Recipe Contest Winner!
This is a marvelous Green Chile Stew Recipe with thorough instructions, but has room to make your own adjustments, and a wonderful view into New Mexico's Chile past!
Our winner is RUSTY FLEMING from Pearsall, Texas!
Thanks to all who entered. We sincerely appreciated your efforts!
Here is his email back to us with a wonderful view into New Mexico's past:
"I was born and raised on a hard rock mountain sheep and hair goat ranch back in the drought of the early 50's. Our Chile fix was of Indian and Mexican origin from all over New Mexico, and in later years all of our annual harvest of Green Chile came from farms in the Roswell, Hagerman, Dexter areas. In later years Haldeman Farms of Artesia made the best Chiles. They would roast them for us and we'd take those Chiles home, strip the skins, freeze them in quart size zip lock bags. We would put up and freeze 15 to 20 bushels every year of the thickest, meatiest, longest Chiles they grew, but alas all those Chile producers have died off and or sold those great Chile producing farms. So now, all my green Chile fix providers are in the Las Cruces and Hatch areas."
Here is the recipe, please let us know your comments, thanks again!
Rusty's Green Chile Stew Recipe:
5 to 6 Lbs of Boston Butt pork meat cut into bite sized pieces
5 Lbs of chopped green chiles, you can use mild but I prefer 2.5 Lbs of mild chiles and 2.5 Lbs of chopped Big Jims
32 oz. box of garlic chicken broth, or plain chicken broth if you add garlic
1 can chicken broth, to pour in later
Salt-pepper-garlic for seasoning the meat (I mix this in equal parts - 1 part salt, 1 part black pepper, 1 part granulated garlic)
1/3 cup of the oil after you have fried the meat pieces, to saute' the onion and garlic
1 large or 2 medium size onions, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped, not minced, or 3 Tablespoons of granulated garlic powder
Oregano
Cumino
Flour for frying
Peanut oil for frying
A wooden spoon or spatula to stir with for additional authenticity
Get the meat cut up and season it pretty well with the salt-pepper-garlic in a large bowl, then dampen the meat with a bit of water.
I put enough water on the pork to have a small puddle in the bottom of the bowl, pork will soak up a lot of water, this helps carry the seasoning down into the meat, it also re-hydrates the meat for a better tasting pork.
Let this seasoned meat set for 15 to 30 minutes, then swirl it around to make sure the meat has soaked all the moisture it can.
I have a Waring electric deep fryer I use that is very handy for cooking large quantities of pork meat or calf fries or fried shrimp or sopapillas,or use a large 8 to 10 quart Dutch oven for frying the meat AND making the stew.
Another dish you can fix at a later time is to fix the meat like you're going to make this green chile stew, but serve the meat pieces fried.
I call it Deep Fried Carnitas, but back to the green chile stew at hand, I get the oil heated up to 370 to 390 degrees, and I use the basket that came with the deep fryer.
Put the flour in a large bowl and put about 1 1/2 or 2 handfuls of meat pieces in the flour and swirl the meat around to coat it well.
I then use a colander to sift off the excess flour, and when the oil is hot, fry the meat.
Don't put in too much meat at one time to prevent the oil from losing it's heat. The meat is done when it floats, take it out, drain it and repeat flouring and cooking till all the meat is cooked.
When you take one batch of meat out, be sure and let the temperature of the oil to come back up or the crust will get soggy on the meat, and you want a crust on the meat.
If you're using the same Dutch oven to make the stew in, pour off the oil reserving 1/4 cup of the oil, and leave the fried meat drippings in the pot. Put the oil back in the pot and chop up the onion(s) and the 6 cloves of garlic.
Cook until the onions turn that clear color.
Stir pretty often and add a little chicken broth to help the cooking process.
When the onion and garlic are that right clear color, put the fried meat in, you'll probably have to mound the meat but don't worry, it'll cook down, then put the chopped green chiles in the pot and pour in the rest of the chicken broth.
You'll probably need to add the can of chicken broth or enough water to keep it from getting too thick or too dry, 8 to 10 ounces is plenty but not right now, later.
Cook on medium heat till it gets to cooking and bubbling pretty good, then turn the heat down to medium-low.
Mix 1 Tablespoon of cumino and 1 Tablespoon of oregano with ½ cup of water and add to the pot.
DON'T cover the pot, it needs to cook down.
After about an hour you'll probably need to add the can of chicken broth or enough water to keep it from getting too thick or too dry.
Stir the bottom of the pot every 10 minutes or so to keep it from sticking.
Keep cooking on it and after an hour or so, it'll start turning into a stew, if it gets a little too thick, add some more water, you'll figure it out.
Keep stirring the bottom every 10 minutes or so (everytime I stir the stew, I lick the spoon to check it's progress) and keep cooking on it and all of a sudden, magic happens and
POOF it's green chile stew at it's finest, this green chile stew has no garden fodder in it, except the onion and garlic.
I love taters and carrots and celery and black eyed peas and tomatoes, but NOT in my green chile stew, this is green chile stew, NOT a garden stew.
I usually let the stew go two or three hours, maybe cooking a little longer, maybe a little more time til it's done.
The meat has to be muy, muy tender and the stew thick for it to be done right, it will turn from a green chile color to a kind of a brown color when it gets right and as you taste test it as you go, you will know when it gets right.
At this point if you feel the need for more authentic taste, add a bit of oregano and cumino, but stir it in and let in have a chance to cook, taste test again or you might put too much oregano and cumino in it, you will know when it's right for your taste.
You try it once this way and if you feel it needs a little something else, feel free to put it some more spice in, but everybody that has tried green chile stew this way has come back for seconds and thirds.
I think this is green chile stew in it's purest form, next time, feel free to try it without breading the meat pieces.
You may have to add some flour or corn starch to thicken the stew, but the crust from the meat thickens it just right for me.
This makes about a gallon and can feed quite a few folks, but it goes fast when they start eating it and if there is any left over, it freezes very well.
I sometimes make it just to be able to freeze it and have some on hand.
I like to freeze it in the quart size square plastic containers to.
Enjoy it, I have sure had lots of fun tweaking this to my satisfaction and I
really like seeing folks loving the results.
If you are interested click here to go to our Frozen Green Chile Page Click Here to go to the Green Chile Page
