Chilorio is a pork dish from Sinaloa. It is also sometimes made with beef or chicken. Chilorio is made by cooking the meat in water and fat and then frying it with chiles and spices. It makes a great filling for tacos, burritos and tamales. You can also serve it as a main dish.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds boneless pork
- 4-5 cups water or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup lard (oil can be subsitituted with different results)
- 3-4 dried ancho chiles (or other similar chile)
- 1/2 of an onion
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
In a large pot, simmer the pork in the water or broth, covered, for 2 hours. During the last 20 minutes of cooking time, ladle out enough liquid to cover the dried chiles in a bowl. Let the chiles soak in the liquid until they are soft then remove the stems and seeds.
When the pork is done simmering, drain off the liquid, but reserve 1 cup. Pull the pork into bite-sized chunks Heat lard in a large pan until melted. Fry the pork in the lard until browned. Remove the pork and set aside. Then cook the onions in the lard until translucent. Remove them from the pan and set aside to cool.
In a blender, add the chiles, onions, spices and reserved liquid. Blend until smooth. Drain most of the lard from the pan and put the pork into the pan with the blended chile sauce and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken the sauce and bring the flavors together.
