Lomo de Cerdo Veracruzano con Chipotle

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh sieve
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the pork

   Pat the pork loin medallions dry. Season both sides with the salt and black pepper. Let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes while you prepare the chiles and vegetables. Pork loin is lean. If it goes into the cazuela cold and wet, it tightens before it browns.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the chipotle meco chiles for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they smell smoky and the skin darkens slightly. Toast the ancho separately for about 20 seconds per side. Do not blacken them. Burned chile gives bitterness, and no amount of tomato will hide it.

   Chipotle meco is tan, wrinkled, and deeply smoky. Chipotle mora or morita is darker, softer, and fruitier. Either works, but meco tastes more like the old Xalapa smokehouse style.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water. Hot, not boiling. Let them soften for 15 minutes. Remove the ancho seeds if any remain. Leave the chipotle seeds if you want a firmer bite of heat, or shake some out if your table needs it calmer. Taste and decide. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.

4. 4

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes cut side down, the onion slices, and the unpeeled garlic. Turn as needed until the tomatoes slump and show dark spots, the onion softens at the edges, and the garlic skins are browned. Peel the garlic. This charring gives the sauce body. Raw tomato makes a thin, nervous adobo.

5. 5

   Blend the adobo

   Drain the chiles and put them in a blender with the roasted tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, Mexican oregano, thyme, vinegar, piloncillo, and 1/2 cup of the broth. Blend until completely smooth. If the blender struggles, add a little more broth. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve if your chipotles had tough skins. The sauce should be thick, red-brown, and smoky before it ever touches the pork.

6. 6

   Sear the pork

   Melt the manteca in a wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the fat shimmers, sear the pork medallions in one layer, about 2 minutes per side. Work in batches if needed. You want browned edges, not cooked-through pork. Remove the pork to a plate. La manteca es el sabor, and here it also carries the chile into the meat.

7. 7

   Fry the sauce

   Lower the heat to medium. Pour the blended adobo into the same fat. It will sputter, so stir with a wooden spoon and respect the pot. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, scraping up the browned pork bits, until the sauce darkens, thickens, and the fat begins to show in small red beads at the edges. This is the step people skip when they don't know better. No me vengas con atajos.

8. 8

   Braise gently

   Add the remaining broth and the bay leaf. Return the pork and any juices to the cazuela, turning the pieces so they are coated. Cover and simmer gently for 18 to 22 minutes, until the pork is just cooked through and still tender. Do not boil it hard. Pork loin is not shoulder. It forgives less.

9. 9

   Finish Veracruz style

   Stir in the green olives and capers. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes so their salt and sharpness enter the sauce. Taste for salt only after this, because capers speak loudly. The sauce should coat the spoon, smoky from chipotle, bright from vinegar and tomato, with little briny hits from the port-city pantry.

10. 10

    Serve family-style

    If using hoja santa, lay the leaf in the bottom of a warm serving cazuela and spoon the pork and sauce over it. Serve with black beans, white rice, and warm corn tortillas. The hoja santa perfumes the dish without turning it into another recipe. Put the cazuela in the middle of the table. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chipotle meco from a chile vendor who sells enough to keep stock moving. It should smell smoky and sweet, not dusty. If it smells like cardboard, leave it there.
• •Chipotle in canned adobo is acceptable for a tired Tuesday, but it is a compromise. Use 3 canned chipotles plus 1 tablespoon of their adobo and reduce the vinegar to 1 teaspoon. You will lose the clean smoke of toasted dried chile.
• •Do not use pork tenderloin unless you reduce the braise to 8 to 10 minutes. Tenderloin dries faster than gossip in a market aisle. Pork loin has enough structure for this sauce.
• •The olives and capers are Veracruz, not a fancy addition. The port brought them, Veracruz made them its own. Leave them out and the dish loses its coastal accent.
• •Serve with black beans, not pinto. Pinto beans belong more naturally to the north. Veracruz kitchens know frijol negro.

Advance Preparation

• •The chipotle adobo can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Fry it in manteca before braising the pork, because raw blended sauce is not finished sauce.
• •The pork is best the day it is made, but leftovers keep refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat gently with a splash of broth so the lean pork does not dry out.
• •Black beans can be cooked a day ahead with onion, garlic, epazote, and salt. That makes this a true weeknight meal instead of a scramble.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 485g)