Chilorio (Pork Chilorio)
When I was a child I used spend every holiday in Culiacán, Sinaloa, that is where my mummy is from and I have beautiful memories of my time there.
My mum is one of thirteen, yes, you are reading right! 13! So, you can imagine that I never got bored while we were there, I have around 65 cousins and I get along with all of them or at least the ones I know! Because there are some cousins that I don’t really know.
The fun thing about having a big family are gatherings and all the food that my grandma and my aunties cooked. We used to have massive feasts and we had to sit in rounds around the table depending on our age!!! This dish was one of my favourites cooked by my grandma and she used to make lots of chilorio to feed an army!
This recipe is from that part of Mexico, it is a delicious dish made with pork, ancho chillies and other spices. It is that type of recipe where you can make lots and enjoy it with the family on a Sunday brunch. Usually it is eaten with wheat flour tortillas, but I made corn.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 kg diced pork shoulder
- 4 ancho chillies
- 1 white onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 clove
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp goose or pork lard
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cups of water
- Salt to taste
To have with
- Corn or wheat flour tortillas
- Refried beans
- Fresh chopped coriander (cilantro)
- Chopped red onion
- Spicy salsa
Method
Place the pork meat in a cast iron casserole dish (Dutch oven) together with the onion, garlic, bay leaves, water and one tsp salt. Bring it to a boil, remove the impurities with a spoon and low the heat to low. Simmer for an hour and a half or until the pork is so tender that it falls apart easily.
In the meantime, heat a tbsp of oil and slightly fry the chillies in the oil to bring up the flavour. Then put them to soak in hot boiling water for ten minutes. Blend the soaked chillies until getting a smooth sauce together with the water they were soaked in, cumin, clove, oregano, half an onion from the pork and one cooked garlic clove from the pork. Set aside.
Once the pork is properly cooked. Heat the lard and oil together on a frying pan and add the pork meat with no liquid. Mash the meat with a potato masher to shred it and then add the ancho chilli sauce. Add salt to taste and fry very well for around 15 min, stirring so the meat does not burn. If the chilorio gets dry, use the pork stock that was left in the Dutch oven.
Enjoy it with tortillas, beans, coriander, onion and spicy salsa!
Listo!
Provecho!
