Pork Shoulder Cooked in Green Chiles (TTH)

• 6 large poblano peppers (about 2 pounds)
• 2 pounds tomatillos, husked and washed
• 1 boneless pork shoulder (about 5 pounds), cut into 6 equal pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
• 2 stalk celery, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups store-bought low-sodium chicken broth
• Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish [Nope]
• 4 lime wedges for serving [See above]

Mise en place.  Spoiler alert: much of the sheer volume of the dish gets thrown out at the end.

Char the skin on the poblanos.  Do this well because this step is key in peeling the chiles later.  Kind of tedious.  Blais says you can do this in a oven, but does offer directions.

Peel (basically rubbing the skin off with your hands), seed, de-stem and I thought it was worth it to cut them up a bit before throwing in a food processor.

Trying to do an okay job charring the tomatillos.  They at least don't have to be peeled.  All of them were pretty softened.  A couple were even juicy like a tomato.

So Richard Blais doesn't even care if I core the tomatillos?

In a bowl, coarsely chopped.

Browning the hunks of pork.  I'm getting there when it comes to my expertise butchering a whole pork shoulder.

Oh yeah and you dredge them with flour and season them before you throw them in the pot.

Transfer pork to a plate and supposedly drain off extra fat.

Should I not have spent the time trimming the fat on the pork shoulder?

Add onions, celery and pepper along with a little salt and pepper.  Cook until softened.

Add spices and tomato paste and cook until the tomato paste begins to caramelize.

 

Tomatillos and poblanos get thrown back into the mix.

Pour in chicken stock and add the pork pieces, along with any accumulated juices.  Cook until liquid begins to simmer.  Cover throw it into a 325 degree oven until the meat easily shreds with a fork.  A couple hours, you know?

 

This is the part where you get rid of all the vegetables.

A dish too austere for me to even figure out a half decent side dish.  I wound up eating it with that white bread I got for the Swedish meatballs and eventually a nice round of sourdough but that was later.
However, one day it bothered me how long I had had the bread at room temperature and it yet to go bad at all.  This happened at work and a pile of meat doesn't really make for workday lunch.

Though enough with the bad even though I think this dish probably calls for homemade tamales as well (I'll try that sometime, but I've read that it's way more tolerable as a cooperative thing).  It's a beautiful dish if not really the right fit for my lifestyle.