Being unemployed certainly has its benefits. I can wear workout clothes every day, I can sit around all afternoon waiting for the Comcast guy to install my internet (and charge me $20 more for installing one service instead of two – logic!), and, best of all, I can knock things off of my always growing “to cook” list. My mile-long list is filled with an assortment of dishes that catch my eye and make my mouth water. In reality I’ll probably never make half of them, but there are certain things that I absolutely have to try. One of those things is tortillas.
I love Mexican food and eat it at least a couple of times a week. It’s often in the form of beans or scrambled eggs with guacamole on a tortilla or tostada shell, but it can also be something slightly more elaborate like these pork tinga tacos. I’ve made a lot of taco variations in the last few years, from ground beef flavored by a packet of seasoning to fish tacos with crunchy cabbage slaw, but last week marked the first time that I actually made my own tortillas to pile the fillings into. Homemade tortillas are life changing, and while I’m not prepared to completely swear off the store-bought variety, there will certainly be many more homemade tortillas in my future. And hopefully it’s a long future, because I want to eat a lot more of these tortillas.
As for the filling, I wanted to make something that would be ready to eat whenever the tortillas were done because I knew that the tortillas would have to be made at the last minute for the best results. Ninety-five percent of the time I’ll choose pork over other meats, so when I found this Rick Bayless recipe for pork in a slow cooker my decision was made. My most recent Rick Bayless experience prior to this meal was a major disaster, but that’s another post for another day. Or maybe it’s too much information for a food blog. We’ll see. Anyway, this meal restored my faith in the Mexican food master, and I will happily eat it again and again (and not just because it makes a lot of food).
One thing to note: the pork has to be cooked on high for six hours, so make sure you plan for that or you will be eating dinner at nine o’clock like we did. Also, if you’re within 50 feet of the slow cooker during those six hours, especially for the last few, prepare to be very, very hungry and restless as you inhale the amazing aroma emanating from your kitchen.
Pork Tinga Tacos
From Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless
4 medium (1 lb.) red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
28-oz. can fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
3-4 chipotle peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce from the chipotles
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium white onion, chopped (optional)
1 1/2 tsp salt
To serve: tortillas, cheese, avocados or guacamole
Spread the potatoes over the bottom of the slow cooker.
Top with the pork.
In a large bowl combine the tomatoes (undrained), chipotles, adobo sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, garlic, onion, and salt.
Stir the tomato mixture, and then pour it over the pork. Cover and cook for six hours on high.
Note: If you do not have a slow-cooker you can make this in a Dutch oven or a similar pot. Put the pork on the bottom, then the potatoes, and then the tomato mixture, and cook at 300-degrees for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until the pork is tender.
With about an hour to go, you can get started on the tortillas. Because it was my first time making them and I had no idea how they would turn out, I didn’t take many pictures of the process. They’ll have their own post soon, though.
**See the bottom of this post for links to tortilla recipes**
Corn tortillas in the making.
A lot of the recipes I found for both corn and flour tortillas called for a tortilla press, but my rolling pin worked fine. Maybe one day I’ll invest in a press, but until then I can live with slightly imperfect tortillas.
A couple of corn tortillas on the griddle. The corn ones were a bit trickier than the flour in terms of figuring out the perfect cooking time, but the thrill of making your own tortillas overshadows any negatives of slightly overcooking a few.
Flour tortillas.
So exciting! I thought I rolled these out pretty thin, but they ended up a little thick and chewy. Thick and chewy in a really good way, though.
A steamy bowl of pork tinga, which easily could have been eaten with a spoon had there not been a stack of fresh tortillas nearby.
The whole spread: pork, fresh tortillas, sliced radishes, guacamole, crumbled queso fresco, salsa verde that went unused, and tortilla chips. And no Mexican meal would be complete without the Jesus candle from Cinco de Mayo.
The money shot, taken the following day with leftovers. The pork is delicious on its own, but if you want a little added spice I recommend chipotle Tabasco sauce, which I much preferred after trying both Cholula and regular Tabasco.
References if you want to make your own tortillas immediately (and you should):
Corn tortillas from Simply Recipes (with step-by-step photos)
Corn tortillas from Rick Bayless
Flour tortillas from Homesick Texan
Flour tortillas from Rick Bayless
I bought a press for 15 dollars at La Reyna. It worked pretty well. I’ve only made corn so far and they were yummy. Gotta try flour next though. Yours looked incredible! Thanks for sharing!
when i read nina’s response i thought she said yours looked enedible! i read too fast. next you’ll have to try naan and lefse. same awesome results. it’s finally time to cook again and heat the kitchen up. ooxx