Chef Lupita
Adobo de Puerco Poblano
Puebla's weekday adobo of pork shoulder braised in a thick guajillo and ancho sauce sharpened with vinegar, cumin, and clove. The deep red of a market spice stall, the dish a poblana cooks without thinking.
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Tinga Poblana de Cerdo
Created by
Puebla's smoky shredded pork, with onions caramelized slow in lard and a reduction of charred tomato and chipotle en adobo, cooked down thick enough to mound on a tostada without sliding off.
Main Dishes
Mexican
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Potluck
25 min
Active Time
2 hr cook•2 hr 25 min total
Yield6 to 8 servings
Tinga is from Puebla. Not from the city of Mexico, not from the north, not from some generic shared kitchen. Puebla. The same state that gave the country mole poblano and chiles en nogada also gave it this everyday dish of shredded pork in a thick chipotle-tomato sauce, and the women of Puebla guard the recipe the way they guard the other two.
The technique is what separates a real tinga from the lazy version. Onions sliced thin and cooked slowly in manteca until they are deeply golden. Tomatoes charred on the comal, not boiled. Chipotle en adobo, not powdered chipotle. The puree fried in the lard until the fat separates and the color darkens. Then the pork goes in and reduces with the sauce until the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape on a tostada. Each step exists for a reason. Cut one and you are making something else.
My mother made tinga for weeknight dinners because it stretched a small piece of pork into a meal for a full table. We ate it on tostadas with avocado and queso fresco, standing at the kitchen counter, the way Pueblan families have always eaten it. The dish does not need a tablecloth. It needs hands and a stack of napkins. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Tinga has its documented roots in 18th-century Puebla, where the convents and middle-class kitchens of the colonial city developed it as a practical shredded-meat preparation that stretched a single cut of pork or beef across a large household. The word 'tinga' is of uncertain etymology, with linguists tracing it variously to a Nahuatl term for 'disorder' (a reference to the shredded, jumbled appearance of the meat) or to a regional Spanish term for a chaotic mix. The defining ingredient, chipotle en adobo, is itself a Pueblan codification: smoke-dried jalapeños rehydrated in a vinegar-and-spice paste, a preservation technique that allowed the smoky chile flavor to travel and keep through the highland winters of central Mexico.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bone-in pork shoulder
Quantity
2 1/2 pounds
cut into 3-inch chunks
pork ribs or neck bones
Quantity
1/2 pound
for the broth
white onion
Quantity
1 medium
halved (for the broth)
head of garlic
Quantity
1
halved crosswise (for the broth)
bay leaves
Quantity
2
fresh thyme
Quantity
1 small bunch
fresh marjoram
Quantity
1 small bunch
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
whole black peppercorns
Quantity
8 to 10
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
large white onions
Quantity
2
sliced into thin half-moons
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
finely chopped
ripe Roma tomatoes
Quantity
2 pounds
chiles chipotles en adobo
Quantity
4 to 6
plus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
dried bay leaves
Quantity
2
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried thyme
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
dried marjoram
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
tostadas (hand-fried corn) (optional)
Quantity
for serving
sliced avocado (optional)
Quantity
for serving
crumbled queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
for serving
crema mexicana (optional)
Quantity
for serving
pickled jalapeños (optional)
Quantity
for serving
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in pork shouldercut into 3-inch chunks | 2 1/2 pounds |
| pork ribs or neck bonesfor the broth | 1/2 pound |
| white onionhalved (for the broth) | 1 medium |
| head of garlichalved crosswise (for the broth) | 1 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| fresh thyme | 1 small bunch |
| fresh marjoram | 1 small bunch |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| whole black peppercorns | 8 to 10 |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 3 tablespoons |
| large white onionssliced into thin half-moons | 2 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 4 |
| ripe Roma tomatoes | 2 pounds |
| chiles chipotles en adoboplus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce | 4 to 6 |
| dried bay leaves | 2 |
| dried Mexican oregano | 1 teaspoon |
| dried thyme | 1/2 teaspoon |
| dried marjoram | 1/2 teaspoon |
| tostadas (hand-fried corn) (optional) | for serving |
| sliced avocado (optional) | for serving |
| crumbled queso fresco (optional) | for serving |
| crema mexicana (optional) | for serving |
| pickled jalapeños (optional) | for serving |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 6-quart stockpot for the broth
- •Wide clay cazuela or 12-inch heavy skillet
- •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring tomatoes
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer for the broth
Instructions
- 1
Build the pork broth
Place the pork shoulder and the ribs in a heavy stockpot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved garlic, fresh bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, peppercorns, and the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat and skim the gray foam that rises in the first fifteen minutes. Lower the heat until the broth barely bubbles. Cook partially covered for about ninety minutes, until the pork pulls apart with a fork. A rolling boil will toughen the meat and cloud the broth. Be patient.
