a large stock pot. Sometimes you might need to pour thru a mesh sieve to remove any skins that did not blend up in the blender. NOTE: You will want to make several batches of puree.

FOR THE CHIILE COLORADO: Heat butter in medium-size saucepan on medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1minute. Add red chile puree and cook for about another minute. Gradually add broth and stir, making sure there are no lumps, a whisk works best. Add seasoning to sauce and simmer at low heat for 10-15 minutes.

FOR THE MARINATED PORK: Add garlic, salt and oregano to chile puree. Cut pork loin into four large pieces (slice in half once horizontally and once vertically) and put them in a large, glass baking dish (even better, a stainless steel stock pot) and pour chile puree over to cover — turn meat to cover completely. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours (36-72 hours or more is even better — I like to marinate mine for a week). It is a good idea to stir it around once a day or so to make sure that every part of the pork soaks in the marinade.

FINAL ASSEMBLY AND COOKING:

Place marinated pork pieces in smoker or barbeque and cook using the indirect method to keep the marinade from burning(for best results, use some pecan wood chunks or chips for smoke flavor — pecan smoke is incredible with this dish but be careful not to over smoke) and cook until internal temp reaches around 150 (use a meat thermometer).

Remove pork from smoker and cut into cubes ½” to 1" square and put into baking pan/dish about 3"-4" deep. Pour chili colorado over pork cubes (the pork should be “swimming in it”) and put baking pan/dish into smoker – crank up the temp to around 325 (you can do this part in the oven inside if you want) and let it simmer (for best results, seal tightly with foil so the sauce doesn’t boil off and get too thick) for at least an hour – 2 or even 3 hours would be even better (if you simmer longer than an hour you must seal with foil or the sauce will boil off).

About 5 minutes before removing from smoker, remove the foil and layer on top (fairly thickly) a good amount of pre-shredded Kraft Mexican blend cheese. When the cheese melts (about 5 minutes) remove from smoker, let it cool for 5 minutes or so and serve with rice and beans and warmed flour tortillas.

NOTE: This recipe can be cooked in a regular oven (use a baking pan) instead of a smoker – you lose the pecan wood flavor but it is still incredibly delicious.