These were awesome. One of my favorite dishes of recent weeks, these were just absolutely delicious. The pork was interestingly sweet (it smelled amazing while cooking), and it had just a little heat in the after taste. As I’m writing this, I wish I was eating more right now. I got the recipe from the Feb/March 2009 issue of Food Network Magazine (only the second issue ever of this magazine). I had to make several changes due to availability of ingredients, so here’s the original recipe, and below is my variation.

Pulled Pork Tacos

I made some out-of-the-box Goya Yellow Rice (the only rice I don’t completely destroy, aside from risotto) to go with it. I also made both of my standard salsas and used shredded cheddar for toppings.

Cooking time
Slow cooker: 5 hours
Dutch oven: 2 hours, 15 minutes (I used this method when I ran out of time for the slow cooker)

Ingredients:
3 whole poblano peppers
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 chipotles in adobe sauce (any grocery store should have this in the canned goods aisle)
1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons spicy honey (I used a fantastic Red Chile Honey that Adam bought during a visit to the Santa Fe School of Cooking)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican (I eyeballed this)
2 teaspoons chipotle seasoning (Again, I used a great seasoning mix from Santa Fe School of Cooking)
3 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 lbs boneless pork butt (This is half the meat of the original, and a different cut–the butcher recommended it. It can feed 4 or make lots of sublime leftovers)
Freshly ground pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
Tortillas, warmed for serving (we had a mix of flour fajita tortillas and corn tortillas)
Toppings

1. Put the poblanos and garlic in a bowl and microwave on high until “soft and pliable,” 2-3 minutes. Stem and seed the chiles. Put the chiles and garlic in a blender. Add the chipotles, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, honey, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, oregano, and chipotle seasoning to the blender. Puree until smooth.

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2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the chile sauce and fry, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the broth and reduce until slightly thickened.

frying the sauce

3. Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and cut unto chunks.

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4. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, then pour in the sauce.

5. For the slow cooker: Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. For the Dutch oven (my method): Cover and cook at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, lower the heat to 375 for 45 minutes, then cook uncovered at 375 for another half hour. **The original recipe uses lower heat, but I liked this super soft and falling apart.

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6. Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with forks or a mashed potato masher (my preference). Season with salt and pepper.

7. Serve the shredded pork in tortillas, along with the toppings.