Recipe - Carne Adovado Escapade

2 5lb port butt roasts
One fourth (up to)
One half cup Minced garlic
Olive oil
One fourth cup Cornmeal
1 cup Chile powder
4 cup (or as needed) liquid;
preferrably vegetable
stock; although chicken
stock or water both work
Oregano
Black pepper
Salt to taste

From: Meshel Watkins meshel@telalink.net

Date: Mon, 12 Aug 96 14:32:06 0000
The Carne Adovado that I know and love always seemed to be chunks of pork
meat so tender that it would melt in your mouth, and so spicy with red
chile that it would make your eyes water in happiness. I had a pound of
Chimayo Red Chile powder that I had picked up whilst in Santa Fe this
would rate medium on a mild, medium, hot scale (I have learned from
experience that HOT red chile pwdr in that neck of the woods is for
seasoning, not making chile sauce). I took 2 5# pork butt roasts (planned
to serve about 20 people as a side), cut the major amounts of fat off and
cut gashes into the meat. I didn't have too much time to prepare the meat
the night before, so I didn't go to the trouble of dicing up the roast
ahead of time, I just slashed it to be about 12" thick all the way around,
and pressed red chile powder all over the meat. Stuck it in the fridge, and
didn't touch it again until the next morning.

First thing I did was turn the oven on to 300 degrees. Then I made my
infamous red chile sauce:

One fourth One half c. minced garlic. saute in olive oil until golden. Add One fourth c.
cornmeal, and stir to soak up extra oil. Add 1 c. chile powder, whisk
until you can start to smell the chile roasting. Add 4 c. (or as needed) of
liquid, preferrably vegetable stock, although chicken stock or water both
work. Add oregano, black pepper, simmer until thickened. (Add salt to taste
~ normally, but not in this case...I added the salt later)

Then I took my meat, squeezed it into a cast iron dutch oven, poured the
chile sauce over it, added some extra oregano and garlic, put the lid on
and stuck it in the oven. 1 & One half hours later, I checked and turned the
meat. Back in the oven. An hour later I checked and turned it again. It
ended up cooking for about 4 hours I knew it was ready when I picked up
the bone, and the meat slid right off. I pulled the meat out and placed it
on a broiler pan to cool. I took the dutch oven with all the red chile and
and the juices (and fat) and put it on the stove with a low flame. I
started whisking the sauce, and put in cornmeal until it had soaked up all
the fat at the top of the sauce (maybe as much as a cup). I slowly simmered
and thickened this sauce, whisking often, and added salt to taste.
Meanwhile, the meat was cool enough to touch, so this is the point at which
I cubed it (into largeish 1 & 1/2" pieces). Then I tossed the pieces back
into the red chile sauce in the dutch oven and let them sit in there and
soak until I was ready to reheat for dinner.

I kid you not when I say that this was some of the BEST damn food I have
ever had. I'm eating it for lunch again today! Carne Adovada is really
versitile, too you can stuff burritos and sopapillas with it, you can use
it as a topping for cheese enchiladas, you can use it as a stand alone main
course or a side dish....aahhhh, nothing like a good bowl of red chile, as
I'm sure you all understand
:) Thanks again to all who helped, and I'd love to hear from anyone who
tries to duplicate the process. By the way, in case it didn't sound like
it this was a very easy recipie to pull off!!!

CHILEHEADS DIGEST V3 #071

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