This slow-cooked pork in chile sauce was the first dish San Francisco’s Rosa Martinez ever made by herself. She was all of 9 years old, living in her native Oaxaca, near the town square where she sold tamales she made with her mother.
The recipe, featured in “We are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream” (Chronicle Books, $30), suggests eating the chile-flecked pork with beans and tortillas. But it also makes an excellent filling for tamales. Today, Martinez is the chef-owner of Origen, a catering company she started in 2016 with help from La Cocina.
Pork in Chile Sauce, or Chilito de Puerco
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
5 or 6 dried pulla, negro or guajillo chiles, seeded
1 dried ancho chile, seeded
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups water, divided use
1 pound tomatoes (6 plum tomatoes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds pork butt, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon salt
1 medium onion, diced (1 cup)
DIRECTIONS
Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill over medium-high heat. Add the chiles and roast until nice and smoky, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer from the pan to a bowl of hot water to rehydrate them for 5 minutes.
Drain the rehydrated chiles and put in a blender with the garlic, cumin, and 1 cup water. Blend until smooth, then pour this chile paste into a bowl. (No need to clean the blender before using it for the tomatoes.)
Roast the tomatoes on the cast-iron skillet or grill. Roast them for 10 minutes, getting them nice and charred in some places and rotating them a few times.
Put the grilled tomatoes in the blender and blend until smooth.
In a Dutch oven or high-sided sauté pan with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork, season with salt and cook, browning the meat, for 10 minutes. You will not cook the meat entirely, just add color. Transfer the pork to a plate, leaving behind the fat in the pan.
Over medium heat, cook the onions in the pork fat until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the chile paste and stir. Add the pork and stir to coat. Add the puréed tomatoes and remaining 1 cup water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover, turn the heat to low, and braise the pork until tender, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Taste for seasoning.
This pork dish can be served with warm tortillas and black beans or stuffed into tamales.
— Rosa Martinez’s Origen recipe from “We are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream” (Chronicle Books, $30)
