Adobo Conventual Poblano para Lomo Mechado

Puebla, the Angelopolis and its convent belt, owns this adobo. It belongs to the criollo-conventual kitchen around Santa Rosa, Santa Clara, Santa Monica, and Santa Catalina, where nuns worked with New Spain's two pantries at once: chile from here, jerez and spices from there. This is not a table salsa. This is the sauce that prepares the lomo mechado before that meat goes to its own recipe.

The chiles are ancho and guajillo. Ancho gives raisin-dark sweetness. Guajillo gives red color and a clean edge. The conventual register comes from almendra, pasas, canela, clavo, ajonjoli, and jerez. You toast on the comal, you soak without boiling, you grind until smooth. El metate es la regla. A blender can help you, but it cannot excuse laziness.

I saw a version like this in a Puebla family notebook copied from a convent recipe collection, with one line in the margin: 'freir bien en manteca antes de untar.' Fry it well in lard before spreading. My mother would have nodded. La manteca es el sabor. If you put raw chile paste on pork and call it adobo, no me vengas con atajos. This sauce needs one day to season and one more to do its work.