Picadillo Navideño Chiapaneco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for toasting chile and roasting tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Wide heavy skillet or clay cazuela
• •2-quart red clay cazuela, preferably Chiapas-style barro from Amatenango del Valle

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chile

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin softens, darkens slightly, and smells sweet like dried fruit. Do not blacken it. Burned ancho turns bitter and that bitterness will sit in the whole picadillo.

2. 2

   Soak and blend

   Place the toasted chile ancho in a small bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. Drain it. Blend the softened chile with the roasted tomatoes, peeled roasted garlic, and 1/2 cup hot broth until smooth. This sauce should be brick red and thick enough to coat a spoon.

   Use hot water for soaking, not boiling water. Boiling toughens the chile skin and pushes bitterness into the sauce.
3. 3

   Fry the plantain

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the manteca in a wide heavy skillet or cazuela over medium heat. Add the diced plátano macho and fry, turning gently, until the edges are golden and the centers are soft but not falling apart, about 5 minutes. Lift the plantain out with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Leave the flavored lard in the pan.

4. 4

   Brown the pork

   Add the remaining 2 tablespoons manteca to the same pan. Add the onion and cook until it turns translucent and smells sweet, about 5 minutes. Add the coarsely ground pork shoulder, salt, and black pepper. Cook, breaking the meat into small pieces, until the liquid evaporates and the pork begins to sizzle in its own fat. That sound matters. Wet pork does not make good stuffing.

5. 5

   Fry the sauce

   Pour the chile ancho and tomato sauce into the pork. Add the Mexican oregano, tomillo, bay leaf, canela, and cloves. Stir well and cook over medium-low heat for 18 to 20 minutes, until the sauce darkens, the pork absorbs the chile, and a little red fat shows at the edge of the pan. This is where the flavor deepens. No me vengas con atajos.

6. 6

   Add the fruit

   Stir in the raisins, aceitunas, capers, diced apple, and piloncillo if the tomatoes taste sharp. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, just until the raisins swell and the apple softens without disappearing. Remove the canela stick, cloves, and bay leaf if you can find them. If one clove hides, warn your family. That is kitchen honesty.

7. 7

   Bind with bread

   Fold in the fried plátano macho, toasted almonds, and pan molido. Add a splash of broth if the mixture looks dry. The picadillo should be moist, glossy, and able to mound on a spoon without leaking across the pan. Taste for salt now. The olives and capers bring salinity, so do not salt blindly.

8. 8

   Bake or stuff

   For a side dish, line a 2-quart clay cazuela with the softened hoja de plátano if using, spoon in the picadillo, and bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top browns lightly and the edges glisten. To stuff a turkey, cool the cooked picadillo completely first, fill the bird loosely, and roast until the center of the stuffing reaches 165F. Food safety is not a suggestion. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for coarsely ground pork shoulder with fat. Lean ground pork gives you dry crumbs. The fat carries the chile, the fruit, and the bread. La manteca es el sabor.
• •The plátano macho should be yellow with black freckles, not green and not collapsing. Green plantain tastes starchy. Overripe plantain melts into the picadillo and makes it heavy.
• •Use pan molido made from stale bolillo or telera. Boxed seasoned bread crumbs bring dried herbs and powders that do not belong here. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •This picadillo is not meant to be hot. Chile ancho gives color, sweetness, and depth. If someone tells you Mexican Christmas stuffing has to burn, pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •If you cannot find hoja de plátano, bake the picadillo directly in the cazuela. Do not perfume it with random leaves. Better plain than confused.

Advance Preparation

• •The chile ancho and tomato sauce can be blended 2 days ahead and refrigerated.
• •The full picadillo can be cooked 1 day ahead. Cool it quickly, refrigerate it covered, and reheat with a splash of broth before baking or stuffing.
• •If using inside a turkey, the picadillo must be completely cold before it goes into the bird, and the stuffing center must reach 165F before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 205g)