Green Chile Roasted Shredded Pork

5 lb pork shoulder roast
2.5 large onions (or 4 medium onions), skins removed and each sliced in half to make 2 circles
10 cloves of garlic
One large can (mine was 27 ounces) of whole roasted green chiles. I prefer the Hatch brand, but use whatever you can find
One small, 7 ounce can of diced green chiles
4 cups of beef broth
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
olive oil and coconut oil

In a large, heavy dutch oven pour once around the pot with olive oil and add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Place over medium-high heat and allow oil to melt together and get hot. Once hot, add onions to the pot, cut side down in an even layer, if you need to do two batches, do two batches to make sure that the onions aren’t too squished together. Allow to brown, about three to five minutes, before flipping them to brown on their other side. Remove to a plate.

Once onions are completed (or if you have extra room during a second batch of onions) throw the garlic cloves in the oil. Be careful that they do not burn, toss quickly and remove – they will probably only cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove to the onion plate.

Be careful when you flip and remove the onions and garlic as the water in the onions might cause the oil to splatter. Don’t clean your kitchen immediately before making this, you’ll have to wipe down the counters again once you are done! But it is worth it!

Meanwhile, move the racks of your oven to their lowest positions and preheat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Season all sides of the roast heavily with kosher salt and ground black pepper. I prefer using kosher over my usual sea salt in this recipe because the larger flakes adhere better to the meat. Season heavier than you’d expect; there is a lot of meat in that roast!

Once the onions and garlic are done browning, check oil (you may need to add a touch more), bring oil back up to a medium-high heat and then place roast, fat side down to brown. Allow each side to sear and brown a few minutes per side, rotating with tongs. Once all sides are browned, remove the roast to a plate to rest for a minute.

To the pan, add 1 cup of the beef broth and whisk up the browned bits from the bottom. Once you’ve deglazed the pan effectively, put the roast back in, then add the onions and garlics around it on the sides. Pour the entire contents of both cans of chiles down on the pork, tucking in the whole chiles around the edges of the roast. Pour remainder of broth in the pan, it should cover three fourths of the roast or so and all of the vegetables.

Cover and place in the oven and roast for several hours – mine took about four – until the roast pulls apart easily. You will be able to know it’s ready when you can easily remove the bone from the roast without much, if any, effort and you can pull the meat apart with two forks.

Once the roast is complete, remove it from the oven and, with tongs, remove pieces of the roast (as it should probably be broken up by now. If it’s still one big roast, put it back in the oven for a while longer!) to your serving platter and, with a fork in each hand, begin to shred the pork. Continue until done. Remove the onions and chiles and place around the pork, and while you’re at it, feel free to pour a little more of the broth over the pork.

Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, cortido and wedges of lime. Enjoy!