Mexican · meal

Pork in salsa verde

Name: Pork in salsa verde
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1 lb Pork loin; 10 whole Tomatillos; 2 whole Serrano peppers; 1 whole White onion; 1 bunch Cilantro; 3 cloves Garlic; 2 tbsp Avocado oil; Salt and pepper (to taste)

Pork loin in cubes simmered in its own tomatillo sauce. Half an hour, one pot, and the sauce gets made while the meat softens.

Serves

2 people

Amount

2 servings

Time

35 min

Steps

Why this one and not another

It's a real stew: it keeps three days and reheated the pork is still tender, which doesn't happen with any seared cut in this group. Eight ingredients and one pot, and of the thirty-five minutes, twelve are the lid on over the lowest flame.

Where it comes from

Pork in salsa verde is the most repeated pot stew of home kitchens in Mexico, the one sitting in the window of every diner next to the chicharrón and the mole. The old argument is the tomatillo's point: pulled the moment it loses its shine it gives a thick sauce, and one minute more bursts it and leaves the sauce sour and thin. The diner version comes with rice or with tortilla to scoop it up; here you eat the sauce with a spoon and there's nothing else.

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

Never the same board for raw meat and for what goes in the juicer. If you only have one, vegetables first and meat after. And don't wash the chicken: it splatters.

1Ingredients and how to prep them

Ingredient	Amount	How to prep it
Pork loin	1 lb	In cubes an inch and a half across. With some fat on them: a trimmed loin dries out.
Tomatillos	10 whole	Papery husks off, washed. They stay sticky: that's normal.
Serrano peppers	2 whole	Whole. One of them if you don't want it to really bite.
White onion	1 whole	Half in chunks for the sauce, half chopped for the pot.
Cilantro	1 bunch	Stems and all: that's where the flavor is.
Garlic	3 cloves	Two for the sauce, one chopped for the pot.
Avocado oil	2 tbsp	It takes high heat without smoking (~500 °F).
Salt and pepper	to taste	—

Pork loin1 lb
In cubes an inch and a half across. With some fat on them: a trimmed loin dries out.
Tomatillos10 whole
Papery husks off, washed. They stay sticky: that's normal.
Serrano peppers2 whole
Whole. One of them if you don't want it to really bite.
White onion1 whole
Half in chunks for the sauce, half chopped for the pot.
Cilantro1 bunch
Stems and all: that's where the flavor is.
Garlic3 cloves
Two for the sauce, one chopped for the pot.
Avocado oil2 tbsp
It takes high heat without smoking (~500 °F).
Salt and pepperto taste
—

2Steps

In this order. The box on each step is the specific pitfall: what goes wrong there and why.

1
Boil the tomatillos with the chile
8 min
Tomatillos, serranos, half an onion in chunks and two garlic cloves in water that covers them. Medium heat until the tomatillo goes from bright green to olive green.
Heads up
The second they change color, out. Taken too far they burst and dump all their juice into the water: the sauce comes out thin and sour instead of thick.
2
Blend the sauce with the cilantro raw
3 min
Everything you boiled into the blender with half a cup of its water and the cilantro. Salt.
Heads up
The cilantro goes in raw and at the end. Boiled, it loses its smell and leaves the sauce khaki instead of green.
3
Brown the pork in two batches
8 min
Oil good and hot, the cubes dry and salted, without moving them until they release from the pot on their own.
Heads up
Two batches. All the pork at once drops the temperature at a stroke and it cooks in its own water: it ends up gray, and no amount of browning later brings that flavor back.
4
Cook down the other half onion and the garlic
3 min
In the same pot, with the chopped garlic, scraping the bottom with the spoon.
Heads up
What's stuck to the bottom is half the dish. If you don't scrape it now, when the cold sauce goes in it stays down there and then it burns.
5
Put the meat back and pour the sauce in
12 min
All together, covered over low heat, until the sauce thickens and the pork gives way to a spoon.
Heads up
Low heat and covered. At a rolling boil lean pork tightens up and goes like cork, and the sauce splits and turns bitter.

3If something goes wrong

What happens	Why	What to do
The sauce came out thin	Too much cooking water in the blender, or burst tomatillos.	Take the lid off for the last five minutes and turn the heat up a notch. It reduces on its own.
The sauce came out bitter	Tomatillos boiled too long, or the sauce left uncovered over high heat too long.	A pinch of salt and half a raw tomatillo blended and added at the end.
The pork came out tough	It boiled hard instead of stewing.	Lid on, heat at its lowest and ten more minutes. It relaxes.

The sauce came out thin
Why: Too much cooking water in the blender, or burst tomatillos.
What to do: Take the lid off for the last five minutes and turn the heat up a notch. It reduces on its own.
The sauce came out bitter
Why: Tomatillos boiled too long, or the sauce left uncovered over high heat too long.
What to do: A pinch of salt and half a raw tomatillo blended and added at the end.
The pork came out tough
Why: It boiled hard instead of stewing.
What to do: Lid on, heat at its lowest and ten more minutes. It relaxes.

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

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Why this one and not another

Where it comes from

▲Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

1Ingredients and how to prep them

2Steps

Boil the tomatillos with the chile

Blend the sauce with the cilantro raw

Brown the pork in two batches

Cook down the other half onion and the garlic

Put the meat back and pour the sauce in

3If something goes wrong

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen