Based on experimentation, at 5000′ elevation, it’s just a straight 425 degrees at 25 minutes per pound of raw, oiled, spiced pork meat on a rack, in Pyrex, in the oven. (The oil today was unrefined coconut, and the ending temp was just above 145, Fahrenheit, )

I got it at Sprouts. It was 3.2 pounds, $4.20 a pound, which is about 25% more than from Safeway, and there wasn’t anything on the package that even pretended it was better in any way (certainly not organic, for instance). For me this results in producing another good argument for getting my supply from ButcherBox. (Although officially organic pork does exist, for about 5x the price of supermarket slaughterhouse stuff.)

Today I ate half of it straight off the rack without anything else–a satisfying one-meal-a-day of a mere 1300 calories, and zero carbs.

The other half will be the basis for a chile verde. On a perfect Sunday the whole thing (less a few bites) would be a big pot of chile verde that would last all week. Doing it that way, there’s no sense in going to the bother of oiling and spicing the raw pork at the beginning, because any spicing can be done in the chile pot, post-roasting.

Vair-de-tizing

Chile (using a 16 oz. jar of 505, plus whatever hot peppers are around and quickly chopped)
Tomato or tomatillo (1 large red that was going overripe)
Onion (leftover half I had)
Garlic (2 cloves seemed right to me)
Cumin
Oregano
Salt
Black pepper
and (secret ingredient) a pinch of dried arbol if you like things very deeply warming + spicy hot

I threw all that in a blender instead of fussing with the knife, and poured it into a big pot over the top of 1.5 pounds cooked and cubed pork

… with just barely enough water to clean out the jar and the blender; plus a couple of fingers of the pork drippings that were still sitting there–I’m aiming for a very thickened product to go inside tortillas with melty cheese and avocado, no salsa or peppers necessary.

I’ll simmer that for as long as seems right because there’s very little science here and lots of art. Last time I made it too spicy hot for company, and chilled it down by adding an equal amount of just-cooked beans, doubling the recipe by combining the two recipes on the fly.

Here is a version that is far more pro and precise than mine.

Likewise, a chile colorado variant I’d like to try someday as well.