I’m still cooking up the green chile dishes and this week it’s Green Chile Stew with Smoked Pork. When I watch the Next Food Network Star they are constantly telling the contestants they need to have a culinary point of view, this stew recipe is my culinary point of view. It embodies everything I love, traditional New Mexican food infused with slow smoked barbeque. I have been playing around with this recipe for a couple of years, but I think I finally found the flavors I was looking for.
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| Green Chile Stew with Smoked Pork |
This recipe starts with the pork butt. The pork butt had to be tender, smoked and have an essence of green chile. I started by making a brine of apple juice, green chile rub, sugar and salt for the pork to soak in for 24 hours before hitting the smoker. As for the smoke, I wanted more New Mexican flavor and for me that would be mesquite. My dad always cooked with mesquite wood and I just love the flavor of it. So I loaded up the Big Green Egg with my mesquite lump, fired it up, and got to cooking. I cooked the 8-pound butt for about 10 hours, until it was fall apart tender.
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| Smoked Pork Butt |
The base of the stew is very simple, chicken broth, potatoes and green chile. In a large stockpot, I started 8 cups of chicken broth, 6 small gold potatoes cut into bite size pieces, and 2 cups of diced hot Hatch Green Chile. As the broth simmered I started pulling apart the pork butt and adding it to the pot. To get the smoky flavor I was looking for I added the crusty pieces from the outside of the butt first then kept adding meat till it looked like there was slightly more meat than potatoes, easily a good 3 pounds. I simmered the hearty creation for about 2 hours to allow all the flavors to blend and completely cook the potatoes, cause nothing ruins a good stew like a crunchy potato.
After the longest 2 hours of my life had passed it was time to eat. I filled up a big ol’ bowl, topped it with some sharp cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Of course no green chile stew is complete without a hot fresh flour tortilla on the side. The moment of truth, the first bite. It was perfect! There were 4 flavors, pork, smoke, potato and green chile all playing together in a culinary spice symphony. I have eaten a lot of green chile stew in my day, but the smoked pork took this stew to a whole new level.
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| More Green Chile Stew |
I can’t tell you how I excited I am this recipe has finally come together. I had been working on it for over a year. My previous attempts were still good but this was the one. I have successfully taken a traditional New Mexican recipe and infused it with my slow cooked barbeque. If one bowl could hold my culinary vision this would be it. I wish you were all here to taste it for yourself but since you can’t here’s the recipe. Enjoy!
The Brine
1 gallon of apple juice
1 cup of AlbuKirky Green Chile Rub
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of salt
Mix all the ingredients in a large bucket or stock pot and drop the pork butt in, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
The Pork
Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Coat the pork with olive or cooking oil and season liberally with green chile rub.
Fire up your smoker using the charcoal or wood of your choice and slow cook the pork butt over indirect heat at 225º for 1 hour and 20 minutes per pound to an internal temperature of 190-195º. An 8 pound butt should take about 10 hours. The butt is done when you can easily pull the bone from the meat.
The Stew
3 pounds of pulled pork
5-6 small gold potatoes cut into bite size pieces
2 cups of chopped hot green chile
8 cups of chicken broth
Add all the ingredients to a large stockpot or slow cooker. Allow the stew to simmer for at least 2 hours or until the potatoes are done. Serve in a big bowl, top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Share with friends if you’re feeling generous.
Just found your blog and love all the bbq! My wife is going to kill me if I buy a smoker… If I do it anyways I'll tell her who to blame!
I'll take the blame for you. Check craigslist, you can probably find a smoking deal.
Elias: Your wife won't kill you. You'll be cooking for her so she won't have to cook. She'll be happy!!!
Kirk: I need to order some of your rubs for my husband who smokes using R2D2 (Weber Smoker).
I also need to find a source that ships frozen green chiles.
Give your wife a hug from me!
Kathi, Thanks for your comment. My rubs and sauces were all developed and tested on my grill and smoker, so I can assure you they will be perfect for you R2D2 smoker.
My friends at Biad Chile can hook you up with some excellent chile. I use their dried chiles in my rubs & sauce.
http://www.biadchili.com
Oh Kirk….I hate you for posting this. I am starving right now (having late lunch) and this is making me drool. Pork and green chiles, YEAH!
I bought the new book from the Jamison's about New Mexico cooking (they wrote Smoke and Spice too) but having gotten to cook out of it yet. Have you seen it?
Kathi, I already do 95% of the cooking because I love doing it and my wife hates it (she does bake a lot though). So I don't get a pass for cooking, its just what I already do (she does SO much more with the cleaning, laundry, baby, working part time, etc).
I double checked with her and got a clear impression that if I went out and took away a sure fire Christmas Present Option from her (to give to me) that there would be hell to pay (I'm sure you know how hard it is to buy presents for a spouse or other loved one). It can wait, Its not like it gets THAT cold here in the winter anyways (North Texas).
Meanwhile I'll be busy bookmarking recipes here to try.
Chris, I haven't seen that book yet. Maybe Santa will bring me a copy??