Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Loaded Huevos Rancheros

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Over the past couple of weeks we’ve posted a couple of great standalone recipes: this Tex Mex Chorizo (or our Chorizo No. 2) and this Ranchero Tomato Salsa (or sauce, pending what your intentions are).

Both recipes are packed from top to bottom with plenty of spice and deep flavor, are accessible to we mere mortals cooking at home from the standpoint of both ingredient list and skills required, and just taste damned good.

Several weeks ago I’d have been lying big time if I denied intending to at some point in the near future post a Friday Feast featuring what we’ve come to call Loaded Huevos Rancheros.

Both my lovely wife and grew up under the bright skies of the Lone Star state, and spent a fair amount of our youth and young adulthood wandering around other parts of the Southwest, mostly New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, with a bit of Arizona thrown in for good measure.

While there are profound differences among these regions in terms of food culture (and lots of other things), one commonality you’d find almost everywhere was some form of huevos rancheros on the breakfast menu, if not available all day in the “better” eateries.

Nodding to more recent history, in the Ranchero Tomato Sauce/Salsa post last week I shared a bit about events that prompted the ultimate version of the recipe I shared –

… Two summers ago a friend came to me and asked me to help with menu planning an event he was hosting for his extended family around Father’s Day; as is typical for our North Texas neighborhood he was planning a big brisket and fixin’s barbecue one evening, but he also wanted to serve a brunch built around some of his Tex Mex favorites, including huevos rancheros.

My buddy was not only hell bent on serving a classic huevos rancheros, but he wanted it to match a particular dish he’d enjoyed on a hunting trip down in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in the months prior. He waxed poetically about a thick, tomatoey ranchero sauce, deeply flavored with dried peppers, and punctuated with a smokey, lingering heat that just had to be from chipotles.

My best advice was to call the little eatery he’d placed on this culinary pedestal to see if they’d share a recipe; he did, and lo and behold he reported the grandmother running the kitchen ran off a list from memory, though without the specific amounts of each ingredient, and she apparently said to use “some good spices” as well…

The “loaded” huevos concept isn’t mine; I think we first saw it on a menu in a little Tex Mex eatery outside of Port Isabel (on the way to South Padre from Harlingen), though you can find similar offerings just about anywhere these days.

The principle is simple: load your basic huevos rancheros recipe up with some tasty protein like chorizo (though well-spiced ground beef works here as well), mushrooms, peppers you have on hand (we prefer diced poblanos), a bit of diced onion, and whatever else floats your boat that day, and layer it atop your tortillas (gluten free if you prefer, we still reach for Siete’s products first), a bed of lettuce, or even a pile of sautéed, crispy sweet potatoes.

If I remember right, the version we had down in far South Texas featured crispy potatoes pieces as well, with eggs cooked enough to almost set the yolk so it runs down and bathes everything nearby when you take that first bite.

My wife typically won’t eat these unless there’s a pile of freshly sliced avocado or a big scoop of guacamole on the plate, along with some grated or crumbed cheese, and a dusting of finely chopped cilantro.

It’s time to get creative and crank these out for breakfast, brunch, or dinner this weekend…

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Ranchero Tomato Sauce (or Salsa) No. 1

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Today’s recipe came about in sort’ve a roundabout way and with input from a number of damned talented folks messing around in kitchens.

Two summers ago a friend came to me and asked me to help with menu planning an event he was hosting for his extended family around Father’s Day; as is typical for our North Texas neighborhood he was planning a big brisket and fixin’s barbecue one evening, but he also wanted to serve a brunch built around some of his Tex Mex favorites, including huevos rancheros.

My buddy was not only hell bent on serving a classic huevos rancheros, but he wanted it to match a particular dish he’d enjoyed on a hunting trip down in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in the months prior. He waxed poetically about a thick, tomatoey ranchero sauce, deeply flavored with dried peppers, and punctuated with a smokey, lingering heat that just had to be from chipotles.

My best advice was to call the little eatery he’d placed on this culinary pedestal to see if they’d share a recipe; he did, and lo and behold he reported the grandmother running the kitchen ran off a list from memory, though without the specific amounts of each ingredient, and she apparently said to use “some good spices” as well.

