Have you ever made pork butt before? It sounds appetizing doesn't it? I had never made it until Saturday. Guess what? It's delicious. See below for a recipe for Pulled Pork Tacos that I generally followed, but didn't have the cocoa and made a 6 lb pork butt instead of the specified 2.5 lb pork butt. It all worked out though. All you do is rub the spices all over the butt of the pork and then let it do its thing in the slow cooker all day long. It will make your house smell all delicious and like you are some kind of pork cooking master. The pulled pork tacos are very simple to assemble and are basically a means of shoveling lots of luscious, tender, falling apart pork butt into your mouth.
If you, like me, decide to make a giant pork butt of the 6-lb variety, you will find that you have a lot of pork butt on your hands, post-pulled pork tacos. That's okay, because the sky's the limit when it comes to what you can do with leftover pork butt. Here's what I did:
Pork Enchiladas--I got this recipe from Robin's blog. Thanks, Robin! You'll see that the recipe calls for chicken, but just substitute your sumptuous pork and watch the compliments roll in.
Chicken Tamale Casserole--Got this one from Ramona when she brought us this for dinner after Teddy was born. We loved her version (with chicken), so I hope this pork version does it justice.
I'm just making things with pork over here while the snow falls and Charlie coughs and mouth breathes all over me (he has the never-ending cold). What are you up to? Feel free to post any pork ideas or any ideas at all! It's been a long snow day inside and I need some good comments to see me through to bedtime.
Pulled-pork Tacos (from Real Simple magazine)
2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Kosher salt
1 2.5-lb boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
18 corn tortillas
1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 lime cut into wedges
1. In a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.
2. Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
3. Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350. Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir it into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime and extra salsa.
Serves 6
Love,
Elizabeth
9 comments:
I know all your readers are going to think I'm lying, but -no kidding-just yesterday morning I was thinking to myself, 'hmm, I sure would like to make some pulled-pork tacos like the ones my friend Lorena's parents made. I wonder how they made those...' I've been using the slow cooker a lot lately, so I'm so excited to make this! Thanks for reading my mind!!
Jennifer
P.S. I have Olivia home sick, so I decided to organize my home office armoire. Fun times!
I have nothing profound or interesting to say, but I loved the way you clearly enjoyed typing "pork butt" over and over. Your blog is great. :)
I'm not exactly Rachael Ray's No. 1 fan, but I made her shepherd's pie recipe last week. It was delicious and comfort-food-ish, but also snuck in a lot of vegetables:
http://foodgoodness.blogspot.com/2009/01/shepherds-pie-rachael-ray-way.html
Stay warm!
Yum Yum, sounds delicious!! I'm going to have to try all of the above!
Yay, thanks for the recipes!
I'm not surprised you had such success with a pig's rear end. I'm thinking absorbed genetics. Someday you can tell your Mommy Town crowd about Shirley MacLaine and the Pig Stand and The Evening Star. Or maybe not.
Is a slow cooker what we food-prep challenged call a crock pot?
Good morning! We are big fans of pork butts :)! I have two recipes I'll share with you from the next time you start with a raw one. But for the stuff you are trying to use up now. I would highly recommend that you use it as a topping for baked potatoes - along with sour cream and cheese and all that other good stuff. Yummy! Enjoy the melting - I'm kinda glad to be taking Gillian to school in an hour-ish - we need to get out of the house! Have a great and yummy day :)!
I can almost smell your pork butt from here. It's almost worth buying one just to see the word "butt" typed on a sticker on a huge chunk of meat. Glad my recipe worked for you...I'm wondering if yours would work with a beef butt. My dad is butchering a calf soon and I am gearing up for a freezer full of grass-fed cow. Yum, yum!
RAK
Hey, I cooked my pork butt yesterday and the crowd went wild. I offered whole romaine lettuce leaves as a veggie up option instead of tortillas and Cannon loved it that way. This led me to think we could also cook with an Asian marinade and go with the whole lettuce wrap idea. I think I'll do it that way next week. I'll let you know how it goes!
Sorry to say, but a pork butt isn't really a butt at all, its actually a part of the pork shoulder :(. While its fun to say, and think about, its only a measly shoulder.
Alton Brown taught me that one :) Your tacos sound great. I came upon your site because I just decided to up and buy a 7 lb pork butt. It was only 1.50 a pound and I couldn't pass it up. When I got home I realized there are only two of us here...and seven pounds of pork. I'm planning on making bbq pulled pork, and crock-potting it and possibly stirfry, and I am going to add these tacos to the list, so thank you!
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