My Colorado Green Chile Recipe

As a long-haired white kid from the 'burbs, it's been a bit tough tracking down a quality green chile recipe. After asking my small number of Latino friends for a recipe and being greeted with everything from simply, "green chiles, water & pork" to "family secret, sorry" I began to search for a perfect recipe that would satiate my taste for this spicy Colorado staple.

I had hoped it would simply be a matter of trying a couple candidates off of All Recipes. After searching for a bit with very little luck, I stumbled upon this  Thread over at Chowhound that effectively explores and explains the unique dish that is Colorado green chile. I was unaware of many regional differences in chile that are pointed out in the discussion. After perusing it a number of times I attempted to follow the advice of the user gordeaux and came out with a pretty decent representation of the chile I've come to love in Colorado. 

The first go around I used the entire cut of pork I had and ended up with a chile that was too chunky for my tastes although very tasty. The recipe below has been refined accordingly and I hope it will be helpful to anyone looking for a place to start with their own green chile. I like it quite spicy, but this can be toned down by omitting the habanero pepper and using mild green chiles. 

1 Tbs. Bacon Fat

1 lb Pork Shoulder or Loin, either cubed or cut into manageable pieces to be shredded after cooking

5 Cloves Garlic

1.5 - 3 Onions, chopped

1 Habanero pepper, chopped

Olive Oil

2 Tbs. Flour

1 Tsp. Cumin

1 Tsp. Ancho Powder

1 Chicken Bullion cube

30 oz. package frozen hatch green chiles, hot

2-3 C. Water

Pinch or two of Corn Starch

Salt

Lime juice

1. In a dutch oven, brown the pork in bacon fat with 1 clove garlic, crushed. As it will be stewing for at least 3 hours, the pork doesn't need to be completely cooked, just browned enough to release the flavor. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same dutch oven over low heat, sweat the chopped onions and the habanero until limp.
3. Add in flour, cumin, ancho powder, chicken bullion cube. Now add as much olive oil as necessary to produce a loose paste. Let cook over low until the smell of the spices becomes pronounced.
4. Add in remaining 4 cloves garlic, green chiles, and water. Bring to a simmer.
5. Puree the above in a blender, possibly adding cilantro, until it is your preferred consistency.  Return to pot.
6. Add pork and cook over low heat for 3 or more hours until the desired tenderness of pork is achieved. Add corn starch as needed to thicken as desired. I didn't see the need to make a slurry with water before adding, but you can if it makes you comfortable.
7. If desired, remove pork after thoroughly cooked and shred it with two forks before returning it to the pot.
8. Season to taste with salt and lime juice at the end of cooking. 1-2 tsp. of each works well for me, but most people seem to prefer saltier.  

 

On Being A Wage Slave

For the last seven years, I have supported myself by selling my soul for paltry sums. It has usually been in the 2-3 Big Macs per hour range. I have washed dishes, loaded trucks, and delivered sub-par food for countless hours of my life simply so I can continue to live in this blessed existence.

It's not that I am upset by the pitiful vocations I have chosen, more like completely underwhelmed by the possible choices. Sometime between the ages of 17 and 22 the last bit of childhood majesty disappeared and I was confronted with an incredibly ugly world demanding 25 to 50 hours of my life every week for the foreseeable future. 

Aside from differences in reimbursement, the possibilities amount to one reality: You are expected to sell yourself (mind, body, and soul) to an owner for a large amount of your time on earth. In exchange for this, the owner will provide you with the smallest possible reimbursement that he expects you to accept.

Capitalist Ladies, forgive me for using masculine pronouns to express my vitriol but the owner is usually male. Rest assured that I am equally disgusted with women who internalize the Capitalist paradigm and seek to profit off the backs of others.

As a young person deciding on my first steps into the real world, I made the seemingly rational choice to pursue a career that would pay me the most for my time. Possessing decent written and verbal skills, I decided to pursue a law degree.

Funny thing: You can't study law until you have received a college degree in some unrelated field. Economics, English, Philosophy, Humanities, Biology, Ethnic Studies. Whatever! It doesn't matter as long as you can convince the admissions assholes you're "lawyer material". Near as I can tell this amounts to 2 questions: Can  you read a large amount for long periods of time? Do your morals and closely held beliefs have wiggle room?

So I pursued political science because it seemed mildly interesting. Another funny realization occurred about this time. College is prohibitively expensive. Taking out loans would account for the tuition, but I was still left with living expenses. The great American solution? Get a wage slave arrangement until you can become the owner!

After 3 or so years of college I became convinced that the desire for knowledge is crippled. It is the appearance of knowledge that is valued in our society. Sure, in the deep mildewed corridors of universities there are those few obsessed souls who pursue knowledge for knowledge's sake. By and large, colleges are supported by people who simply want to appear more intelligent. And people who want to bang out overprotected 18 year old co-eds living alone for the first time.

After honestly assessing myself I realized law school was not for me. Lacking that tangible goal, it seemed pretty inane to sink further money into a political science degree. So I dropped out.

It signaled a moment of failure to many around me, yet remains a triumph of my soul over the expectations of society.

I have since organized my efforts toward minimizing the amount of my time sold to an owner. In short, I became an unskilled wage slave. It's even less lucrative than it sounds.

So here I am: unsatisfied with the world but content with who I am, upset that I have to work but glad I'm not slaving as much as I could, less than fulfilled in many respects and skeptically hoping this blog will help.