Pork Tacos with Pineapple Cucumber Salsa

    Happy Cinco de Mayo! I made the most fabulous pork tacos for lunch! I'm not usually one to cook with jalapeno peppers but they make this pork really pop.  The cucumber in the salsa was the perfect cool down for the sweet heat of the caramelized pork as well as the spicy sriracha mayo. For the pork, I butchered a pork loin into pieces but it would have been so much easier to slice up some pork chops! This is definitely going to be one of my favorite meals to make!

Pork Tacos with Pineapple Cucumber Salsa

Ingredients:

- 2 pounds of pork loin, cut into thin strips

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 1/2 diced red onion (you'll used the other 1/2 in the salsa)

- 1 diced jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed

- 2 diced cloves of garlic or 1 heaping teaspoon of minced garlic

- 2 teaspoons of fish sauce

- 2 tablespoons of sugar

- 2 tablespoons of warm water

For the salsa:

- 1 cup of diced pineapple, I used fresh

- 1 cup of diced cucumber, seeds removed

- 1/2 diced red onion

- 1 diced roma tomato

- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

- the juice of one lime 

- dash of salt

For the sriracha mayo:

- 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

- 1 tablespoon of sriracha hot sauce

Serve on warm flour tortillas

    Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the red onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook for a moment and let the onions sweat. Once they start to get translucent, add the fish sauce and mix well, Next, add the pork. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and warm water until the sugar is dissolved. Once the pork is mostly cooked and you don't see any more pink, turn up the heat to high and add the sugar water mixture. Stir once really well. It will be quite bubbly at first, leave it to cook for a few minutes. Then, the juices will clear, stir, and your pork will start to caramelize. Once it is starting to get golden brown, it is finished. Remove from the heat and serve with salsa and mayo.

    When making the salsa, add all salsa ingredients together and toss until combined. I like to make the salsa before I cook the pork. 

    Whisk the mayo and sriracha together to make the sauce. You can add a little water to make it a little thinner if you prefer. 

    Assemble tacos, serve with lime wedges, and enjoy!!

Beautiful Pineapple Salsa!

Pulled Pork Tacos

    Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo! What a better way to celebrate than with an abundance of tequila and some fresh, slow cooked pork tacos! I had some friends over last night and we had a blast. I served them with some zesty coleslaw on top and some rice and beans! This meat is so tender, it fell right off the bone when I shredded it! Definitely make the coleslaw the day before to allow the flavors to meld!

Pulled Pork Tacos

Ingredients:

  For the brine:

- 1/2 cup of salt

- 1/2 cup of brown sugar

- 8 cups of water

  For the pork:

- 1 (3-4 pound) pork shoulder

- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano

- 1 teaspoon of chili pepper

- 1 teaspoon of cumin

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

- 1 onion, diced

- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

- 1 (6 ounce can of tomato paste

- 3 tablespoons of sofrito

- 1 tablespoon of honey

- 1/2 cup of orange juice

- 1/4 cup of lime juice

- tortillas for serving

  For the coleslaw:

- 1 (16 ounce) package of coleslaw mix

- 1/4 cup of rice vinegar

- 3 tablespoons of lime juice

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 2 tablespoons of sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro leaves

    Mix together all of the coleslaw ingredients in a large bowl and allow to sit in the refrigerator throughout the entire pork process. In a large microwave safe bowl, add two cups of the water, microwave for two minutes and add the salt and brown sugar. Mix until salt and sugar are dissolved. Add the remaining 6 cups of cold water to the salt and sugar mixture. Mix well and make sure that it is room temperature (you don't want your meat to start cooking). Add the pork shoulder to the water, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours. Remove from the brine, rinse in cold water, and pat dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl combine the oregano, chili pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper. Rub the spice mixture over the pork and set the meat in the slow cooker. Spread the diced onions over the meat. In a separate bowl, whisk together the garlic, tomato paste, sofrito, honey, orange juice, and lime juice. Pour mixture over the meat, set the slow cooker to low, and allow to cook for 6 hours. When ready to serve, shred the meat from the bone and pour about a cup of the juices from the slow cooker on top. Serve in tortillas and top with the zesty coleslaw!