Pulled Pork Tacos

This meal is always a hit when we have people over! It feeds four nicely (as long as you serve it with a side salad). If you are feeding a large group or a lot of men, you can easily double or triple the recipe. I have made it before with a 4lb piece of pork butt and it turned out great! Please use only pork shoulder or pork butt- they shred better than any other cuts. And also note, both these cuts of pork are super inexpensive! The night I made the 4lb pork butt, I spent $12 on the whole chunk of meat and $18 on two containers of pre-made guacamole! Go figure!!

My husband and I prefer the pork with corn tortillas, but, flour taste fine if that's all you can find. Please do try to use tomatillo (verde) salsa- the meat is sweet and this type of salsa cuts the sweet perfectly!

1 Tbl chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 to 2 1/2 lbs boneless pork butt or shoulder, trim off all the thick fat
1/4 to 1/2 c apricot jam or preserves (the more you use, the sweeter the pork will be)
2 to 4 Tbl brown sugar (again, the more you use, the sweeter the meat)
2 Tbl squeezed orange juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 fresh jalapenos, sliced into rings and seeded (if you want it spicer, keep the seeds)
2 red onions, sliced into rings
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, stems removed
8 small corn or flour tortillas, warmed right before serving (we like to double up on the corn tortillas so that they don't break when you are eating the tacos- if you double up, you will need more than 8!)
Guacamole
Tomatillo Salsa

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place a large sheet of aluminum foil in a large baking dish. Mix the chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper in a bowl. Place the pork in center of foil and rub meat with spice mixture.

Whisk together jam, sugar, orange juice and garlic in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until brown sugar is melted and sauce is slightly thickened. Spoon jam mixture over pork, turning to coat. Add jalapenos, onions & cilantro to the top of the pork. Wrap everything with another sheet of foil.

Cook for about 4 hours until fork tender. If you are not ready to serve the pork, you can decrease the oven to 250F and cook for another two hours. You can't really over cook it (especially at this low temperature)- it just gets more and more tender.

Remove pork from the oven and carefully unwrap. Remove the jalapenos, onions and cilantro and place them in a serving dish. Drain excess juice off of pork (but keep some so that the pork is moist, but not dripping). Use two forks to shred the pork, discarding any fatty pieces.

Let your guests serve themselves. Don't forget the tortillas, guacamole and tomatillo salsa! Make sure you have plenty of chips and extra salsa for dipping, too! Bueno!