lime chipotle pork tacos

How can winning something online be even better? Cooking with your prize and enjoying it while watching college football...only to watch your team lose. Maybe the latter isn't the greatest way to enjoy a gratuitous gift but when you're enjoying pulled pork and have a mountain of leftovers to feast on throughout the week, all the worries in the world flee your mind for the time being. Hell, Florida could've trampled us worse than last year and I would've been perfectly fine with it...until the day after.

A few weeks ago, I won a Saucy Mama: Lime Chipotle Marinade from Em at Kitchen M and I promised her that I'd make a recipe with the prize. The cooking process was a journey indeed. Filled with laughter, anger, patience, anticipation and finally ending with a finger-licking mess. While all fun and giggles at first, the sweet, aromatic scent of the pork and spices fill the air - enough to send you into a state of delirium. I'm now convinced that this madening aroma was involved Jekyll's potion to become Hyde.

After what seemed to be 4 days rather than hours, the pork rested for 30 minutes before being pulled. Now, while some may throw away the braising liquid, my impulses told me otherwise. I poured some of the braising liquid to a stock pot and reduced it down, skimming the impurities as I went. After being reduced, I spooned it over the pulled pork to keep it juicy and add amazing flavor - nothing goes to waste in this kitchen.

While this alone is good enough to eat, I mixed some finely diced shallots, diced pineapples and some cilantro to the pork. I then topped the mixture on a toasted flour tortilla. It's safe to assume that there were no survivors and no part of the pork went uneaten. It was a fantastic culinary adventure that I would relive again and again - regardless of the maddening waittime.

Lime Chipotle Pork

Original

Ingredients:

- 3 lbs pork butt (shoulder)

- 1 onion, rough dice

- 3 cloves of garlic, rough dice

- 2 bay leaves

- 10 black peppercorns, whole

- 0.5 cup white wine

- 0.25 cup brown sugar

- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder

- 0.75 bottle Saucy Mama - Lime Chipotle Marinade

- 1 cup cider vinegar

- 0.5 cup chicken stock (or water)

1) Trim off excess fat and season on all sides with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

2) In a hot dutch oven/oven-safe stock pot, add oil and sear the pork on all sides until caramelized. About 10 minutes all over.

3) Remove the pork from the pot, add a little more oil and saute the onions and garlic for about 3 - 5 minutes until the onions have become translucent.

4) Deglaze the pot with white wine and reduce until syrupy. Add in the Saucy Mama marinade, vinegar and 0.5 cup of chicken stock. Add more chicken stock later if needed.

5) Add the bay leaves, black peppercorns and chipotle powder. Return the pork and its juices back to the pot. Bring the liquid back to a simmer, adjusting the liquid's seasoning with salt, pepper or cider vinegar as needed.

6) Place into a 250 degrees F oven. Per pound of pork, it'll take about 75 - 90 minutes. In my case, it took about 4 hours. Flip the pork over half way through cooking and baste the liquid over the butt. Repeat the flip and basting once again another halfway through the cooking.

7) Once the pork reaches an internal temperature of 195 degrees F or my favorite - it just falls apart when you try to pick it up, remove the pot from the oven. Place the pork on a tray/plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil for 30 minutes.

8) While waiting, ladle some of the braising liquid into a stock pot and reduce by half, skimming off the scum as it rises.

9) Pull the pork with 2 forks (or however you want to pull it). Spoon some of the gravy over the pulled pork, just enough to add moisture to the pork.

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Of course, you can eat it just like this on a crusty French roll or rice but for me...I was craving some tacos.

Lime Chipotle Pork Tacos

Original, Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 8 flour tortillas, lightly toasted for about 30 seconds on a hot pan

- 1 lb pulled pork

- 1 large shallot, finely diced

- 1 cup fresh pineapple, diced (you can use canned if you don't have fresh)

- bunch of cilantro, chopped once

- juice of 1 lime, and additional lime wedges to serve

1) Prep the shallots, pineapples and cilantro leaves. Mix with the pulled pork and juice of 1 lime until well distributed.

2) Place a portion (2 oz. per taco if you want to be exact) of the pork mixture on top of the toasted tortilla and serve alongside additional lime wedges.

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Comments have been fixed (thanks Maria!). Because of the new layout, it won't let me do comments on the same page (unless someone knows how to fix it?). I figured the pop-up variety was less annoying than going to a comment only page. Let me know if it becomes an issue and I'll change it over to the latter flavor.

Edit: You may have noticed that I changed the blog's name. I think this new title is a better reflection of my life - which is a unique and bizarre one at that. How many pharmacy school students do you know (who are male) that run food blogs? :)