February 7, 2010

... Pulled Pork Tacos

What do you do when you have a group of great friends, each of whom are awesome cooks?  Supper Club, that's what!  The hosting couple chooses the cuisine and makes the main dish.  The others contribute appetizers, side dishes, desserts and drinks.  The result: a feast to feed the masses and great company to enjoy it with.


Begin with pork that's been on the smoker all.day.long, Green Onion Slaw, and Pickled Red Onions.



Throw in a couple of beggars.



Add to that South of the Border Wontons, black beans and spanish rice, homemade guacamole, ranchy corn salsa and warm tortillas and you have the makings for a pretty tasty plate.  



And even though you won't have room for it, you can't pass up the not-fried fried ice cream and mexican brownies for dessert! 

Green Onion Slaw

1 cup green onions, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 serrano chiles
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt and pepper
1/2 cup pure olive oil
1 head purple cabbage, finely shredded
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Blend green onions, vinegar, chiles, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and oil in a blender until emulsified.  Place cabbage and red onions in a bowl, add the dressing and stir until combined.  Fold in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Taylor's Notes:
I got the green onion slaw recipe from Smitten Kitchen who got it from Bobby Flay (sigh).  She mentioned that the dressing looked a little gritty the next day and I'd have to agree.  For Supper Club, I cut up the veggies and then added the dressing a couple of hours before we ate so that it had enough time to soak into the cabbage and onions, but not too soon so that it was soggy.  We had leftovers tonight and the slaw definitely tastes just as great as it did last night, but it's not as pretty.


Also, this recipe makes a ton of slaw.  I'd recommend halving it if you're just planning to use it as a topper to tacos, but it would be a great side item as well.

Pickled Red Onions
serves 6-8

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2-3 hefty shots of Tabasco
1 red onion, sliced into very thin rings

In a small bowl, combine the red wine vinegar with the 1/2 cup cold water.  Stir in the salt, sugar and Tabasco.  Add the sliced onions and let sit for at least an hour or overnight.

Taylor's Notes:
I hit up Smitten Kitchen for this recipe, too.  If you haven't visited her site, you definitely should.  She has terrific recipes and fantastic pictures.  And somehow she manages to do it all in a teeny kitchen with a beautiful baby boy watching and learning.


I took her note to leave the onions overnight and, although I didn't try them the night that I made them, I can only imagine that they were best left overnight.  
They were a great addition to the tacos and would be delish in a salad.


Pulled Pork

11 pound pork shoulder (holy jeez that's a lot of pork, but Rich wanted leftovers... and he definitely has them now!)
Gates dry rub
French's yellow mustard

Rub the pork down with the mustard and dry rub.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight.  Smoke the pork at 225 - 250 degrees for 7 hours or until pork reaches 160 degrees.  Remove from the smoker, wrap it in foil and put it back on the grill at 350 degrees for 2 more hours or until the pork gets to 190 degrees.

Take the pork off the grill and let it cool for a while until you can handle it without burning your fingers.  Shred it into bite-size pieces with your fingers or with a couple of forks.

Taylor's Notes:
De-li-cious.  Rich did it all and I have nothing to add.  Except that you'd certainly want to adjust the cooking time based on the size of your pork shoulder.


Enjoy!

3 comments:

Kerstin said...

The pork was delicious!! Love the dog shots.

Lexanne said...

such a yummy meal! thanks for hosting r&t!

Retaining Wall Contractor Midland said...

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