Growing up as a kid, I was exposed to New Mexican food early on. Not because I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it seemed most restaurants were mom and pop New Mexican food restaurants, but because I grew up watching my grandmother and grandfather run one of these mom and pop restaurants.
In the early 1980s, my grandparents took over a family run New Mexican food restaurant called "Barela’s New Mexican Food." Prior to my grandparents, it was ran by my grandfathers sister for a number of years. And it was at this time that I was introduced to New Mexican food. It was a small, whole in the wall, walk up to a counter and order off a menu posted on the wall above the cashier stand. They offered a small selection of food, but the one thing they were known for was the red chile and menudo. Every Wednesday night, my parents would take my sister and I to dinner here, which was great because not only did I get to see my grandparents, but I got to eat some amazing food too! Many times, I’d get to "help" out in the kitchen on the weekends, which meant doing some dishes here and there, but really, getting to spend some time with them. After a number of years, the restaurant was too much for them to handle and the ended up closing the doors. But, that didn’t mean the tradition of the Barela’s New Mexican Food wouldn’t be passed on.
Since I have been married, which was in 2000 and I remember my grandmother teaching me how to make Carne Adovada and Posole, it has become a tradition for my grandmother to stay with my family and I during the Christmas holiday. We pick her up the day before Christmas Eve and it’s a time to watch some movies and play a few games, and best of all, cook up some amazing Carne Adovada and Posole for the entire family for our Christmas Eve gathering. So, I hope you are able to enjoy a bowl of Carne Adovada and taste the love that I’ve come to know from this simple yet amazing dish that my family has come to love as well.
Enjoy - Jeremy
New Mexican Carne Adovada
Course Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner
Cuisine New Mexican
Makes 20 servings, 8qt pot
Takes 20 minutes prep, 2-3 hours cooking time
Special tools
I use a stew pot for this but a Dutch oven will work fine. Also need a good blender to blend up the chile pods.
Ingredients
- 4lbs bone-in or boneless pork butt – cubed to bite size. If using bone-in, cut around bone and reserve for cook.
- 16oz bag of dried New Mexico red chile pods *see photo below of what I have used, or similar to (you can use dried chile powder, however I don’t know the conversion needed for this. It will need to be a decent amount to make a thick base)
- 6 Tbs of minced garlic – can be fresh or pre-minced
- 4 Tbs Beef base or 4 beef bouillon cubes, whichever you prefer
- water to add to chile pods to blend
- 1-2 Tbs oil, if needed to brown cubed pork butt
- salt, reserved for once red chile and pork have started to cook down
Method
Carne Adovada is so versatile, eat as a bowl of Carne Adovada with a flour tortilla on the side. Warm up a tamale and serve as a meal together. Make up a Carne Adovada burrito, filled and the topped with a little more chile and melted shredded cheddar cheese. Or, if you are really adventurous, make up a batch of sopapillas (fried dough) and slice open half of the sopapilla and stuff with Carne Adovada and top with melted shredded cheddar cheese. And that was just for lunch or dinner! If you are like me, and want the best Huevos Rancheros, make up your preferred Huevos Rancheros with eggs and potatoes over corn or flour tortillas and smother with the goodness that Carne Adovada offers.
In addition to the above meals, you can make this Carne Adovada into Posole, using hominy.
New Mexican Posole
Ingredients
- Carne Adovada, amount to be determined by your taste
- One bag of frozen hominy. *see photo below for what I use. Fresh hominy can be used as well. I just use frozen as it’s a bit easier.
- Water to cover hominy
Method
Serve
Serve in a bowl with a flour tortilla on the side or a few saltine crackers. You can add a bit of diced onion and cilantro if you choose, but New Mexican style Posole is served with that – at least in the areas I’ve been in.
​
*Bag of Bueno Foods dried red chile pods
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*Bag of Bueno Foods frozen hominy
​
In the early 1980s, my grandparents took over a family run New Mexican food restaurant called "Barela’s New Mexican Food." Prior to my grandparents, it was ran by my grandfathers sister for a number of years. And it was at this time that I was introduced to New Mexican food. It was a small, whole in the wall, walk up to a counter and order off a menu posted on the wall above the cashier stand. They offered a small selection of food, but the one thing they were known for was the red chile and menudo. Every Wednesday night, my parents would take my sister and I to dinner here, which was great because not only did I get to see my grandparents, but I got to eat some amazing food too! Many times, I’d get to "help" out in the kitchen on the weekends, which meant doing some dishes here and there, but really, getting to spend some time with them. After a number of years, the restaurant was too much for them to handle and the ended up closing the doors. But, that didn’t mean the tradition of the Barela’s New Mexican Food wouldn’t be passed on.
