New Mexico Style Smoked Carne Adobada

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Ingredients

Red Chile Marinade

25-30 dried red hatch chiles
8 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
1-2 Tbsp Mexican oregano Greek oregano is fine too
~1 tsp sea salt

Red Chile Sauce**

25-30 dried red hatch chiles
4 C. chicken stock
2-4 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
2 tsp Mexican oregano
salt to taste (about a Tbsp)

Carne Adobada

10-12 lb pork butt bone removed and cut into large chunks (see above)
1 batch of red chile marinade
1 batch red chile sauce

Instructions

Red Chile Marinade

Remove the stems from the chiles and rinse them clean, then put them in a sauce pan, cover with water (or chicken stock) and boil for about 20 minutes, until they are fairly tender.
Keep the water (stock) from this operation for use later.
The chiles won't be mushy, just flexible and mostly rehydrated
Chop them into a coarse dice, then add enough of the cooking water to cover them about 1/2-3/4 of the way, add the garlic and oregano, and blend into a puree.
I used my immersion blender and it worked just fine.
We're going for a thick puree here, not a sauce,
Cut your pork into largish pieces (3x3x6 inches, for example) and put them in the marinade.
Make sure they're all well coated, then put this in the fridge for a couple of days to marinate.

Carne Adobada

Marinate the pork chunks in the marinade for at least 24 hours -- longer is better.
When you're ready to cook the meat, prep your smoker or grill for smoking.
I use my kettle grill for quick smoking jobs like this.
To set up a kettle grill for smoking, I put all the coals on one side, put a big log of the smoking wood up against them, and put a pan of water over the top of the coals.
The meat goes on the other side of the log from the coals.
When you have it burning well, put the meat on the grate in a single layer and put the lid on the grill.
Shut the air down to regulate the temperature and produce better smoke -- I keep my vents at about 1/2 for this.
After 6-8 hours of smoking, the meat should be cooked.
You should have a nice layer of smoked chile marinade and a little smoke ring in the meat.
Take it off the grill and cut it into 1 inch cubes.
Add the cubes to a casserole, add the sauce and any extra marinade, cover tightly, and bake at 325 for three to four more hours.
If you have a cast iron dutch oven, you can grill this stew to add extra delicious smoke flavor by stoking the grill fire back up, ensuring there is wood remaining for smoke, and putting the pot on the grate.
The pot should have its lid off for this, and the grill should have the lid on at about the same level it was for smoking.
You'll need to check this periodically to make sure it's not boiling dry, but I guarantee you will not be disappointed by the added flavor!
To serve, spread a nice homemade tortilla on a plate, scoop out a ladle of carne adobada, some black beans, and some crispy hash browns.
Top it with an over-easy fried egg and a generous dose of melted sharp cheese.

Notes

About the sauce:
You can wait until you're ready to actually cook the meat before you make this part (this will be a couple of days after completing the first step). Add the leftover boiling water from the marinade to the stock, add in the cleaned chiles, and boil until the chiles are supple. Add the remaining ingredients and blend into a sauce.

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