Carne Adovada
By America's Test KitchenPublished on November 7, 2011
Time
3¼ hours
Yield
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Pork shoulder—usually labeled pork butt or Boston butt—comes either boneless or on the bone. If using bone-in pork shoulder, buy a 6- to 6½-pound roast. When trimming excess fat, leave at least 1/8-inch thickness on the exterior. Serve the finished dish over rice or with warm corn tortillas.
Instructions
- Plump fruit: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine raisins and coffee in small bowl. Wrap tightly with plastic and microwave until liquid begins to boil, 1 to 3 minutes; let stand 5 minutes, until raisins are plump.
- Brown pork: Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of pork, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plate and repeat with remaining pork.
- Make sauce: Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add flour, chili powder, oregano, chipotle, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth and raisin mixture, scraping up any browned bits, and bring to boil. Working in 2 batches, transfer mixture to blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return sauce to pot.
- Bake and finish: Add browned pork to sauce in pot and transfer to oven. Cook, covered, until pork is fork-tender, about 2 hours. Skim sauce, then stir in lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. (Pork can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.)
Time
3¼ hoursYield
Serves 6 to 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We tested several promising recipes for Carne Adovada that called for toasting, seeding, and grinding nearly two dozen dried New Mexico chiles. Tasters loved the toasty, fruity notes from all those chiles, but we wanted to reproduce those flavors using supermarket ingredients. We began by reaching for a jar of chili powder, typically a mixture of dried ground chiles, cumin, oregano, and garlic—the same spices used in traditional carne adovada recipes. To give the sauce smoky depth and heat, we used canned chipotle chiles. To replicate the subtle, fruity quality of the dried New Mexican chiles traditionally used in this dish, we turned to raisins, which we soaked in hot coffee to soften before making a puree. To thicken the sauce, we stirred in flour with the spices, which gave it necessary heft.
Before You Begin
Pork shoulder—usually labeled pork butt or Boston butt—comes either boneless or on the bone. If using bone-in pork shoulder, buy a 6- to 6½-pound roast. When trimming excess fat, leave at least 1/8-inch thickness on the exterior. Serve the finished dish over rice or with warm corn tortillas.
Instructions
- Plump fruit: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine raisins and coffee in small bowl. Wrap tightly with plastic and microwave until liquid begins to boil, 1 to 3 minutes; let stand 5 minutes, until raisins are plump.
- Brown pork: Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of pork, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plate and repeat with remaining pork.
- Make sauce: Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add flour, chili powder, oregano, chipotle, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth and raisin mixture, scraping up any browned bits, and bring to boil. Working in 2 batches, transfer mixture to blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return sauce to pot.
- Bake and finish: Add browned pork to sauce in pot and transfer to oven. Cook, covered, until pork is fork-tender, about 2 hours. Skim sauce, then stir in lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. (Pork can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.)
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