Pulled-Pork Flautas with Roasted-Chile Sauce

Flauta (meaning flute in English) describes this dish’s appearance: a tightly rolled, stuffed tortilla with a flute-like shape. Authentic Mexican flautas are made with small corn tortillas filled with meat, deep-fried, and served with a spicy or savory sauce on top.

Here, I used flour tortillas—both six-inch and eight-inch—fried in one-half cup of canola oil. The method is lighter than deep-frying, and flour tortillas are not quite as dense as corn tortillas.

The roasted chile sauce is made with a mixture of mild and spicy chiles. It’s easy to prepare, and you can adjust the heat up or down by adding or omitting hot chiles.

You’ll need the oven for both the chiles and the pork, so roast the chiles quickly at a high temperature, then turn it down to braise the pork for a few hours.   

Note: You don’t need many filling ingredients because there’s simply not enough room. The tortillas are tightly rolled before frying, and too much stuffing would prevent them from holding together.

Makes 15-20 flautas (depending on tortilla size)

Ingredients

For the Roasted-Chile Sauce

• 4 scallions, white and light green parts only
• 4 large garlic cloves, not peeled
• 4 serrano chiles
• 3 poblano chiles
• 2 jalapeno chiles
• 1 red bell pepper, halved lengthwise, seeded and stemmed
• olive oil, for drizzling, plus 1 tbsp
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• sea salt
• 1 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth

For the Pulled-Pork Flautas

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 1/2- to 3-lb pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 2 pieces
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4-5 chiles de arbol (or other small dried chiles)
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 15 8-inch or 20 6-inch (or a mixture of both) warm corn or flour tortillas (warm tortillas are easier to roll) 
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese (or white cheddar)
• 1/2 cup canola oil, plus more if needed

Onions, Garlic, and Chiles de Arbol

Preparation

For the Roasted-Chile Sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F.
2. Place the scallions, garlic all chiles, and red bell pepper on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss well to coat. 
3. Roast 15 minutes, turning halfway through, until all sides of the chiles are charred.

Vegetables Ready to Roast 

Roasted Vegetables

1. Remove the chiles and bell pepper to a paper bag, close tightly, and steam 10 minutes. Place the scallions and garlic on a cutting board and let cool. (Peel the garlic when cool enough to handle.)
2. Remove the chiles and bell pepper from the bag and remove the loose the skin with your fingers or a small paring knife. Place on the cutting board with the scallions and peeled garlic.
3. Remove the stems from all chiles and seed the poblanos. Coarsely chop all the sauce ingredients.

Vegetables Ready to Chop

Chopped Vegetables

1. Place the sauce ingredients in a food processor. Add the cumin and oregano and season with salt. Process until finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the processor as needed.
2. Add broth and process until smooth. The sauce should be slightly runny.
3. Keep warm in a skillet over low heat until ready to use. (Or make the sauce ahead of time and re-warm gently before using.)

Finely Processed Vegetables 

Roasted Chile Sauce

For the Pulled-Pork Flautas

1. Reduce the oven temperature to 275° F.
2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add the olive oil. Season the pork all over with salt and pepper. Add the pork, chiles de arbol, garlic, and onion to the pot and sear until the meat is browned on the bottom, 4-5 minutes. Turn and sear another 4-5 minutes.

Seasoned Pork Shoulder 

Pork Beginning to Brown

1. Add the broth and bring to a light simmer. Cover tightly and place in the oven. Braise about 3 hours (depending on your oven’s temperature), until the pork is very tender and juicy. (Turn the meat halfway through.)

Pork Ready to Braise

Pork after Braising 1.5 hours

Braised Pork

1. Remove to a large platter or cutting board and let cool slightly. Shred the meat with your fingers or two forks, discarding any fat.
2. Lay the tortillas on a work surface. Working with 1 at a time, place a line of pulled pork (2-3 tablespoons) close to the left edge. Top with 1-2 tablespoons of cheese.
3. Roll up the tortilla very tightly, tucking in the filling as you go. Place on a platter seam-side down and continue making the remaining flautas.

Pulled Pork 

Flauta Ready to Roll Up

Rolled Flautas Ready to Fry

1. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium heat and add 1/2 cup canola oil. Working in batches, place as many flautas as will fit in the skillet in a single layer, seam-side down, and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side.
2. Remove to a large plate and repeat with the remaining flautas. (Add a little more oil if the skillet becomes too dry.)

Flautas Beginning to Fry 

Flautas after the First Turn 

Fried Flautas

To serve, divide the flautas among plates and spoon the roasted chile sauce on top. Serve right away.