Pork Roast Tacos with Pineapple Salsa


Mmm, tacos. The perfect food. Do I say that every time I write about tacos? Skarsgard Farms has been getting pineapples from Mexico, and  Majestic Valley Farm has grown such beautiful cabbage this year. This makes great use of both!  I've always wanted to try recreating the barbacoa with pineapple we used to get at taco places in L.A. - this isn't it, but it's pretty delicious.

Pork butt is one of my favorite cuts of meat, because it's cheap and flavorful. I wanted to smoke it, but that's a huge project that takes about 6 hours, and we were low on charcoal. So here's a cheaters' version - we just put what little charcoal we had left into the grill with one small hickory chunk on top, smoked the butt until the charcoal was gone, then finished it off in the crockpot. While waiting for the coals to go ashy, we grilled some pineapple slices, and while we were at it, we smoked a few poblano chiles too.

2 lbs. pork butt
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 cup water
1 pineapple, sliced 1/4" thick
1 poblano chile
2 T. cilantro
1 green onion
Juice of 1 lime
1 dozen corn tortillas
1/4 small head of cabbage, sliced

For the pork:  Rub pork butt with sugar and salt and let it stand for a while to come to about room temperature. Light one chimney-load of coals (we use a chimney that you light with newspaper). When they are hot, pile them on one side of the grill. Clean the grate and rub with oil. Grill pineapple slices right over the coals just until they get grill marks on each side. When coals are covered with gray ash, set a hickory chunk on top. Set the pork butt and the poblano on the grill, away from the coals. Cover the grill and cook until the coals are pretty much gone. Place butt in a crockpot or regular pot with just 1 cup of water, and cook until tender and falling apart.

For the salsa:  Chop several pineapple slices, the poblano, and the green onion into small bits. Add lime juice, cilantro, and salt to taste.

Tacos: Chop some of the pork into bite size bits, mixing with the liquid in the pot. Heat tortillas directly over a stove burner; pile with pork and top with salsa and cabbage.

Comments

Martha said…
The tacos sound delish! Could you give me any advice on best places to find a NM style hash in Santa Fe, where I will be visiting soon? Also seeking advice on the best vendors at the Santa Fe Farmers Market for a visit on June 28. I expect to be writing blogs on both topics. Could you email me at wordbizpdx@gmail.com?

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