Street Tacos
Servings: 12 – 16 tacos
Ingredients:
2 pound boneless pork butt or loin roast
4 cups chopped pineapple, juice reserved
Marinade:
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice
1/3 cup virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon annetto seeds ground to a powder in a spice mill
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 chipotle pepper, minced
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups diced white onion
For Assembly:
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 – 16 flour or corn tortillas, cooked and warm
Garnishes:
1 small red onion, diced
12 – 16 lime wedges
1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro
1 cup Queso Blanco, crumbled
¼ – ½ cup diced jalapeno peppers
2 cups cooked corn kernels
Preparation:
Remove the pineapple crown, shell, and core.
Dice the pineapple flesh. Reserve all of the juice.
Place pineapple in a bowl, cover and put in the ice box.
Combine all of the marinade ingredients except onion. Whisk together until the honey has melted completely into the marinade.
Place one cup of the white onion in a container, with a cover, large enough for the meat to lie flat.
Place meat on top of onion.
Pour marinade over meat. Arrange the second cup of the onion over the top of the meat.
Cover and place in ice box for 12 hours.
Add any remaining pineapple juice to the reserved pineapple.
After 12 hours, remove the meat from the ice box.
Remove the meat from the marinade and discard marinade.
Allow the meat to rest on the counter for one hour to come to room temperature.
For crispy meat:
Preheat oven to 275°F.
Slice the meat across the grain into 1/8” slices. Roughly chop meat into bite-size pieces.
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
When hot, add 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil to the bottom of the skillet and rotate to cover the bottom with the oil.
When the oil shimmers, add just enough meat to cover the bottom of the skillet in an uncrowded, single layer of meat.
Sprinkle lightly with some of the salt. When the meat browns on that side, flip it over. Brown on the second side.
Reserve in a clean oven-proof dish with a lid. Cover. Place casserole in preheated oven.
Repeat process until all of the meat has been browned.
For tender meat:
Preheat oven to 275°F.
Place meat in a oven-proof dish, with cover, large enough to hold the meat flat.
Cover and place in oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until the meat has an internal temperature of 165°F.
Remove meat from casserole dish and place on a clean plate. Tent and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Slice the meat across the grain into 1/8” slices. Roughly chop meat into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
Place in clean oven-proof casserole dish, with cover.
Turn off the oven.
Place casserole dish in oven to keep warm.
Pineapple:
Warm a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
If using the skillet used to prepare the crispy meat, brown 4 cups of diced pineapple in the cast iron skillet.
If not, add ½ teaspoon grapeseed oil to the hot skillet. When it shimmers, add diced pineapple and brown the pieces. Do not blacked the pineapple. Just let it turn lightly brown.
Place pineapple in an oven-proof casserole dish with lid and place in warm oven.
Heat a clean cast iron skillet or grill to medium-high heat. Warm and lightly toast each fresh flour tortilla on both sides (approximately 20 seconds per side).
Place tortillas in a casserole dish with cover. Reserve in warm oven.
Assembly:
Lay out a piece of parchment paper large enough to wrap an individual taco.
Place a warm flour tortilla on the parchment paper.
Place meat and pineapple in the middle of the flour tortilla.
Garnish as desired.
Serve immediately with a wedge of lime.