New Mexico Green Chile Stew

This is going to be a post where the one guy from New Mexico on rDrama gets really mad, like when Texas people get pissy because you added some kidney beans to your chili or whatever. Hey hypothetical future New Mexico angry guy, it's all good, you should be mad. I am literally raping your culture on purpose.

This post is about making something that's relevant to the state of New Mexico where they venerate a specific type of non-spicy pepper called the Hatch Green Chile. New Mexicans have made this product a point of cultural pride for their state and have done a pretty good job of exporting it all over the country during the brief window they're harvested (late August through part of September if you're looking for some). Now I said "non-spicy" but nowadays clever growers have created new varieties that are pretty spicy, although not much more so than a Jalapeno or something similar. If you want your green chile stew to be spicy, you can either look for those hot varieties, or just add some other peppers for heat. Personally, I don't like using the spicy Hatch peppers in this recipe because you need to add a LOT of peppers (like 30 or 40) which can get INSANE if you use the really spicy ones. It's up to you and your colon, though.

If you buy fresh peppers during the harvesting season, the grocery stores will roast them for you on site. Whole Foods likes to do this in some places. Otherwise, somebody in your town will probably get on the bandwagon. They bring a big roaster out in front of the store and sell the peppers by the pound. You'll probably need in the area of 1 - 2 pounds of peppers to make this recipe. If you go nuts for these things and buy a whole 25 pound case, make sure you have a vacuum sealer and a big freezer because these will not stay good in your fridge for more than a week. They're very wet after roasting, so you can only imagine how fast they're going to grow mold.

On to the stew. This recipe is dead simple to make. It's all just prep work. Hope you enjoy cutting things. You'll need:

• 1 to 2 pounds of pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes (actual size of the cubes is up to what you like to eat, but if you make them too big you'll have to cook everything longer)

• 1 to 2 pounds of green chiles (I didn't weigh them or count them when I made this last night, but it looked like there were 25 - 35 peppers)

• A big russet potato or a couple red potatoes

• 2 big carrots (not traditional, but my favorite version of this had them so I use them too)

• A big white onion

• Lots of garlic

• Chicken or beef stock

• Onion powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper

• MSG in the form of Sazon Goya (totally optional)

• Plenty of salt

First, you need to process the chiles before cooking them. You need to chop off the seed pod that's on one end and scrape the skins off. The skins aren't exactly inedible, but they have a bad texture that will make you look like an idiot in front of your guests while they try to pretend they don't hate you and your lousy dinner. You don't need to be careful about removing all the seeds, they really won't hurt anything, you just want to remove the seed pod because it's hard as a rock.

You could scrape the skins off the peppers using a fork or a butter knife, but I suggest you use the back of your relatively new, extremely sharp chef's knife. That way, you can talk on the phone with a friend while you're doing it, get distracted while turning the knife over in your hand again and again (using the sharp side to cut out the seed pod and the dull side to scrape, naturally) and then nearly cut the end of your index finger off when you grab and squeeze the sharp side of your knife.

Once you get back from the emergency room, start by browning then removing the pork cubes, then saute the onions, garlic, and chiles a little with the dried spices, before adding back the meat, potatoes, stock and everything else. Cook for about 2 hours (45 min covered and the rest uncovered). If you want to cook longer, don't add the potatoes right away or they'll turn to mush. Add the MSG right at the end or it will lose some of its potency.

Real New Mexican recipes I found online don't have carrots, but the first place I ever had this stuff at was in Provo, Utah (Black Sheep Cafe) and it was so good that I have always tried to imitate it.