Pressure-Cooker Pork Chili Verde

June in Memphis, and the city has turned its attention to fall — the leaves changing along my still walking my mail route through Midtown Memphis, the air carrying that crispness that makes a man want to light a fire and stand next to it. I am 60, and this week the fire I stood next to was Uncle Clyde\'s smoker, and the standing was its own kind of prayer.

The week\'s main current was post-denise week. The family moved through the week the way we move through all weeks — together even when apart, connected by phone calls and text messages and the invisible threads that bind a family across distance and time. Rosetta held the center, as she always does, the organizing principle of the Johnson household, the woman who knows where everyone is and what everyone needs before they know it themselves.

I smoked a pork shoulder this week — the king, the classic, the dish that defines my cooking and my life. Fourteen to sixteen hours over hickory, mopped with the vinegar sauce every ninety minutes, pulled by hand when the internal temperature hits 203 and the meat jiggles with the telltale wobble that means the collagen has surrendered. I pulled it in the backyard, standing over the cutting board, and the meat came apart in my fingers the way it has come apart a thousand times before, and the thousandth time felt exactly like the first time: miraculous. Served it on white bread with coleslaw and the vinegar sauce, the Memphis way, the Clyde way, the only way.

The week ended the way weeks end in this life — with the fire banked, the kitchen clean, Rosetta reading on the couch, and the quiet of Deadrick Avenue settling over the house like a blessing someone forgot to say out loud. I sat on the porch and listened to the nothing, which in Orange Mound is never truly nothing — it\'s crickets and distant traffic and someone\'s television through an open window and the deep, patient breathing of a neighborhood that has been here for a hundred years and will be here for a hundred more, if the people who love it refuse to leave.

That pork shoulder on the smoker this week — fourteen hours of tending, mopping, and waiting — was a gift I could only give on a week when the route was done and the time was mine. But the hunger for pulled pork doesn’t always wait for a long weekend, and this pressure-cooker pork chili verde is what I reach for when the family needs that same depth of flavor and the clock says there’s no room for hickory and patience. It’s not Uncle Clyde’s smoker — nothing is — but it carries the same spirit: pork cooked until it surrenders, in a pot that fills the whole house with the smell of something good coming.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapeños, seeded and minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cans (7 oz each) diced green chiles, undrained
1 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and quartered (or one 28 oz can, drained)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Warm flour tortillas or white rice, for serving

Instructions

Season and sear the pork. Pat pork chunks dry and season with 1 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Set your electric pressure cooker to the sauté function and heat the oil until shimmering. Working in batches to avoid crowding, sear the pork on two sides until deeply browned, about 3–4 minutes per side. Transfer seared pork to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. With the sauté function still on, add the onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeños and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the green chiles and tomatillos. Pour in the diced green chiles with their liquid and add the tomatillos. Stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Pour in the chicken broth and return the seared pork and any accumulated juices to the pot. Stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Pressure cook. Secure the lid and set the valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes, then carefully switch the valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.
Shred and finish. Remove the lid. Using two forks, shred the pork directly in the pot — it should pull apart easily. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Taste and adjust salt as needed. If the broth is thinner than you’d like, set the pot back to sauté and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes to reduce.
Serve. Ladle into bowls over white rice or alongside warm flour tortillas. Garnish with additional fresh cilantro and lime wedges.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pressure-Cooker Pork Chili Verde — When the Smoke Clears, the Pork Stays on the Table