It pays to have a chef friend in the fold who likes to chat about recipes, so I called Chef Libby in Austin and worked backwards to construct a recipe that we both refined further over a few weeks. Libby was actually using something similar she’d sourced somewhere online (she couldn’t recall at the time) and we tried to incorporate both fresh, dried chiles and reached for saucy chipotles in adobo given how rich and flavorful that canned adobo sauce is.

The spice profile is pretty typical for ranchero-style sauces, though we’ve added a bit of paprika and a splash of tamari/coconut aminos/soy to deepen the umami notes.

The result is a thick, rich, deeply flavored sauce (some might argue this could even be called a salsa) that makes for the best huevos rancheros (next week’s recipe) that I’ve ever tasted, and plays very well with roasted meats – chicken and pork especially – and could very likely work even as an enchilada sauce, though to be honest we haven’t gone there. If I’m not careful, my wife will pull out her tortilla chips and eat through half a recipe anytime this is on the stove…

Note the recipe as written makes enough for 2 meals of huevos; halve the recipe if you want, though I’ve been making it up as written and freezing half for later.

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 large dried ancho chiles, seeded, thinly cut into strips (use scissors)
2 guajillo (or New Mexico) chiles, seeded, thinly cut into strips
1-2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 and 1/2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
2 cans (14-oz) fire roasted tomatoes
4-5 chipotle chiles in adobo
4-5 tbsp adobo sauce from chile can
1/2 cup fresh cilantro and tender stems, finely chopped
2 tbsp tamari, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Stem and seed the peppers, then cut into thin strips using scissors.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat without oil, then toast the chile strips until fragrant, watch carefully, given their small size it won’t take long. Remove and set aside.

Now add the oil, onion and garlic slices and sauté until softened and just starting to brown, then add the chile strips, oregano, cumin, and paprika. Stir and cook another 20-30 seconds, then add the tomatoes, chipotles, and adobo sauce. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and keep it simmering gently for 15 minutes or so.

Now puree (coarsely) using an immersion blender (or standup blender if you prefer – remember hot liquids expand in the blender), then add the prepped cilantro, tamari/aminos/soy sauce, and lime juice. Stir the mixture well and add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

The sauce is ready for huevos rancheros or any other recipe you want to use it for, and keeps well sealed in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Chorizo Number 2 (or Tex Mex Chorizo)

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During these long, dark days of winter (some might argue that’s both a figurative as well as a literal descriptor) we’ve been experimenting a bit once again with making sausages of various types and flavors in the kitchen at home.

There are a host of reasons to do so, including absolute control of sausage ingredients (quality and flavors), economics, curiosity, it just being damned fun when you’re in the mood, among others.

In a quick aside, if you’re not grinding meat at home, consider picking up an inexpensive home grinder (the one imaged here ran us about $70 a couple of years ago); it won’t be powerful enough to process the three elk you and your buddies harvested this year, but for routine, lighter-end home use, these little guys are easy to store, set up, and clean.

To prove the point, when making this batch of chorizo, I ground a 12-lb boneless pork shoulder, including set up and cleaning, in less than 25 minutes (not counting about 75 minutes in the freezer to tighten up the meat before grinding).

We happen to like really well made and flavored chorizo now and again, and I’ve written about it before here on the blog (excerpt below) –

…Having spent many a year growing up (and schooling) here in the Lone Star state, we’ve been fans of good chorizo around our camp for some time, having fiddled with chorizo recipes off and on now for well over a decade.

Sourcing good chorizo can be a challenge in that many if not most of the commercially prepared and marketed versions (of bulk chorizo, not the cured Spanish version) are incredibly greasy and contain parts of critters that you’d never ponder eating if you really knew they had been tossed in the grinder…

…And like most comfort foods prepared with care and attention, using the freshest ingredients, this version of chorizo is very likely nothing like you’ve tasted before and much more akin to the artisanal sausages (think Bruce Adell’s) you’ve thrown on the grill.  Even better, this one is child’s play simple, and you can tinker with spices to make you and your clan happy…

Here’s another chorizo recipe that we’ve come to adopt as our main go to, given the depth of flavors that come from roasting actual dried chiles for the spice base; around our camp we call this one our Tex Mex Chorizo (or Chorizo Number 2). The chiles add an amazing depth of flavor, and we find the hints of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves add interest and bit of nuance that’s very, very tasty.

