Receta Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican Pork Tinga
Photo Courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine
Do you have recipes that sit there tempting you but that look
too winter-y when you discover them on the first warm day of Spring? That’s what happened to me with Rick Bayless’
flawless recipe for Pork Tinga. But the
other day, I was going to be farther over on the West Side than usual and
decided to make a pilgrimage to Esposito Pork Shop to get what I needed to make
the dish, a perfect antidote to cold weather. It is warming, rich and almost
chili-like. Tiny potatoes give the dish
a lot of body. Chorizo sausage gives an
amazing depth of flavor. And of course, there are the tomatoes and chipotle
peppers enlivening the sauce. Served with flour tortillas, it can be used to
stuff them with tinga and cheese and avocado.
Esposito at 354 W 38th St. is a venerable New York
institution. Its entrance is on a block of Ninth Avenue that used to be one of
centers of Italian cooking in the city. Down the block was at # 488 stood Manganaro’s
founded in 1893. More properly, it was
called Manganaro’s Grosseria Italiana.
Now “grocery” in Italian is ‘alimentari’. The word ‘Grosseria’ doesn’t
even exist in Italy. Early Italian American’s ‘italianized’ American words
which is exactly what they did here. Grocery became ‘Grosseria’. Esposito’s, founded in 1933, was a
johnny-come-lately compared to Manganaro’s but at least it’s still there. Manganaro’s which introduced the Hero
Sandwich to American’s closed up shop amid an epic family feud in 2012. Judging from the sad state of Esposito’s sign,
with its missing ‘p’, this purveyor of pork (and chicken and beef) looks like
it’s on it last gasp too. Never mind the
sign, the entire neighborhood is part of a massive building boom that’s
bringing new towers right across the street.
All this is to say, if you want to visit Esposito I wouldn’t wait too
long.
Armed with my
boneless pork shoulder, I went home to make my tinga. Rick Bayless is arguably the most prominent
authority on authentic Mexican food in the country. (Diane Kennedy, the other contender for that
crown, lives in Mexico. Chef Bayless was
born in Oklahoma City, to a family in the barbecue business. After graduating from the University of
Oklahoma, he did doctoral work in anthropologic linguistics at the University
of Michigan. His culinary career was
well underway when he and his wife Deann did six years of culinary research in
Mexico. I used to go to Chicago, where
the chef eventually hung his hat, and try very hard to get into one of his two
Mexican Restaurants. The first, Frontera
Grill (445 North Clark St.) shares the same address with the second, Topolobampo. Bayless has won every award imagineable from
James Beard to Chicago’s most popular restaurant according to Zagat. Basically, you are in very good hands when
your home cooking is accompanied by Chef Bayless’s recipes.
Courtesy Food and Wine
Chef Bayliss prides himself of making authentic Mexican dishes.
This one is an authentic ‘tinga’. The
actual translation of ‘Tinga’ is ‘scolding’ or ‘quarrel’ in Spanish. But that’s the literal translation. In
culinary terms ‘Tinga’ implies torn or shredded pieces of meat. So a Pork Tinga
translates to shredded pork and fresh chorizo sausage in a tomato sauce
enriched with Chipotle Chiles in Adobo sauce.
You can find cans of that in virtually any grocery store than carries
Goya products, for instance. Chipotle Chiles are actually smoked, dried
jalapeno peppers. If you’re reading this
and don’t like in the States, you should be able to find dried chipotle spice
but use that very sparingly as it is much more fiery than Chipotles in
Adobo.
I was intrigued by
the cooking process. You first boil
- cubes of pork shoulder in water seasoned with salt, thyme, marjoram and bay
- leaves. Once the pork is tender, you
- save some of the cooking liquid and cool the pork so that you can tear it
- apart. This is not a terribly intensive
- dish but it does require some time at the stove. The next task is to parboil the potatoes and
- then break down the chorizo. The shredded pork goes back into the skillet to
- brown with the onion. The layers of flavor are added in intervals and finally
- the stew comes together with the addition of the reserved pork broth. Chef Bayliss recommended serving the tinga
- with slices of avocado, red onion and Queso Fresca. I couldn’t find a ripe avocado and
- substituted Feta for the Queso. The
- whole thing was magnificent. Here is the recipe:
- Recipe for Rick Bayless’
- Pork Tinga:
- Active Time 45 minutes. Total Time 1 hr. 45 minutes. Serves 4.
- 1 1/4 pounds trimmed boneless pork
- shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 3/4 pound white or red potatoes, cut into
- 1/2-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large fresh chorizo, casing removed
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- One 28-ounce can peeled Italian tomatoes,
- chopped and drained
- 2 chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded and
- minced, plus 4 teaspoons sauce
- Salt and sugar, for seasoning
- 1. In a large saucepan, simmer the pork, marjoram, thyme and bay leaves
- in 4 cups of salted water, partially covered, until the meat is tender, 45
minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pork to a plate; let cool
slightly, then tear it into smaller pieces.
3. Skim the fat from the pork broth;
reserve 1 1/2 cups.
4. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the potatoes until
just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain well.
5. In a medium, deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the chorizo and stir over
moderately low heat, breaking it up, until cooked through, 10 minutes; transfer
to a plate.
6. Add the pork and onion to the skillet and cook over moderate heat,
stirring, until well-browned, 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
7. Stir in the tomatoes and chorizo and cook for 5 minutes.
8. Add the potatoes,
chipotle, adobo sauce and the 1 1/2 cups of pork broth; simmer for 10 minutes.
Season with salt and a pinch of sugar and serve.