Pulled Pork Tacos with Jalapeno Lime Slaw
Truest. Story. Ever. Told.
Unfortunately the latter is more true than the former. But I will tell you what, if I could find a way to switch that up... I feel like I could make the world a better place. Seriously, how awesome would it be if we were always filled with tacos? Dun-da-da-da... Amy to the rescue. Luckily, I have a ton of taco posts. Most recently, and equally delicious, I have made this recipe for you! (Well, I actually made it for my family, but I shared it with you. So it is practically the same things.) Pulled Pork Tacos with a zesty and spicy Jalapeno Lime Slaw and a creamy Cilantro Lime Sour Cream Sauce. And what better way than to celebrate Cinco de Taco-Rita day thank with these Pulled Pork Tacos?!?! Or any day for that matter! It is always taco season. Shoot, Ill even make you a breakfast taco. But you have to do the dishes.
This recipe is perfect as is or can be broken apart and used with other recipes. I debated making 3 separate posts, one for the slaw, one for the pork and one for the sauce. But there are only so many hours in the day and my husband is out of town. And you know what? I am a one woman show. I cook the food, take the pictures with my phone's camera, edit the photos with an app, transfer the files, type up the recipes, transcribe my food stained scribble scrabble, write this occasionally witty nonsense, do the dishes, walk the dogs, clean the house, put out, have no free time to myself and raise my kids. Take that Beyonce. I have like 5 hours of no kids a week. Boom.
Okay, back to the recipe. Alone, each of these items can stand on their own. My sister and I test ran a version of this slaw years ago, like 6 years ago. And I have also been playing around with this pulled pork for a while. So any of these menu items are pretty interchangeable with any other taco meat or taco topping that I have on my blog. And luckily for you, I am going to post a Cinco de Mayo post here this weekend and I will put them all in one place. De Nada! What's that, you didn't say gracias? Well you should have!!!
So this recipe has 8 lbs of bone in pork butt. So you can a) host a feast b) play the left over game or c) freeze the extra meat or d) play meat Santa and give it away. The slaw recipe also makes enough slaw for tacos for half of the meat, and the same gues for the sauce. So if you are eating for two, I would consider halving or quartering the recipes. You could also look for a smaller cut of meat. (But keep in mind you would want to reduce the cooking time.)
For the Pork:
8 lbs bone is pork butt (shoulder, picnic pork)
2 jalapenos
1 yellow onion
8-9 cloves of garlic
stems from one bushel of cilantro
11.8 oz orange juice (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup lime juice
14 oz canned chipotle in adobo, with sauce
2 tbsp salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 tbsp dried oregeno
you will also need a Dutch Oven (If you do not have a Dutch Oven, you can use a crock pot, but Dutch Ovens really are the best.)
1. Coarsely chop your onions, jalapenos and garlic and add them to the Dutch Oven with your vegetable oil.
2. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes.
3. Heavily salt your pork and add it to the Dutch Oven.
4. Get a sear on all sides by pushing aside the onions, jalapenos and garlic and put the meat on the heat of the Dutch Oven.
4. Add the canned chipotle, orange juice, salt, oregano and chipotle stems to the pot, give it a decent stir.
3. Cover and cook in the oven at 300 degrees for 6-8 hours. I like to switch my oven up to 350 for the last hour to get a nice crust on the exterior of the exposed meat.
4. Once the meat is cooked, carefully remove it. Mine way quite literally falling off the bone. So be cognizant that this may be messy. Put your cutting board next to the Dutch oven, have cleaning cloths ready, etc...
5. You should be able to shred it easily with a fork.
6. If you like you can portion it out now, or if you are serving it all for a party, I like to reserve a bit of my liquid and return it to the Dutch Oven so it can be served hot from the stove top. That is the beauty of Dutch Ovens, stove top, inside the oven... they do it all!!!
7. Keep the pork somewhere safe until you're ready to assemble your tacos. I begin making my slaw and my sauce about 45 minutes before the meat is ready. But you can do both up to 8 hours or so in advance. Keep in mind that the lime juice from the slaw will "break down" the cabbage, so I like to do it all fresh.
For the Cilantro Lime Slaw:
1 head of cabbage (roughly 12 cups when cut)
2 bushels of cilantro leaves
8 radishes
1/2 cup jarred jalapenos
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp salt
11/2 tbsp pepper
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1. Cut the majority of the head of cabbage. I cut the sides off around the core and go from there. The core is so dense, so it is the only part that I discard.
2. You're looking to mimic the size of store bought slaw, but it is better if it is a bit thicker.
3. Add your cabbage to a large lidded mixing bowl.
4. Slice, shred, chop your radishes and add them to the bowl.
5. Add the pickled diced japalenos as well.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together lime juice, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
7. Mix together now or 30 minutes prior to serving and set aside.
For the Cilantro Lime Sour Cream:
Don't you just sometimes like to throw stuff in a food processor and call it a recipe? This step is for you. :) Una vez mas... de nada!
8 oz sour cream
3 tbsp lime juice
1 bushel cilantro leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1. Throw everything in the food processor, except the cilantro and blend until smooth.
2. Add the cilantro and pulse until it is little flakes. :)
3. Transfer to a Mason Jar and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Other Ingredients:
Tortillas:
Can't make tacos without them. If you're not looking to make them from scratch, Tortilla Land is our absolute favorite. (Costco has them too if you are by one.) They are uncooked tortillas. So they are as fresh as you can get without your abuelita or a trip to Mexico. If you're doing basic math, you're looking at one tortilla per serving. I eat one, two if I am super hungry. My husband eats three like it is one bite.
Cheese:
You either want melty cheese with Mexican food, or crumbling cheese. This is a crumbling cheese kind of dish! Cojita or feta are great with this dish. Not a lot of people think feta when they think of Mexican food. And I don't blame them. But in some dishes I opt for feta over cojita. Both are salty, crumby and just add the right touch.
Putting it all together:
Tortilla (if you're using Tortilla Land, cook it first. If you're not, it doesn't hurt to give it a quick stove top heat either)
a spoonful of the cilantro lime sour cream
roughly 1/4 cup shredded pork
roughly 1/4 cup slaw
crumble with feta or cojita
Seriously. Enjoy.