As with all sausages you craft at home, this one can be formed into patties, crumbled, or even stuff into casings; we usually freeze in smallish patties and crumble if needed (like for next weeks loaded huevos rancheros.

2 pounds ground pork
6-7 dried guajillo chiles, cleaned, seeded, and stemmed
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced small
1/3 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar (try it with both)
1 tbsp salt
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
1/4 tsp allspice, optional
1/4 tsp ground cloves, optional

To get started, toast the chiles in a hot, dry skillet until puffed and fragrant (won’t take long); add enough water to cover chiles and set aside for 30-40 minutes.

When softened, place the chiles, onion, garlic and vinegar in your trusty blender or food processor and blend until smooth; you may need to add either additional vinegar or some of the chile soaking liquid if too thick (think tomato sauce).

Now let’s make some chorizo; place the ground pork in a mixing bowl, add the chile paste and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, and this is probably best done with your hands. The first time you make this chorizo, fry up a tablespoon or two in a skillet to check the spices and adjust to suit you.

Cook this anyway you please – fry it up loose for breakfast tacos, add in some goodies (poblanos and mushrooms in the image below for a loaded huevos rancheros), shape into patties for the stovetop or grill or even stuff into casings. This recipe freezes like a charm, though we’ve found it’s best to shape in to patties before freezing.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Hasselback Chicken with Feta, Red Peppers, and Olives

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As we’ve moved into the New Year my wife and I had resolved to work harder to find a reasonably-priced source of pastured chicken; pasture raised chicken is a bit harder to find via our local farmers markets, and it’s often damned pricey when purchased via the biggest online purveyors.

We found a regional provider after digging around a bit (a full review is upcoming) and have of late been experimenting a bit with different ways to prepare chicken breasts, which as we call know, can be a bit dry and chewy if overcooked.

Don’t get me wrong, we love well-prepared chicken of all sorts, and have our favorite grilled chicken down to a perfected routine, and can get delectable results every time on the grill after a short sous vide par-cook.

That said, for most of us around the country, easy access to grilling outside doesn’t present itself often during the month of January, and I’ve been experimenting with a few new oven-roasted chicken recipes of late – including this Hasselback Chicken with Feta, Red Peppers, and Olives.

The “hasselback” trend is perhaps a bit long in the tooth these days, though I have to admit we still roast a fair amount of vegetables that way and still see it offered on menus here and there.

After playing around with some fairly classic roasted stuffed chicken breast recipes, Chef Libby in Austin recently mentioned that she’s been serving a Tex Mex version of today’s recipe (for another day here on the blog) for catering gigs in Austin, and the proverbial light bulb went off to try this one with feta, roasted red peppers, and good Kalamata olives.

The hasselback concept with chicken breasts allows you to add more flavorful stuffing “goodies” to each chicken breast and is a breeze to do – just don’t cut all the way through the breasts when you’re slicing each one.

These are great one their own, and we’ve served with a simple marinara-type sauce, tzatziki, and even a spicy Columbian guacamole at different times and it plays well every time. This recipe calls for roasting in the oven, though they’d be great on a Traeger type smoker or even grilled (over the low heat side of a two-zoned fire).

By the way, adding a couple of tablespoons of chopped roasted pine nuts to the feta mixture plays very well too.

6 boneless, skinless, free-range chicken breasts
3/4 cup crumbled full fat feta cheese
3/4 cup roasted red peppers, diced small
3/4 cup thinly sliced kalamata olives, divided
Good salt and pepper
1 tbsp good paprika
1/2 cup or more grated/shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup basil leaves, at least half in chiffonade

Fire the oven to 350, line a baking sheet with parchment.

Crumble the feta into a bowl, add the diced red peppers, and half the sliced olives; stir to combine and set aside.

