A few years ago I became obsessed with taco trucks, or food trucks in general. I went on a road trip to Ohio for some exploring with Alex, and we stopped in Columbus just so we could stop at a taco truck. I was advised, probably by Carolyn, to make sure I knew what I was ordering so I investigated various menu items before we went. I decided I wanted to get al pastor – a gyro type meat concoction – even though gyro terrified/terrifies me. Well it was DELICIOUS, so now whenever I find al pastor on a menu I get it.
I was looking on pinterest for some new crock pot recipes in preparation for 10 more weeks of working 4-midnight and needing dinner to be ready when I get home when I found a recipe for al pastor. What? Because it’s a meat conglomeration that’s usually cooked on a spit and then carved off with a big knife, I wasn’t too sure how that was going to be done in a crock pot but I clicked anyway. http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-tacos-al-pastor/
So, it’s imitation al pastor but I thought I’d try it. I’ve never cooked any pork before. Pork terrifies me, because you can get so sick, and get weirdo parasites from undercooked pork. Typically I stick to chicken. But this really seemed pretty easy.
Carolyn had to help me and explain what kind of pork I needed to get, and wow, it’s a good thing it’s pulled pork in the end because I massacred that sucker. It was on the bone, since the boneless pork shoulder was 3 times as much money. I am still uber grossed out by touching meat but I did better than I thought I would. I probably wasted a ton though because my knives are not sharp, and I eventually gave up because I just didn’t know how to get any more off the bone. Oh well.
The rest was easy – chop up the pineapple and onion, throw everything in the food processor.
So it slow cooked for 4 hours, I shredded it, and there was a whooooole ton of the “sauce” left in the crock pot. I made myself a taco with the meat and some salsa, and it’s ok, but it wasn’t spectacular and it didn’t taste like real al pastor. I didn’t know what else to do with all the pork, because I wasn’t gonna make more tacos from it, so I decided to turn it into a soup. I used a few ladles of the left over pineapple sauce, a bunch of broth, sauteed another small onion with some jalapenos, and added a can of black beans and a bunch of frozen corn. Turns out way better than just the pork plain. Made some guac to go with it on the side (cuz I have a weird thing where I have to eat more than one thing in a meal, and prefer 3 things, and one of those things should be crunchy – so usually it’s chips and hummus/dip/salsa.) Food for a week now!