By Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- 2 hours or more
- Rating
- 4(304)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Tortillas, which of course can be used in a variety of ways, are also potential tacos. This recipe for a kind of shredded chile-sauced meat — beef, pork, chicken or lamb — goes perfectly with homemade tortillas.
Featured in: Tortillas, Almost From Scratch
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Ingredients
Yield:4 or more servings
- 2pounds boneless beef chuck, porkshoulder, lamb shoulder or chicken(thigh) meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 5garlic cloves, peeled and lightlycrushed
- 1large onion, peeled and quartered
- 2dried guajillo chiles, seeds andstems removed
- 2dried ancho chiles, seeds andstems removed
- 2bay leaves
- 1tablespoon ground cumin
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Cayenne
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine all the ingredients except the cayenne. Add water to cover, and bring to a boil, skimming off any foam that comes to the surface. Partly cover, and adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles steadily; cook until the meat is very tender, 1 to 2 hours
Step
2
Transfer the meat to a bowl, and let it cool, then shred it with your fingers. Discard the bay leaves, and transfer the garlic, onion and chiles to a blender along with a splash of the cooking liquid. Blend until smooth. Add the sauce to the meat, and toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a little cayenne if you want it spicier; you may want to overseason the meat slightly if you’re using it as a filling. Use, or store in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to a few months.
Ratings
4
out of 5
304
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Cooking Notes
Sergio
Mother boiled the pork shoulder, then shredded it, then she made a guiso. Sauteed the meat in a small amount of lard, then added freshly ground cumin and pepper. She would soak the ancho chilies and when soft, would remove the pulp and used that in the meat. Some of the chili pulp would go in the masa. She used freshly prepared masa that was ground in front of our eyes, still warm from boiling the corn. What a treat!
Petaltown
I'd brown the beef first before adding the water.
Amanda
Used chicken (with bones) and the dried mystery chiles from the back of my cupboard. I didn't actually add the blended mixture back to the meat, but instead blended it with pinto beans and cooking liquid and then added whole pinto beans, kale and cilantro. Then made tortillas with the beans, shredded chicken, avocado, and feta.
Doug
I couldn't find guajillo chiles, so I used cascabel in their place. I also used the seeds from one of the cascabels and one of the anchos. The issue that I had was that the 'heat' was so mild as to be non-existent. Even adjusting with cayenne really didn't do it for me.
It could be that my 10 years here in NM have made me a bit immune. If I do make it again, I will use some NM (Hatch) red chile powder in place of the two types of chiles as per the recipe.
Scott
And save the cooking liquid to use in black bean soup or red beans & rice
Diane B.
Simple and delicious. Not necessary to brown the meat; that gives you something more like chili, and this is a taco filling. Not spicy hot but you can add the heat later. The cooking liquid is too good to waste; I plan to use it as a soup base.
stephanie
cascabel & ancho peppers are not hot. you cannot add the seeds from those for "more heat" because they aren't hot to begin with. an ancho is merely a dried poblano, for instance. the term "chile" is misleading to many people - it doesn't necessarily denote heat. use them for flavor, then add heat with something much higher up the scoville scale :)
Zesus
This is easy and a nice "base" sort of recipe from which lots of pleasant experiments can emerge. One thing I felt necessary in my following of the recipe this evening was to take a few minutes to scrape the flesh from the tough skins of the chiles after cooking and separating from the stew. These particular dried chiles had very tough skins and I certainly didn't want my guests to have to break out their molcajetes to process my tamale filling. Everything was very tasty!
Jackie N
An easy recipe that yields nicely spiced & flavored meat in red chili sauce without turning your kitchen red (a hazard when making New Mexico red chili sauce). Used dried New Mexico red chilie instead of ancho with guajillo chiles. While a mix pork tenderloin/pork sirloin I had on hand was good next time will make with pork shoulder as suggested. Adjusted seasoning with New Mexico red chili powder, a more complex flavor we enjoy in SW. Will definitely make again to serve to guests with tacos.
stephanie
1" is very small. i find what most recipes mean when they say "one inch cubes" for this is more like 2-3" chunks. that's how i do chicken for bbq, and pork shoulder (aka pork butt). (tho i prefer pork in chunks rather than shredded, but that's neither here nor there.) either way it's all much easier to cut when slightly frozen.
btw, the butt isnt from the butt of the animal - its name comes from the barrels ("butts") they were stored/transported in.
cookingDeliciously
I cut the time in half by cooking this recipe in an instant pot for 1 hour on high, and instead of shredding the meat - I pressed it gently with a fork and spooned the delicious broth on top. While bending the red sauce, I thought it needed a bit more body. I may have added little bits of cooked beef fat. Use a good blender.