Take each chicken breast and slice 6-8 slits across the breast (perpendicular to the long edge), roughly 3/4 of the way through the breast meat (don’t cut all the way through); your slices will be roughly 1/2-inch apart. Now stuff a bit of the feta mixture into each slit.

Place the stuffed chicken breasts on your baking sheet, generously season with good salt and freshly ground pepper, then dust with the paprika. Finally equally divide the shredded Mozzarella among the chicken breasts, sprinkling on top.

Bake the chicken for 20-22 minutes until firm and cooked through; you can optionally turn on the broiler for the final 2-3 minutes of the cook to brown the cheese further if you’d prefer.

Let rest for 2-3 minutes and serve hot, sprinkled with the remaining sliced olives and basil chiffonade.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: A Simple Chicken Adobo

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Some years back during our time in Salt Lake City, we befriended a couple from the Philippines. We met outside of the work world, though ironically they were (also) both physicians working in primary care at the time (we happened to meet through a service organization we all worked to support.)

He was the proverbial bull in the china shop – energetic, hard-charging, occasionally uttering thoughts out loud before thinking things through, and highly opinionated; she was shy, quick to smile, a peacemaker (perhaps often out of necessity given her spouse’s inclinations), and an utterly delightful person.

We became friends initially through a common interest in the organization that spawned our meeting, later through fly fishing and raising young families, but mainly through a shared love of great food.

They were fascinated by our bent toward spicy foods of the American Southwest and classic Tex Mex flavors, and we grew to love their Filipino classics, like this Simple Chicken Adobo.

They both described learning the dish watching mothers and grandmothers working in their kitchens while growing up. Interestingly this couple grew up in different regions of the Philippines, and as is typical of regional recipes that develop over time, they each had a slightly different version. Her family always added brown sugar, his didn’t; his added peppers (jalapeños or serranos), her’s didn’t.

Both learned the recipe using regional cane vinegars in the Philippines; you’ll see recipes for chicken adobo recommending any and all sorts of vinegars online these days, though it seems most call for cane vinegar or simple white vinegar. We’ve made it with all sorts of vinegars, most often reaching for cane vinegar, unseasoned rice vinegar, or plain-Jane white vinegar, though even apple cider vinegar works in a pinch.

A quick, important side point related to the preceding paragraphs: NEVER let anyone tell you how you should cook your food or that your recipe passed down through your family isn’t authentic in some way – you’re cooking to suit your palate and that of your family’s, not that of some pedantic ass online.

We’ve chosen over the years to incorporate both of their family spins on this recipe, and find that a bit of brown sugar and sliced peppers make this a better dish.

One final note, we whole-heartedly agree with those who argue that you should reduce the sauce here down to a glaze like consistency at the end; it’s amazingly tasty over the chicken and a garlic rice / garlic cauliflower rice…

Chicken thighs or drumsticks, 2 lb
Good salt and fresh ground pepper
1 T avocado oil

3/4 cup cane or white vinegar (see above)
3/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
6-8 garlic cloves, crushed
2 T brown sugar
1 T black peppercorns (or 1 t ground pepper)
2-3 bay leaves
1-2 jalapeños, thinly sliced

Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then sauté in your favorite large skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes per side until browned (you’re not attempting to cook the chicken through now). Remove the chicken.

Now into the skillet goes the vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, crushed garlic, brown sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves, and half the jalapeños; stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a low boil. Add the chicken back to the pan (skin side up if using skin-on), reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. You want your chicken tender but not falling apart; remember to turn the chicken once during this cooking interval.

Pull the chicken and turn up the heat to reduce the sauce to a glaze consistency (add a teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in water if you want your sauce thicker), then add the chicken back.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Jalapeño Garlic Cucumber Salad v. Quick Pickle

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We’ve long been fans of what most folks call quick pickles around our camp. Quick pickles are a great way to add a burst of flavor to meals or snack time, and you can make great quick pickles out of just about any vegetable you favor.

Some might argue that a quick pickle is just as much a salad as a pickle (count me among those who ponder that now and again); call it what you want, these types of recipes are quick to prepare, simple enough for those with the most basic kitchen skills to cobble together, and score very highly on the taste to effort scale.

