Tacos!

I have had a couple of pork loins in the freezer for ages. Every time I need something, there they are. In the way and not telling me what they want to grow up to be! I had decided on just roasting them with veggies and mashed potatoes. Turned out that I didn’t have any veggies and only one potato. I pivoted to pulled pork for BBQ but we didn’t have any sauce. I quickly checked what I had on hand. I found some chicken stock. There were also frozen garlic and ginger cubes. I came across one lonely bulb of black garlic and some sweet onion trimmings. Pretty slim picking. I changed again to carnitas.

I got out the pressure cooker for the pork. Not much tastier than slow cooked pork!

I sliced the loin into 1/2 inch rounds and seasoned up. Kosher salt, ancho chili powder, cumin, oregano, onion powder and garlic powder. Simple but punchy!

I only had about 4 cups of stock. It was the homemade good stuff and I wish I had found more. I used a cup of water to make up for it. The water diluted the flavor of the broth a bit, so I used extra spices. All the same spices that I rubbed the meat with went into the broth except the salt. Once the broth cooks down the salt level raises. It is easier to add salt than take it away. The black garlic bulb got a rough chop, the frozen cubes got plopped in along with the onion trim and I set it to simmer. The broth has to be tasty to make the meat tasty.

Once the broth tastes the way you want it to, add the meat and close it up. I went with 6 hours on the meat setting.

After the six hours, I stirred the meat around and broke up the chunks a bit. I did a taste test, it needed more seasoning. I added another 2 garlic cubes instead of dry seasoning, a cube of pork bullion and more ancho powder. I stirred that around and left it to cool completely before I stashed it in the fridge overnight. I wanted all the fat to solidify into that luxurious jelly that makes the sauce so sexy. I put the cold pot on to simmer for about 25 minutes until the broth was all melted again. I got a second opinion on the flavor, explained the end goal and got the green light to carry on. After the broth got all melted I set it for 4 more hours on the meat setting.

While the meat was on its second cook I got to work on the onions. I used 1/2 cup each of rice vinegar and water, about 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. I got that on to simmer, sliced the onion into thin rings and cut the rings in half. I let the pickling liquid cool down before I put the onions in. I have found that a cool pickling liquid keeps the veg a bit crisper.

After the meat finished the second cook I gave it a little more love. I broke up the chunks even more, making it more of a shredded meat. I grated in half of another pork bullion cube, added another garlic cube and a pinch of salt. I had found a small container of stock, about 1 cup and I added that as well. I gave it a good stir and left the cooker on the keep warm setting. It stayed on the keep warm for about 2 more hours. I stirred it about every 30 minutes and did some quality control tasting as we waited. When the sauce had thickened up a bit it was time to serve.

We only had burrito size tortillas so I cut them in half. I should have left them as burritos so more of the juice could stay in the meat. Since I didn’t really have anything else to use as toppings we only had the onions. I don’t know that I would have added anything else even if I had it. Maybe some cilantro but the meat was so good that I didn’t want anything to compete with it. The pickled onions added just the right amount of brightness.

For the side I added a scoop of salsa to some leftover jasmine rice. It wasn’t exciting but it was tasty. Next time I will have cilantro and lime to make a good rice.

Enjoy your kitchen! Don’t be afraid of making changes on the fly!