Glen
Nice, but I thought it was a bit bland. Of the two chilis, the guajillo are hotter, so next time I will try doubling them to see if that helps.I used a drawstring mesh cooking bag for the garlic, onions, and chilis -- made them easy to remove for the final steps.
P.Hill
This is a keeper. I added a fresh jalapeno and some chicken "Better than Bullion" to the water but otherwise made as directed and really enjoyed. The chicken was moist! (used bone-in thighs)
P.Hill
Would have liked a salt measurement to go by. I felt that I had to keep adding salt to get it "to taste"
Amanda
We will make again, and probably add a lot more chilies.
Peter
I ended up adding a little bit of cloves and cinnamon, just because I saw it in a carnitas recipe and I was using pork. Also a dash of fish sauce, to fill out the flavor a bit. Maybe this is odd but I chopped the dry chilles and at the end I used a wisk to break up the meat and incorporated the delicious juices. Hoping to preserve all the flavor
Elizabeth
This is a real go to for me. VERY healthy and easy.
augustus p
I’ve made this recipe a couple times. I use chicken thighs, cook them for about 40mins and shred them. Put the shredded chicken back in a pan with a tablespoon of butter and let it crisp a little, then add the blended sauce. No complaints so far.
Bunnii
Add a few chile de árbol if you want it spicy. i like cumin but it overpowered the meat so maybe halve it if you’re not a fan.
Zesus
This is easy and a nice "base" sort of recipe from which lots of pleasant experiments can emerge. One thing I felt necessary in my following of the recipe this evening was to take a few minutes to scrape the flesh from the tough skins of the chiles after cooking and separating from the stew. These particular dried chiles had very tough skins and I certainly didn't want my guests to have to break out their molcajetes to process my tamale filling. Everything was very tasty!
cookingDeliciously
I cut the time in half by cooking this recipe in an instant pot for 1 hour on high, and instead of shredding the meat - I pressed it gently with a fork and spooned the delicious broth on top. While bending the red sauce, I thought it needed a bit more body. I may have added little bits of cooked beef fat. Use a good blender.
Scott
And save the cooking liquid to use in black bean soup or red beans & rice
Sergio
Mother boiled the pork shoulder, then shredded it, then she made a guiso. Sauteed the meat in a small amount of lard, then added freshly ground cumin and pepper. She would soak the ancho chilies and when soft, would remove the pulp and used that in the meat. Some of the chili pulp would go in the masa. She used freshly prepared masa that was ground in front of our eyes, still warm from boiling the corn. What a treat!
Diane B.
Simple and delicious. Not necessary to brown the meat; that gives you something more like chili, and this is a taco filling. Not spicy hot but you can add the heat later. The cooking liquid is too good to waste; I plan to use it as a soup base.
anita
Delicious! I had to use new mexico chilis instead of ancho, so I added ancho chili powder. Next time I'll definitely up the heat content but it was still very tasty and we added fresh jalapeños during the meal.
Doug
I couldn't find guajillo chiles, so I used cascabel in their place. I also used the seeds from one of the cascabels and one of the anchos. The issue that I had was that the 'heat' was so mild as to be non-existent. Even adjusting with cayenne really didn't do it for me.
It could be that my 10 years here in NM have made me a bit immune. If I do make it again, I will use some NM (Hatch) red chile powder in place of the two types of chiles as per the recipe.
david 92108
I've made it with Hatch Red Chili and it is great!
Suzanne z
I love cooking with NM red chile powder....how much would you recommend ?
Voros
about 2 Bamakos
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