By the way, some of our favorite quick pickle recipes I’ve shared her on OBL before: Quick Pickled Beets and Onions, Tasty Quick Dills, Quick Pickled Daikon Radishes, and Quick Turmeric Zucchini Dills.

Today’s recipe, this Jalapeño Garlic Cucumber Salad v. Quick Pickle, is one we’ve been playing with a bit after talking about the recipe with Chef Libby after Thanksgiving. Serve it within 30 minutes of preparation and it’s more like a salad; let it rest in the fridge for an hour or two ahead and give the vinegar time to work its magic – and you’re more in the quick pickle zone.

We like this with two cloves of grated garlic, though some might find that level of garlic a bit strong. And I prefer it with a bit more heat (occasionally adding a teaspoon or two of crushed red pepper flakes or a sliced serrano) though my wife thinks the recipe as written below is right on the money.

This one is a nifty addition to any meal during the long, cold January to come, and if you can’t find Persian cucumbers (as I haven’t been able to in my neighborhood of late) hothouse English cucs work just as well.

6 Persian or 2 English cucumbers, see note above, sliced on diagonal
1 tsp (scant) kosher salt

1 large jalapeño chile, thinly sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, grated
3/4 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1 tbsp good honey
1 tbsp avocado oil

Combined the prepped cucumbers and salt in a medium bowl, stirring to coat the cucumber slices with salt. Let sit at room temp for 15-20 minutes, stirring twice more, until the cucumbers release some liquid.

While the cucs are resting, whisk the rice vinegar, oil, honey, garlic, and sliced pepper in a medium bowl.

Now squeeze as much liquid as possible from the cucumbers, add to the pepper vinegar and stir to coat well. Taste for salt and adjust as needed, these need to marinate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Toasted Pecan Blue Cheese Ball

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In sharing many recipes here over the years I’ve unabashedly claimed the fact that I’m a child of the South having grown up in Texas, and in particular having grandparents ensconced on the Texas Gulf Coast (with ties to Louisiana and Tennessee woven into the family tree).

My earliest childhood holiday memories with these coastal-dwelling grandparents include tables spread with simple but oh so tasty – and plentiful – foods, and the venerable cheese ball never failed to make an appearance. Not only did the cheese ball make an appearance, it drew attention throughout holiday afternoons and evenings, through multiple refills of crackers and carloads of family and friends passing through.

The Southern cook’s holiday cheese ball has been around so long, persisted through so many generations, that it’s passed from being an old standby to kitschy cliche to being back in vogue again, with some nifty new flavors and ingredient combinations stealing the show these days.

A friend asked me a couple of weeks back for our favorite cheese ball recipe; this is the one that we’ve pulled together over the years, based on one that my Ma-Ma (pronounced maw maw) hand wrote years ago, and modified by bits and pieces as we’ve run across great recipes over the years.

I also reached out to Chef Libby in Austin, who emphasized that in her catering world, she builds all cheese balls around a great blue cheese (she likes Maytag) and a sharp, fresh goat cheese, with fresh dates for an earthy sweetness, two different alliums, and a generous splash of Worcestershire for the tamarind flavors, and a shake of a Cajun inspired hot sauce. For those really wanting to layer in flavor, she also toasts her pecans in a bit of Cajun spice mix and good Irish butter…

Libby added that the most critical mistakes home cooks make with this recipe include using pre-chopped dates, often dusted in sugar, which Libby likens to eating musty, slightly wet cardboard, and using a bland, minimally flavored cheese in lieu of the boldly flavored blue. You can of course throw in any cheese combination your heart desires (along with the cream cheese and butter to fill this one out), and experimenting with flavor is part of what makes the kitchen and cooking game so interesting.

By the way, once chilled these transport very easily for the days when we’re past the COVID hump and enjoying our friends and neighbors again.

