Pork Tacos at Home

Saying I have issues with tacos is an understatement.  I started off life with the fried hard shell tacos with ground hamburger and was happy.  Then I moved to Southern California and experienced something outside of that Americanized chain that will not be named.  And it was like seeing new colors.  And I'm not even talking about fish tacos yet!

More often than not some of the best tacos you will ever have will come off a truck or a small resturant where lovely smells come out of.  But, you might not have such things in your neck of the woods or maybe you want to introduce your friends to something more than hamburger with some chili powder tossed on to it.  Well, here is something yummy and with a little work you'll be craving these things all the time.

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I've search long and hard to find a good way to braise pork so it tastes yummy and extra good for tacos.  Or for other things for that matter.  What I have come up with is a modification of Braised Pork Shoulder in Orange Mojo based upon Howie Kleinberg from season 3 top chef.  His original recipe is in  Top Chef The Cookbook.

But I've modified it a just a bit to deliver more of what I was looking for.  What you'll need:  pork shoulder about 2-3 lbs more or less, salt, pepper, olive oil, 10-15 cloves chopped garlic, a medium sized shallot choped, chicken stock, 1 large orange, 1 lime, 1/2 cup perl river light soy, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise and for the garnish, cilantro, onion and of course corn tortillas.  If you can get some from a tortilla factory then do so!

First off, season the meat well with salt and pepper and then brown with the olive oil in a dutch oven or something similar.  Make sure you get a good sear on all sides.  Remove to a resting plate.  To the pot add the garlic and shallot and stir until softened and just starting to brown.  Add about 2 cups of chicken stock, juice the orange and the lime and add that to the pot.   The soy, vinegar, and brown sugar go next.  Stir to desolve the sugar.  Then add two cinnamon sticks 1 -2 star anise and put in 3 to 4 slices of ginger, about the size of a quarter that you have bruised with the cleaver.  

Taste this.  Does it need salt?  Does it need to be sweater?  can you feel the tang of the soy and vinegar?  Does it smell rich and deep and flavorful?  If not adjust a bit by adding small amount of the required element.  Add back the pork and if you need a bit more fluid to almost cover the pork use some chicken stock.  

Bring this all up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cover and let simmer for about 2 hours.  I also like to turn the meat a bit at the half way point, just so everyone gets to be submerged for a time.  

After cooking for a few hours, you might have something like this.  Some great complex smells should be coming off the pot as well.  The meat should be fork tender.  Bring it out of the pot and allow to rest for a good 15 minutes.  Then shred with a fork.  You can also reduce the braising liquid some and add that back to the meat for some added flavor.  But typically it doesn't need this.  

Serve with warm fresh corn tortillas, cilantro and finely diced raw onion.  Heaven.  

And you can turn the left overs (what left overs!) into Korean tacos, which I'll do a separate post on.