**Night Before**

Prepare the walnuts

• Cover the nuts with boiling water and leave them to soak for about 5 minutes.
• Remove the papery brown skins.
• When the skins are removed, place in a small bowl and cover with milk, and cover the container. Leave them to soak overnight.

Prepare the Pork

• Remove any extra fat from the meat and cut into large cubes (about 2 inches).
• Put them in a Dutch oven, add the onion, garlic, and salt, and cover with water.
• Over medium-high heat, bring the meat to a boil and then turn down the heat and let it simmer, about 40-45 minutes or until tender.
• Set aside the Dutch oven with the meat and let cool.
• When cooled, strain the meat and set it aside in a tupperware bowl for the next day (serving day). Note: If you want your pork to be shredded, shred it now while it is warm.
• (Optional.) If you want to use the fat from the broth, transfer broth from Dutch oven to a storage bowl. Next day, skim off the fat from the broth and place in small bowl for use with the picadillo. Save the broth for other future use by putting it in a gallon freezer bag and freezing.

**Serving Day**

Roast the Poblanos

• Turn the oven on the broil setting (550 degrees Fahrenheit) and place as many poblanos as will fit (about 6) on a large baking sheet. Put in oven on the top rack and broil until blackened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
• Take out and flip over, roasting the other side in the same way.
• Set first batch aside to cool. Repeat the whole process again for the next 6 poblanos.

Make the Picadillo

• Roughly crush the peppercorns and cloves with a mortar and pestle, and set aside.
• In a small, non-reactive bowl, mash up the canned, peeled whole tomatoes with a potato masher (or your hands!), and set aside.
• Chop up the cubed pork into smaller, diced pieces.
• In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons reserved lard (or use extra virgin olive oil) and cook the onion and garlic until soft and just translucent.
• Add the chopped pork and cook for about 10 minutes until it starts to crisp and look golden.
• Add the crushed peppercorns, cloves, ground cinnamon, salt, and cinnamon stick. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is combined and fragrant.
• Add the tomatoes to the mixture and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
• Add the nuts and raisins and mix to combine.
• Add the chopped pear, peach, and candied fruits and cook for a few minutes more. Put the skillet on low heat on the backburner while making the rest of the food.

Make the Nogada

• Drain the walnuts and discard the milk.
• In a blender or food processor, add the milk, farmers cheese, Mexican crema, sugar, pinch of cinnamon, white bread (without crust), and walnuts.
• Blend all together until they are smooth and set aside.

Assemble

• Turn oven to warm temperature.
• Carefully remove the blackened skins from the cooled chiles, leaving the meat of the chile. Then, slice open the chili and remove the seeds, as well as the stem.
• (Optional.) Stuff the chiles with the picadillo and place on a separate baking sheet. When the chiles are stuffed place in a warm oven until ready to serve. NOTE: This step is to keep all the chiles warm until ready to serve.
• When ready to serve, plate chiles and pour the nogada over them to your liking.
• Garnish with pomegranate seeds and chopped Italian parsley and serve.