Day 17 (evening): Chili Verde con Frijoles Negro

It’s difficult to imagine anything that begins with thick chunks of pork shoulder could turn out poorly and tonight’s dinner was actually a near perfect experience. I credit the quality of meat, the blend of Mexican spices but mostly because it was allowed to cook slowly on a low heat the flavors had a chance to blend exquisitely.

- Oven roast the 1 ½ pounds of tomatillos (cut each one in half), 2 jalapenos, 2 serrano and 6 garlic cloves; after about 30 minutes at 300 degrees remove the skin, core and seeds from the peppers and blend the lot with a bunch of cilantro, keeping the mixture close and ready in a bowl.

- Next chop up 2 white onions and cook till soft in a cast iron pan. Remove the onions from the pan, crank up the heat and dump in the chopped pork to brown for about 5 minutes. Add Mexican spice blend (red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme and clove)

- Finally turn the heat to low and mix in the onions, after a few minutes pour in the blended tomatillos, peppers, garlic and cilantro so that is smothers the pork. Add 1 cup of stock and season to taste. After bringing to a simmer for 10 minutes, place in oven without a cover at 300 degrees. I opened a can of black beans and tore off the label, added a pinch of salt and placed the can into the oven next to the pan. Give it at least 90 minutes, eat when ready. Serve with lime, avacados, hot sauce, sour cream, carrot & jalapenos and fresh, raw scallions. I made Krysten's into a burrito and mine just on the plate.

The experiment of diving into the Mission District to shop was brilliant. The small market services the local restaurants which provide some of the best Mexican cuisine in San Francisco. Casa Lucas can be found at 2934 24th Street – many of the ingredients on cans and packaged foods are in Spanish.

The pork was from one of my favorite butchers, Drews Brothers Meats at 1706 Church street. The cost for dinner breaks down to about $4 per person and could feed about 10.

Drews Brothers Meats