Our building has some sort of gas leak, so maintenance turned off the gas for all the apartments until they fix the problem. I should probably be more alarmed at the safety or health implications of this, but I’m mostly just annoyed that I haven’t been able to use the stovetop in five days.
Thank goodness we have an electric oven and a slow cooker, or they’d be getting an earful of my strongly worded but grammatically incorrect Spanish complaints.
I went a little crazy at the market yesterday and came home with 2 kilos (4.4 lbs.) of pork to make tacos… and enchiladas and about five more meals I have yet to dream up.
I spent a little more time making the marinade than I normally do, and it was totally worth the extra few minutes. The meat had a nice subtle spiciness – nothing too crazy – so you can adjust the chipotle and jalapeño measurements to your own taste.
I recommend serving the tacos with extra sour cream, avocado, cilantro and Tapatío. This is actually just a good life rule.
Ingredients
- Taco Meat:
- 4-5 lb. pork shoulder (or other cut with some nice marbling)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, deseeded and chopped
- 1 jalapeño or other medium-spicy pepper, chopped
- 1 T. cumin
- 1 T. chili powder
- 7 fresh tomatoes (or tomato purée), chopped
- 1 lime
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Taco Fixins:
- Corn or flour tortillas
- Avocado
- Sour cream
- Cheese
- Hot sauce
Instructions
- Salt the pork generously and let sit in the slow cooker while you do the rest of the prep.
- Combine onion, garlic, chipotle, jalapeño, cumin, chili powder and a little olive oil and microwave or sauté for about 5 minutes, until onions are softened. Transfer to food processor.
- Add fresh tomatoes, most of the cilantro (saving some for garnish) and the juice of 1 lime. Blend until smooth.
- Pour mixture over the pork, turning it over a few times to coat (the meat won't be completely submerged).
- Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours or low for 9 to 11 hours, turning the meat once or twice if possible. When it's done, the meat should fall apart when you touch it.
- Serve on warm tortillas with your favorite fixins. Save the leftover cooking liquid to cook black or pinto beans.