3/4 cup full fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup good butter (11 tbsp), softened
1/2 cup blue cheese – get the good stuff
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh dates (see note)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp chopped green onions, white and light green parts
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce of your choice (we lean to a Cajun sauce here)
Up to 1/2 tsp salt

To finish
2/3 cup spiced roasted pecans
1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

Take the first four ingredients (cream cheese, butter, blue cheese, and goat cheese) out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before starting.

Throw everything into a mixer bowl (paddle attachment) and combine on low speed until evenly mixed; the mixture will be quite soft. Scrape the paddle and place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes, then form into one big or two smaller cheese balls and coat with the roasted pecans and chopped parsley.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Christmas Eve Tamales #2

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In a year marked by extraordinary disruptions of all sorts, we like many of our family, friends, and work acquaintances have found comfort and solace in what are often simple, but meaningful, family traditions.

I truly hope you and your family have had similar experiences as well, embracing or reviving family and/or communal traditions that have some genuine meaning to you and yours.

Personally I don’t think these traditions need be monumental, life-changing, events; many of life’s most encouraging and endearing customs and conventions are damned simple – and for many of us, involve food.

Here’s an example from our own family life; even from childhood days growing up in my modest household in the Texas Panhandle, we’ve enjoyed tamales as part of our holiday tradition over the past fifty plus years.

We didn’t host tamaladas (a tamale making party) in my household growing up, but several hispanic friends did, and even though anglo I was welcomed every year and given some (relatively simple) task to do as hundreds of tamales were crafted around a big table in the kitchen.

My wife and I didn’t craft our own holiday tamales for several years during my training in San Antonio (there were tamales everywhere during the holidays!) and later in SLC, though we started our own tradition making tamales for Christmas Eve, and later hosting tamaladas of our own, back in 1988, and have done so every year since.

And yes, while we pretty damned consistently adhere to a much-enjoyed and appreciated Primal / paleo food plan year round, we still bow to tradition and prepare a batch of tamales with family for Christmas Eve. IF you don’t have the least bit of interest in venturing far from the Primal/paleo path, by all means don’t, and stop reading here…

For those curious about the option, yes, we have tried a host of gluten free masa alternatives out there; if you’re genuinely interested you should experiment after some easy research online. After trying a host of alternatives, we still make a batch of traditional masa for holiday tamales – we find the other options just too far off the mark for our palates.

We used the same recipe for 29 years when preparing our filling from scratch, slow cooking pork shoulder with a bevy of spices and chiles, though changed to this recipe in 2017 after having a friend share it with us.

You’ll note that I’ve not included a masa recipe here; there are a host of great options available (like this one), and I’d recommend, if you’re truly serious about your tamales, picking up a copy of one of the many great tamale cookbooks out there (I still reach for Tamales by Miller, Pyles, and Sedlar most often when looking for creative masa’s).

And by the way, here’s the recipe we used for years, and it includes a fairly traditional, and very good, masa recipe.

1 and 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed, 1-inch pieces
1 and 1/2 lb pork belly, trimmed, 1-inch pieces

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
10-21 ancho chiles
8-9 guajillo chiles
4-5 morita chiles
4-5 pasilla chiles (chile negro)
3 cups chicken broth, perhaps more
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
1 tbsp ACV

Prep the meat and chiles (stem, seed, and toast).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then sauté the onion until it begins to caramelize; now add the prepped chiles and broth and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, let rest 30 minutes, stir and recover, and let rest another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the coriander seeds in a hot dry skillet for 90 seconds, then add the cumin seeds for another 30 seconds. Remove from the hot pan, cool, then grind.

Now puree the chile mixture in your trusty blender, along with the toasted and ground spices, garlic, and the oregano.

Add the meat to your braising pot or Dutch oven and pour in the chile puree, stir to cover. Add the bay leaves and salt, stir again. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat on the stovetop, then cover, and throw in a 275 degree oven for three hours, stirring every hour.

The meat should be fall apart tender at this point; if so, let cool uncovered for 15 minutes, then skim the fat and pull the bay leaves. Shred the meat, stir in the vinegar, and cool enough to throw in the fridge for at least three hours (see note above).

Now your ambrosial tamale filling is ready to fill your tamales or use as otherwise suits you (see discussion above).

Enjoy.