Just this past weekend I made pork in chile colorado for tacos. It is a traditional Mexican meal, served with refried beans, Mexican rice and cabbage salad. Muy sabroso! The birthday dinner feast was a success. Chile Colorado is a popular Mexican chile sauce used for cooking meat, chicken, beef or pork. The  main ingredient for this sauce is dry chiles, of which there are several kinds. I prefer to use the California dry chiles, because they have a nice spicy flavor but they are mild enough to enjoy. The chile Colorado cooked very nicely in the pork.  I made it in the slow cooker, cooking for several hours allowing the meat juices and chile fused together deliciously. When I was having a taco for lunch the next day I realized that this meat would make a great filling for delicious pork tamales.

Like many cooks, I tend to use instinct and “sazon”. Cuzco Eats describes sazon as having an element of grace. I liked this description, especially for my cooking habits. Here’s my unscripted recipe for my pork roast in chile colorado.. 

5 lb. pork roast

Season with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Sear in a skillet pan until some or most of the thick layer of fat melts off. 

Chile Colorado Sauce: 

1 fresh pasilla chile (remove seeds)

3 garlic cloves

¼ chunk of a medium onion

1 tsp of cumin seeds

2 tsp of chicken bouillon

1 tsp of California chile powder

1 Tbsp of vinegar (apple cider vinegar can also be used)

Garlic powder (optional)

Salt (optional)

In a large skillet heat 1 Tbsp of canola oil and add the pasilla chile, garlic gloves, onion and cumin seeds. Cook  and stir until they have softened. Chiles will have dark with burnt looking spots. Garlic and onion will be translucent. Add ¾ cup of water, bouillon and chile powder and let it simmer for about 15 min. Turn it off and let it cool down enough to transfer into the blender. Blend it, add vinegar, mix and taste sauce. Make adjustments as needed with bouillon, salt and garlic powder if needed. Sauce should not be very thick, if it is, add a little more water and reblend.

Transfer the seasoned seared pork into the crockpot and pour sauce over the meat. Cook on high for 5 hours or until the meat easily shreds. There should be plenty of chile in the cooked meat even after shredding. 

If you decide to use this meat for tamales just remember that masa preparada  usually has baking powder in it, the masa will absorb the meat juices, so you must make sure you add plenty of the chile sauce into your tamal to ensure a pot of delicious moist tamales to share. 

If you decide to postpone the hard work, you can visit the Texas Lone Star Tamales online store and place an order for a variety of authentic tamales today and skip all the hassle.