SLOW-COOKER PORK TACOS
Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos
Puree a variety of bold Mexican chiles with garlic, honey, vinegar and spices to make a bright, aromatic sauce that gets slow-cooked with pork shoulder.
Delicious carnitas tacos. Prep and number of ingredients is a bit daunting, but the final product is well worth it. Original recipe comes from Food Network.
ingredients
3 whole Dried ancho chiles
3 whole Dried pasilla chiles (or guajillo, similar)
4 Garlic cloves, peeled
2 or 3 (more for heat) Chipotles in adobo sauce
1/2 medium White onion, roughly chopped
3 tbl Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbl Honey
1 tbl Cider vinegar
to taste Salt
2 tsp Dried oregano, preferably Mexican
3 3/4 cups Low sodium chicken broth
4 lbs. Boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
to taste Pepper, freshly ground
2 Bay leaves
1 Cinnamon stick
as needed Corn tortillas, warmed
as needed Assorted toppings
DIRECTIONS
Put the ancho and papilla chiles (or we used guajillo chiles we found at Price Chopper) and the garlic in a bowl; add 2 to 3 tablespoons water. Microwave on high until soft and pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Stem and seed the chiles; peel the garlic. Transfer the chiles and garlic to a blender.
Add the chipotles, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, honey, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt and the oregano to the blender; puree until smooth. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the chile sauce and fry, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the broth and reduce until slightly thickened.
Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and transfer to a large slow cooker. Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then pour in the sauce. Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender, about 5 hours.
Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with 2 forks; season with salt and pepper. The carnitas can be kinda soupy so cooking for another few hours with the top off will help.
Serve the shredded pork in the tortillas, along with toppings.
