Carne Adovada + Red Chile Sauce (October 2024)

I made each the carne adovada and the red chile sauce recipes from the 2009 book Tacos: 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes, by Mark Miller, chef-founder of the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico and original creator of modern Southwestern cuisine (per the back cover of the book).  

This book was one of my June 2024 scores from the first-time-ever Powells Books warehouse sale here in Portland.  I left with 20 different books that I only paid $5 for (as in $5 for the entire bag of books).

Since that June haul, I haven't spent much time on exploratory cookbook cooking. But, I am aiming to get more regular about it.

So, I had each 2 lbs and 3.5 lbs of cut up pork shoulder that had been in my freezer for many, many months (as in like, a full year).  I decided to take a chance on still using it to cook with, and landed on this carne adovada recipe as the one to use it with.

First I had to make the red chile sauce from scratch.  That involved seeding and stemming 24 New Mexican red chiles, then each toasting and the rehydrating them.  There were other steps and other ingredients, but the chiles were the most time-consuming ingredient to work with.

I made the red chile sauce one weeknight, and it was a later weeknight that I actually cooked up the pork to make the carne adovada (with the red chile sauce).  Per the recipe book, the sauce lasts 8-10 days in the fridge, so I had time.

As an intermediate step and meal, I first used the red chile sauce to make chilaquiles, using the last of the tortillas chips I had from a local market.  Fried eggs on top, and some sour cream, made for a tasty bowl and meal.

Finally, days later, I got to making the carne adovada.  As it turned out, making carne adovada was not nearly as involved as making the chile sauce.

Basically I needed to further cut up my pork shoulder into small cubes, fry in oil, then add chile sauce plus a few other ingredients.  Then into the oven for 45 minutes, stirring at least 2x.

Overall, came out really good.  Flavor is mild (not spicy at all) and maybe a little more muted than I'd expected from the ingredients.

Still, made for some good tacos, with cilantro and queso fresco crumbled on top, and some Guerrero white corn tortillas (king size).