Chili Verde - Chile Verde - Green Chili - Cerdo en Salsa Verde

With a title like that, can you tell I'm a little undecided on the proper name? Chili Verde? Chile Verde? They both have their proponents.

It had been decades since I'd made chili verde, then a couple months ago I helped with a big Mexican lunch for a group of volunteers. I made a big steam table pan of Mexican rice and a new friend brought chili verde, which I ended up serving, and the smell of it right there in front of me was making me drool!

It took a while for Gloria to get the recipe to me, so in the meantime I consulted my friend Julia (of the rice) who told me how her family makes it. And eventually I dug up my own recipe from decades ago. And what I've come up with here is a hodgepodge of all three.

Gloria's recipe didn't include green chiles, Julia's recipe did not include tomatillos, and my old recipe called for roasting fresh tomatillos and chiles and putting them in the blender.

Well, that was all well and good back in the day. But then Muir Glen began making organic crushed tomatillos in jars and I got addicted to the stuff. And would have used it in this recipe if they hadn't discontinued the product! Please join me in begging them to resume production!

Muir Glen, please please please bring back the organic crushed tomatillos in 23-ounce jars.

There's nothing on the market like it, so I decided to use a combination of fresh tomatillos and a tomatillo salsa. Of course, the tomatillo salsa, unlike the Muir Glen, contains lots of other stuff, too; so that changed everything.

Anyway ...

If you want to make this on the stove instead of in the slow cooker, I added a little note about that in the directions below. My friends' recipes were for stovetop versions, but I wanted to come up with a slow-cooker version for those days when I just don't want to have to keep an eye on it.

No, it isn't a typo; there is no added liquid in this recipe. I even drain the chiles. Plenty of liquid forms as it cooks, and the consistency ends up being perfect, with no need to add thickeners at the end.

Are you a chili verde fan? Do you make it with just chiles, just tomatillos, or both? Buen provecho! 



Slow-Cooker Chili Verde

(Makes 8 servings)

1/3 cup (1.67 ounces/47 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
4 pounds* pork shoulder, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or pork fat that you've trimmed off)
1 medium (about 12 ounces/340 grams) yellow onion, chopped
1 pound (16 ounces/454 grams - about 16) tomatillos, chopped**
1 16-ounce jar 505 Southwestern Hatch Valley tomatillo, garlic & lime green chile salsa (I wish it didn't have garlic)
1 7-ounce can diced mild green chiles, drained
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Garnish: chopped cilantro

* Pork shoulder (also called pork butt) is very fatty, so 4 pounds trims down to anywhere from 3 pounds to 3 3/4 pounds. There's no need to trim off every bit of fat, but you will want to cut away the huge hunks.

** To get really specific, in case anyone wants to know, I cut the tomatillo in half vertically, then cut each half in half horizontally and thinly sliced it vertically.

1 In small bowl, whisk together flour, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Spread cubed pork in a single layer on rimmed baking sheet (a 15x10-inch will do nicely) and sprinkle with the seasoned flour. Dredge the meat until lightly coated on all sides.

2 In 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and brown a third of the pork. Add to slow cooker. Repeat twice with remaining pork. Brown it well, taking at least 10 minutes per batch.

3 Add remaining tablespoon of oil to skillet and cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. I cook the onion after the pork to deglaze the pan and not waste those delicious brown bits. Add about 2 tablespoons of water, if needed, to help along the deglazing. Add to slow cooker.

4 Add tomatillos. Sprinkle on the oregano and cumin. Add the green chile and tomatillo salsa and the chopped green chiles. Give it a bit of a stir.

Note: At this point, if I were cooking this on the stove instead of in the slow cooker, I'd add enough water (perhaps a little chicken broth as well) to cover the meat; bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, loosely covered, until tender, about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

5 Put the lid on the slow cooker and set it for 8 hours on Low. Pull the lid off for just a moment at the 7-hour mark to taste and adjust seasoning.

6 Serve with (over or next to) Mexican rice, garnished with cilantro and maybe some sour cream and shredded cheese. And don't forget the warm flour tortillas. Or the refried beans.

Jean