New Years at my family’s home is about celebrating my mother, my sister Tamara’s, and now my nephew Coen Matteo's birthdays.A couple of years ago, my sister Nicole and I decided to adapt Bobby Flay’s pork shoulder tacos for the occassion. We cut out a lot of the extraneous sugars and such because the chiles and the side dishes are what make the experience worthwhile and eminently reheatable days later, anyway.
Why should you take advice from a Bobby and a couple of Italian Americans? Because there is a flavor in this recipe that cannot be beat, and the results make for amazing leftovers that we have been able to capture in the recipe and work below.
I love the simplicity of this recipe and think you will too.
I love the simplicity of this recipe and think you will too.
What great sisters I have! HarHarHarHar.
We go to LA REINA MARKET (which I will do a photo spread of next time I’m there, promise!) and get ourselves six pounds of pork shoulder, grab a few bags of the chiles required to make this dish and head back home with a few of their homemade salsas. (By the by, La Reina’s avocado salsa is a strange, otherworldly hot mélange of fresh avocado and invisible salsa elements, and it is simply superb, unique, and a blessing all in one).
La Reina Market
909 N. Tustin Street
Orange, Calif. 92867
(714) 997-9525
Bobby Flay's Pork Tacos, adapted
Serves at least 8, maybe more, depending on people’s appetites
Ingredients
4 large dried ancho chiles (about 3/4 ounce), stemmed, seeded
2 large dried pasilla chiles, stemmed, seeded
1 T fresh lime juice
6 lb. bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt)
2 T vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
3 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
To set the taco table, you’ll also need the following:
Kosher salt
To set the taco table, you’ll also need the following:
6″ corn tortillas or 10″ flour tortillas
4 radishes, trimmed, thinly sliced or shredded
Finely chopped red onions
Chopped fresh cilantro
Cotija cheese
yellow and white Cheddar cheeses for the gringos
Homemade Guacamole
Homemade Salsas
Preheat oven to 350°F and cook completely covered for about 3 to 4 hours. Or if you have a large Le Creuset Dutch Oven, slow-cook on the stove on low for about five hours.
First get some super hot water (or just boil some water) coming out of your tap and soak the peppers. Let ‘em get really soft. This is easier to do with a little extra time, so if you can, do this the night before. About 30 minutes is all that’s needed if you use the boiling water. Drain chiles, de-stem and de-seed. After you strip them, reserving 1 cup soaking liquid, place chile skins in the Cuisinart. Be very careful, the heat from these can tax the eyes and skin. Nicole was bright red in the face during this portion of our little family cooking fest.
Make the spice paste in a Cuisinart: We used mom’s blender, and it was more challenging. But it can be done, you may have to do this in batches. Purée chiles with the chopped yellow onion, garlic, adding more soaking liquid as needed to form a smooth paste.After trimming off about a half pound of the shoulder’s fat (in the final product, all that fat really is not necessary to ensure a flavorful taco), Nicole rubbed ‘er down with rock salt and cracked black pepper. Letting the beast rest in a roasting pan (although were I at home and not slave to my mother’s lousy Revere-ware, I’d have slapped that puppy in my enormous Le Creuset roaster), we set about making the spice paste.The shoulder can be rubbed 1–2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Let come to room temperature before continuing.
Fry up the spice paste: heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Toss in two bay leaves and a cinnamon stick. Once fragrant, add in the chile purée. Add pork to pot, cover with the mixture, and transfer to oven. If you are cooking stove-top, just bring up to a boil, and then lower to lowest setting. Leave for about four to five hours, stirring occasionally to make sure parts are not burning onto the bottom of the pot.
This dish can be made as much as two days ahead, letting it cool overnight sitting on the stove or in the oven covered or you can chill in the ‘fridge. The next morning, you can skim off the fat, if you like your pork tacos to be a little leaner.
Rewarm before continuing.
At this point, you can easily shred the shoulder with a fork. Meanwhile, working in batches, cook tortillas in a large heavy skillet over low heat until toasted or in cooking oil to shape them into the tacos you may be familiar with at Taco Bell. About 1 minute per side, and they’ll be done. Transfer to a large sheet of foil; wrap to keep warm.
Serve pork with tortillas, radishes soaked in a little white vinegar and salt, salsa and guacamole, chopped red onions, sliced limes for squeezing over the final taco, and chopped cilantro—encourage kids to get in on the process. My nephew loved doing the puréeing with the blender and he’s only three. But the experience of filling your own taco with whatever there is on the table makes everyone feel like it’s a special meal.
Purchasing dinner at La Reina, the whole birthday extravaganza came to about $40 for 8-10 people excluding the terrific Melville Pinot Noir from Verna’s Vineyard, from Northern Santa Barbara county. The 2013 vintage will be the last wine from this Vineyard, so get yourself to the stores and get your mitts on the last of this fine, earthy, mushroom/barnyard Pinot.
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| Salt and Bearss Limes--('Bare-ass Limes" as my Dad used to say!) |
Nice price, when you consider how Old World it tastes.
Bringing this to work the next day is a cinch, all you need is a set of small plastic containers to carry the accompaniments separately. Then you can assemble after you reheat the meat and the tortillas in the micro.
Bringing this to work the next day is a cinch, all you need is a set of small plastic containers to carry the accompaniments separately. Then you can assemble after you reheat the meat and the tortillas in the micro.
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