Bon Appetit Pork Chile Verde with Red Chile Salsa

All the men in my family are huge fans of chili. When my husband and I were first dating he made a point of telling me all about chili from Skyline, Gold Star, etc when we went on a trip to Cincinnati.  He even went so far as to giving my older son Cincinnati-style chili fries for his first table food. Non-beef chilies have been slower to be appreciated by my husband until he had a great bowl of chicken chili last year at a local chili fest. I have been hesitant to try a lot of chili from scratch in my home kitchen, due to the extensive amount of time involved and my husbands high expectations. Recently, I decided to broaden my culinary horizons and try a new recipe from Bon Appetite for pork chile verde with red chile salsa.

This recipe is not one that can be started at the last minute. The prep alone takes about an hour and the cooking time is 3 1/2 hours. The salsa takes an additional 15 minutes, all of which is active cooking time.
Most of the items in this recipe are easy to find, with the exception of cumin seeds, as none of my local stores carry the spice. Next time I will have to check the alternative medicine/health food store in my area. I had to go to two stores to find the dried ancho chiles and the only size available was 1 lb. I didn't make any major modifications to the recipe, with the exception that I didn't top the finished chili with cilantro; I ran out.

The combination of the chili and the salsa is exceptional. However, taken alone the salsa is too smoky and the chili is bit underwhelming. I wouldn't suggest making one without the other, the tastes separately are lacking. I would make this recipe again, especially on a cold winter day when I wanted something hearty.

For the recipe go to Pork Chile Verde with Red Chile Salsa.