Braised Pork Tacos with Homemade Tortillas and Pickles Escabeche Recipe
Braised Pork Tacos with Homemade Tortillas and Pickles Escabeche
Serves 8
Braised Pork
1 5-pound pork shoulder, cut into 4 to 6 even size pieces
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 white onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 tablespoons ground chilies, paprika, pasilla and arbol
1 bay leaf
1 cup water
2 limes, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons verjus
1 bunch of cilantro
1 can of Mexican Lager: Modelo, Pacifico or Victoria
Season the pork with salt and pepper and let sit for 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into a heavy bottomed pan, and working in batches, brown the pork on all sides, making sure to not overcrowd the pan. Set the pork aside. In the pan, add the diced onion, a pinch of salt, and sweat for a few minutes. Add the garlic, coriander, chili and bay and sauté for another minute. Add the water, juice from one lime, verjus, the beer, and a bundle of cilantro stems and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the pork to the pan, the pork should be roughly halfway submerged in the pan. Add more water if needed. Cover the pork and put into a 325 degree oven to cook for 3-4 hours, until the pork is deliciously tender. Rotate the pork every hour to allow different parts of the meat to submerge in the liquid. The pork is done cooking, when a paring knife pierces through the meat without any tension. Allow the pork to cool in the juices slightly before shredding. Once shredded, add the juice of one lime and adjust the seasoning. Pork cooked like this will get better with time and sits wonderfully overnight in the refrigerator.
Pickles Escabeche
Brine
1 cup distilled white vinegar
Juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
6 radishes, wedged
2 jalapeños, sliced
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 cucumber, cut 1 cm thick
Combine the vinegar, lime, sugar and salt together in a jar and stir until dissolved. Cover the vegetables in the room temperature brine and put into the refrigerator until ready to use. These pickles are best if they can sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and will last for up to a week.
Homemade Tortillas
Makes about 18 small tortillas
2 cups masa harina
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups hot water
In a medium side bowl, combine the masa harina and salt. Add the water and mix to combine. The mixture should be the consistency of playdough. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time if more is needed. Kneed the masa for a few minutes to fully incorporate the water. Cover the bowl with plastic and leave to rest for about 1 hour.
Roll the dough into golf ball size balls. Using a tortilla press or a rolling pin, shape the tortillas. Cook in a hot, dry, heavy bottomed pan. I like to use a well seasoned cast iron, but a nonstick pan will work well here too.
To build the tacos, spoon some pork onto the fresh tortillas. Add some pickled onions and jalapeño, a squeeze of lime and a few sprigs of cilantro.