- 2
Shred the pork
Lift the pork out of the broth and let it cool on a cutting board until you can handle it. Strain the broth and reserve two cups for the tinga. The rest is gold for a soup tomorrow. Pull the meat apart with two forks or your hands into uneven shreds. Tinga is not minced and not chopped. It is shredded. The irregular pieces are what catch the sauce.
Discard the bones and gristle, but keep any soft pieces of fat. They will melt into the tinga and carry the chipotle flavor. - 3
Char and blend the tomatoes
Heat a dry comal over medium-high. Lay the whole tomatoes on it and let them blister, turning every couple of minutes, until the skins blacken in patches and the flesh starts to give. About ten minutes. The char is not decoration. It is depth. Drop the charred tomatoes into a blender with the chipotles, the adobo sauce, and a splash of the reserved pork broth. Blend until smooth but not foamy. You want a thick puree, not a sauce.
- 4
Caramelize the onions slowly
Melt the lard in a wide, heavy cazuela or deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt. Cook slowly, stirring every few minutes, for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until the onions are deeply golden and sweet. Not just translucent. Golden. La manteca es el sabor and the slow onion is the soul of the tinga. Rush this step and the dish will taste flat and sharp. No me vengas con atajos.
If the onions start to brown too fast at the edges, drop the heat. You are after caramelization, not scorching. - 5
Add garlic and herbs
Stir in the chopped garlic, the dried bay leaves, the Mexican oregano, the dried thyme, and the dried marjoram. Cook for two more minutes until the garlic loses its raw edge and the dried herbs perfume the lard. The kitchen will smell like a Pueblan home on a Saturday afternoon. That is the marker.
- 6
Fry the tomato-chipotle puree
Raise the heat to medium and pour the tomato-chipotle puree into the cazuela over the onions. It will sputter. Cook the puree for eight to ten minutes, stirring often, until it darkens from bright red to a deeper brick color and the fat starts to separate at the edges. This step is called sofreir la salsa. Skip it and the chipotle tastes raw. Cook it through and the sauce gets the round, smoky body that defines a real tinga.
- 7
Add the pork and reduce
Fold the shredded pork into the sauce, coating every piece. Add about half a cup of the reserved broth, just enough to loosen the mixture. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring now and then. The tinga is ready when the liquid has reduced and the mixture is thick enough that a spoon dragged across the cazuela leaves a brief trail. It should not be soupy. Tinga has to hold its shape on a tostada without sliding off. Taste and adjust salt now.
- 8
Serve on tostadas
Pile the tinga generously onto hand-fried tostadas. Top with sliced avocado, a sprinkle of queso fresco, a thread of crema, and a few pickled jalapeños. Lime on the side. Eat with your hands and accept that it will be messy. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Bone-in pork shoulder is non-negotiable. The bones and connective tissue make the broth, and the broth makes the tinga. Boneless pork will give you a thin, lifeless dish.
- •Buy chipotles en adobo in the small La Costena or San Marcos cans. Open a can, use what you need, and freeze the rest in a small container. They keep for months. Powdered chipotle is not a substitute. It tastes one-dimensional and burnt.
- •Tinga is a leftover dish by design. The flavor deepens overnight. Make it on Saturday morning, eat it for Saturday dinner, and use the rest for Sunday breakfast tacos with a fried egg on top.
- •If your tomatoes are pale and out of season, do not make tinga that day. Cook what the mercado is selling well. A Pueblan cook would never use a sad winter tomato for this. She would make something else and wait for August.
Advance Preparation
- •The pork can be poached and shredded one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat and the strained broth separately.
- •The finished tinga keeps refrigerated for four days and the flavor only deepens. It freezes well for up to two months. Reheat gently with a splash of broth to loosen.
- •The tomato-chipotle puree can be made and refrigerated two days ahead, ready to fry into the onions when you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 290g)
Calories
440 calories
Total Fat
31 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
105 mg
Sodium
920 mg
Total Carbohydrates
9 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
29 g
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