Peruvian Pork Stew With Chiles, Lime and Apples
- Total Time
- about 1.5 hours, largely unattended
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 3 to 4pounds trimmed boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2large white onions, chopped
- 4large apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 3snipped and seeded ancho or other mild dried chiles
- 3bay leaves
- Pinch of ground cloves
- ¼cup fresh lime juice
- 4cups chicken stock
- Steamed rice for serving
- ¼cup chopped cilantro
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and brown the pork in it on all sides; you may have to do this in batches for the most efficient browning. Meanwhile, sauté the onions and apples in a pan with the chiles, bay leaves and cloves until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Step 2
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, Dutch oven or slow cooker. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles steadily but not vigorously. (If you’re using a slow cooker, turn it to high and walk away for 4 or 6 hours.)
- Step 3
Cook, stirring every 30 minutes or so, until the meat is very tender and just about falling apart, at least an hour. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then lower the heat (this will keep well for at least an hour before serving). Remove the meat, then reduce the broth as necessary; serve over steamed rice, garnished with cilantro.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I followed the directions and used the ingredients called for — delicious, certainly not bland.
I used dried guajillo chiles and Honeysuckle apples and made a few changes:
1. Browned the pork in a 7-quart Dutch oven;
2. Removed pork and sautéed onions, etc., in the same pan, adding salt & pepper.
3. Deglazed pan with Sherry, added the broth & lime juice, and returned pork to finish cooking.
You could add other veggies, too — mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, etc., all good!
Have made several times-always makes people happy. Have subbed a ginger beer or ginger apple cider for 1/2 the stock on occasion.
It's a nice base for a recipe, but the spices need adjusting. I feel that I should have stewed it with cilantro and added more lime juice than suggested in the recipe; plus, it needs to be spiced up with something other than mild dry chilies.
I've used apple cider too and think it adds a nice extra layer of flavour particularly during Autumn.
I made some alterations:
- you don't need to cut the pork into 2-inch chunks. Cut into a few big pieces, brown them, then cook in a Dutch oven at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours and the meat will break apart with a wooden spoon.
- I cut the broth to 2 1/2 cups so the meat would braise instead of boil.
- after reading the comments, I threw a handful of cilantro and a half teaspoon of cayenne pepper into the pot to spice it up.
Came out good!
Don't skip the peeling of the apples for sure. Helps it break down into the gravy.
I noticed there were a few comments about the stew needing some more flavor. I Dusted the apples with the clove and some cinnamon ahead of time, added crushed garlic to the olive oil in the Dutch oven, and used about 5 Arbol chiles. As the vegetables were sautéing I dusted them with some cumin, paprika and oregano. Once the stew came to a boil I added a whole jalapeño and some red Chile powder—I usually don’t share when I alter but it was to die for.
re: smaller cubes of pork; remember that low and slow cooking is what breaks down the connective tissue and makes the unctuous mouth feel and that also makes pork shoulder so tasty. If too small, chunks will lose texture. Diners can break down the larger cubes at serving using a knife and fork.
Question - could you do this recipe in an instant pot?
This stew is outstanding, although, next time I will cut the cubes of pork smaller!
Have to say I find the end product pleasant but fairly bland. A warm apple sauce is soothing enough, but I could use ideas about adding spice interest to play off the sweetness of the apples. I did add more dried chilles than the recipe, but still...
The ginger beer/apple cider might be a good step.
1. Use pork loin instead of pork shoulder to avoid so much fat. Or, pre-cook pork shoulder pieces, cool and skim fat before adding to recipe.
2. One onion is enough. Two seems a little heavy
Didn't have cloves so subbed for all spice, used fresh chilies. Followed suggestions and added extra all spice and lime juice as well as 3 cloves of smashed garlic. Tasted great!
Loved this--and a big hit with guests. I did not peel my apples. I added cilantro stems tied in twine while all this came together--just a nice flavor addition to the fresh cilantro. Also added about 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp cinnamon.
Also thickened the broth lightly with a slurry--just 2 T flour.
Very nice with brown basmati rice.
I made this with a handful of pasilla and 3 New Mexico dried chilies, and at the end prepared them like I would for posole: puréed in a blender with some garlic. I strained that and added it back to the stew. In my opinion, without doing this, you will lose a lot of the flavor of the chilies (and this recipe needs that spice)!
Delicious! Used pork loin, since the grocery store didn’t have shoulder. Added some pork trotters to enhance mouth feel and flavor. Tangy with the citrus, that worked well. Also, added some extra ancho and guajillo, because more flavor is more.
I'm trying to find out the name of this one in Spanish. Is it a classic recipe from Peru, or something that you invented with a Peruvian-style flavor?
June 2024 Very good, added smoked paprika for a bit more flavor
“Meaty apple soup!” said my boys. It came out brown, bland and sweet. Maybe my apples were too big? Not terrible, and still warming on a cold night, but not a clear winner like so many Mark Bittman recipes.
This is my first go with pork shoulder as a stew. It won’t be my last. Although I generally stick right to recipe, this time I appreciated and utilized several of the notes. I browned the large chunks of pork in the same cast iron pot as the onions and apples. I simmered everything stove-top for 2 1/2 hours until meat tender. I picked out the meat, and added cut up yams and carrots (2 of each) until tender. I reduced uncovered for another 30 minutes, then added the shredded meat and warmed.
Really loved this. Added a sweet potato and used cascabel chiles whole since that is what I had. Served with quinoa.
Tasty dish! As many have noted, I added salt and pepper to the chunks of pork before browning. Also used one pan, first sautéing the pork the the apples and onions so the frond could be incorporated. The dish had a nice flavor, not bland but I would add more spice next time.
1.5 limes. 1 Morita and 2x pasilla OaxacaenA Salt meat before browning Bones in 4lbs Delicious!
I added Doenjang and Gochugaru and it added spice and depth to the flavor
Used 1 fresh poblano 3 apples Smoked paprika Cinnamon 2 lbs pork Reduce, reduce, reduce
Oh my goodness — this stew was over the top delicious! I added garlic and only had beef broth in the house. I also couldn’t face another pan so I put onions, meat, apples in one skillet to brown (since I halved the recipe it wasn’t too crowded.). I’m always confused about dry chilies but crumbled 2 little ones, and threw them in with the broth. I simmered for several hours and the liquid reduced to almost zero. The end result was rich and almost caramelized goodness.
I really liked this recipe but felt it needed some greens. Spinach was too mushy and not enough flavor but bok choy was the answer! I also served it with a splash of soy sauce and a boiled egg.
Used Fuji apples.
Yum! Works with pork roast (couldn’t find shoulder). Added potatoes and carrots at the end. I also made a small amount of roux to thicken it a bit. Started on stove, middle in oven, finished it on the stove.
Excellent recipe, easy and delicious. I made a few small adjustments: I didn't peel the apples I made a bouquet garni for the bay leaves and (whole) cloves which made fishing them out at the end easy. I included the zest of the lime I juiced. (I do this for nearly every recipe w/ citrus juice.) I did the simmering in a 275 degree over rather than the stovetop When I have it I add a little apple butter (from another Times recipe, albeit with much less sugar).
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