Pork green chili

She uses garlic and garlic powder. 

How come?

She says this is the basics, to make it your own. 

Like you're not going to do that anyway.

I notice she didn't use tomatillos. and it appears tinned chiles and tinned tomato.

I've done this differently each time I've done it and it comes out great every time.

It's never failed. No matter what. All tinned ingredients and it still came out great. 

Including the first time when I didn't know about other chiles. I thought green meant green and the only green chile I knew was jalapeño. So mine was loaded with jalapeño not roasted. It was so hot it burned my mouth off. And each bowl I refilled to another bowl mouth burning after mouth burning, I couldn't keep off of it until it was gone. All weekend long. And it was a huge pot.

Then I realized there are a whole bunch of other chiles. And they all have different flavors. And they can be mixed. 

And they can all be fresh and roasted. The tomatoes can be fresh, and so can the tomatillos. 

The last batch I made I used top ingredients, Hatch chiles and San Marzano tomatoes. Cumin and coriander. Garlic and onion. Bay leaf. Mexican oregano. Pork shoulder. 

And after all that it still tasted weak. That never happened before. If it were music it sang like an alto but with no base notes. It was high pitched and light. Something was missing. 

I've been so reliant on standard Asian flavors, I came out of national character and added them to my  chili by mere teaspoons for a huge pot, and that changed everything all at once. BOOM! Full flavor profile, the whole thing repaired instantly. 

I've never seen a green chili recipe call for anchovy, but it elevated my chili like you wouldn't believe.

Then, you must have totillas.

The trick to flour tortillas I learned is they must be started with hot water. And that activates the baking powder as you form the dough, and they activate more at higher heat in the pan. The hot water melts the lard. I used butter. And the dough is kept much more wet than usual bread dough. Probably 100% hydration. It's sticky and stays sticky. The gluten development and the high fat content makes the wet dough manageable. These two things lead to soft flexible tortillas. I only made seven, but mine stayed soft and pliable for three days.  

I feel like making some right now. Because I have green chili in the refrigerator, and more in the freezer. 

And it's not going to eat itself, you know.