Red Chile Asado

I’ve got another video for you about using my mom’s red chile sauce – this time for asado. Asado is a sort of pork stew; it’s kind of like carne guisada, but instead of a beef gravy, there’s a red chile gravy. My dad has always made it for us, and it’s often served at weddings and quinceaneras in New Mexico, usually with beans, rice and tortillas.

My dad makes this most often in a disco outside. I’ve mentioned it before – it’s an outdoor wok/frying pan of sorts, welded together by my dad. The disc is set atop a propane burner, and you can cook all kinds of stuff in it. My dad sometimes did huge batches of fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast tacos when we had a crowd gathered. He also makes a beef and potato thing in there (Dad, what was that called? It’s kind of like picadillo).

You can definitely make asado indoors, in a large pan/pot. You’ll need:

• pork shoulder, cubed
• shortening, lard, or oil
• flour
• water
• salt
• red chile sauce

Things to note about the video:

• Justin edited it together. You’ll know this right away because it’s all fancy and pretty and has good music. (Thank you, love!)
• The pork meat was partially frozen, so my dad spends the first part of the video trying to break it up in the pan. :)
• I mention at one point that instead of Crisco, you can use manteca. That’s just the Spanish word for lard.
• The best part of cooking the asado is that once it’s done, and you’ve scooped it into a serving dish, all the cooks (there are always too many cooks) stand around and scoop up the sauce left in the disco with tortillas. I think Justin edited it out, but at one point my dad says, “to the victor go the spoils!”
• I am easily distracted by my parents’ cute puppies.
• At one point, Justin holds the camera while trying to scoop up some asado. It’s cute.

Thanks to my family – my mom who made the red chile sauce, my dad, brother-in-law and uncle who made and supervised the asado, and my sister who made the tortillas. Enjoy!

Making Red Chile Asado from Crystal Esquivel on Vimeo.