Since I have been married, which was in 2000 and I remember my grandmother teaching me how to make Carne Adovada and Posole, it has become a tradition for my grandmother to stay with my family and I during the Christmas holiday. We pick her up the day before Christmas Eve and it’s a time to watch some movies and play a few games, and best of all, cook up some amazing Carne Adovada and Posole for the entire family for our Christmas Eve gathering. So, I hope you are able to enjoy a bowl of Carne Adovada and taste the love that I’ve come to know from this simple yet amazing dish that my family has come to love as well.
Enjoy - Jeremy
New Mexican Carne Adovada
Course Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner
Cuisine New Mexican
Makes 20 servings, 8qt pot
Takes 20 minutes prep, 2-3 hours cooking time
Special tools
I use a stew pot for this but a Dutch oven will work fine. Also need a good blender to blend up the chile pods.
Ingredients
- 4lbs bone-in or boneless pork butt – cubed to bite size. If using bone-in, cut around bone and reserve for cook.
- 16oz bag of dried New Mexico red chile pods *see photo below of what I have used, or similar to (you can use dried chile powder, however I don’t know the conversion needed for this. It will need to be a decent amount to make a thick base)
- 6 Tbs of minced garlic – can be fresh or pre-minced
- 4 Tbs Beef base or 4 beef bouillon cubes, whichever you prefer
- water to add to chile pods to blend
- 1-2 Tbs oil, if needed to brown cubed pork butt
- salt, reserved for once red chile and pork have started to cook down
Method
- Remove stems and seeds from red chile pods and allow submerse in warm water for 15 minutes or so.
- Take pork butt and cut into 1.5†chunks. If you have pieces of stringy fat, cut off and throw away. Warm stock pot and if you are doing to use oil, add now and get to a shimmer. Add pork and garlic and begin to brown pork until no pink shows on exterior. If needed, brown the pork in batches to get better browning, removing and repeating with each batch. Once each batch is browned, add all to pot.
- While pork is browning, take a portion of chile pods and add to a blender to almost full. Add water so that blender is about 1/3-1/2 full and begin to blend, moving through each step of the blender so that you end with purée. You want to make this as smooth as possible, with no chile pods visible in purée. The blended chile pods should be somewhat thick but still loose enough to pour out. Pour first batch into pot of browned pork. Repeat blending of red chile pods - *NOTE - A 16oz bag will allow you to make about 1.5-2 blenders full of chile.
- Add beef base or bouillon cubes
- With your 1.5-2 blenders full of red chile, you want to make sure your pork is fully covered and bring to a simmer.
- Once simmering, turn heat so that you maintain a low simmer and allow pork to cook down so that it’s just about melt in your mouth tender. This will also allow for the bitterness of the red chile to cook out. I usually allow for 2-3 hours of a slow simmer, which will bring a sheen to the top of the red chile.
- As the red chile warms, taste and salt to your liking at this point. Salt is going to enhance the flavor of the red chile.
Carne Adovada is so versatile, eat as a bowl of Carne Adovada with a flour tortilla on the side. Warm up a tamale and serve as a meal together. Make up a Carne Adovada burrito, filled and the topped with a little more chile and melted shredded cheddar cheese. Or, if you are really adventurous, make up a batch of sopapillas (fried dough) and slice open half of the sopapilla and stuff with Carne Adovada and top with melted shredded cheddar cheese. And that was just for lunch or dinner! If you are like me, and want the best Huevos Rancheros, make up your preferred Huevos Rancheros with eggs and potatoes over corn or flour tortillas and smother with the goodness that Carne Adovada offers.
In addition to the above meals, you can make this Carne Adovada into Posole, using hominy.
New Mexican Posole
Ingredients
- Carne Adovada, amount to be determined by your taste
- One bag of frozen hominy. *see photo below for what I use. Fresh hominy can be used as well. I just use frozen as it’s a bit easier.
- Water to cover hominy
Method
- Prepare hominy based on cooking directions on packaging. One key that not all packages state, ENSURE you remove all the lime preservative from the hominy or your posole will be ruined! With frozen hominy, a good washing over water for about 3 minutes will get this removed.
- Once washed, put in a stock pot and cover with water by 1-2â€.
- Bring water to a boil and turn heat down so that you maintain a soft rolling boil and allow hominy to cook until it "pops". It will look a little like popcorn, not completely, but the hominy will be tender if you try a piece. Time can be about 45-60 minutes.
- Once you have hominy cooked, add in ladles of Carne Adovada. You want to keep a soup consistency here, so add in enough to bring in the flavor of red chile and allow to continue to cook at a simmer to fully bring out the Posole flavor, another 45-60 minutes.
Serve
Serve in a bowl with a flour tortilla on the side or a few saltine crackers. You can add a bit of diced onion and cilantro if you choose, but New Mexican style Posole is served with that – at least in the areas I’ve been in.
​*Bag of Bueno Foods dried red chile pods
​*Bag of Bueno Foods frozen hominy
​
Huevos Rancheros are breakfast, lunch and dinner! You can add some meat if you would like, bacon or sausage, but since the pork is in the carne adovada, I don’t add any here. I have a green chile recipe on the board as well that you can use in the same way.
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