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.