I admit to being a fan of just about anything pork. Granted, there are some bits of Wilbur that I am not interested in eating despite my half German heritage (think feet, tails, snout…) but on the whole I love me some pork! One of my favorite things to do with pork when I have the luxury of time, is to slow braise it until the meat is fall apart tender. Of course the benefit to this is that you can take the cheapest, nastiest-to-eat cut of pork and a few hours later it is fall apart tender. It really doesn’t get more economical than that.
Once braised, the pork has a variety of applications. You can slice it and eat it with mashers and gravy a la Sunday roast dinner, or my hands-down favorite is to pull the pork and use it in the following ways: pulled pork tostadas, pulled pork tacos, pulled pork bbq sandwiches, pulled pork in casseroles, pulled pork added to pork and beans…the list is pretty much unending.
The actual braise for the pork will help guide you toward what you’ll eventually do with it. For a roast dinner I would use red wine, bay, thyme, onion, garlic, celery and pull the meat out before it is falling apart. For a variety of different pulled pork recipes, I like to use the following braise, and the recipe is for Pork Tostadas that are just about so yummy I can hardly stand it.
Pulled Pork Tostadas
2-3lb pork picnic shoulder roast, bone in or out, it doesn’t matter
3 cups of water
4 cloves of smashed garlic
1 whole yellow onion, quartered
juice of 1 lime
bay leaf
2 tbsp or so of cumin
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
10 white (or yellow) corn tortillas
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
diced sweet onion
sour cream
your favorite taco sauce or pico de gallo
cotija or other Mexican cheese
lime for garnish
1. Wash any bone chips from your pork then pat it dry with paper towels, then season it liberally with salt, pepper and cumin. Add enough vegetable oil to the bottom of a heavy frying pan and heat it until it is VERY hot. Sear the pork on all sides then remove it to your crockpot.
2. Add your onions and garlic to the frying pan and lightly brown the veggies. Then add them to the crockpot. Deglaze the frying pan with 1 cup of water, then pour the deglazed liquid into the crock pot along with the remaining water. Add the lime juice and bay leaf. Set the pot to high and let it cook for 3 hours or so and then turn it down to low for an additional hour or two until the meat is falling apart tender. When your meat is cooked remove it from the liquid, let it cool, then shred it with your fingers.
3. While the meat is cooking, crisp your tortillas in a frying pan with enough oil to coat the bottom. Cook over medium high heat on both sides until golden brown.
4. To assemble: Top each corn tostada with desired amount of pork then garnish with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo or any of your other favorite toppings.
YUM!
