Cinco De Mayo: CHILE-BRAISED PORK TACOS

My husband and I LOVE mexican food and therefore ADORE Cinco De Mayo! This year we decided to do something more authentic and do some (as our friend Katie calls them) "new school" tacos. We found a great blog that adapted one of Rick Bayless's (heart) recipes so we decided to give it a go. I'll give you some of my hints of what to do (and not do) below and then the delicious recipe follows.

First off, I will warn you that the dried peppers you use in the recipe are HOT. My husband and I kept coughing when we were seeding them - but we made the mistake of putting them in the water BEFORE we seeded them. Whoops. Don't do this. It puts unnecessary pepper fumes in the air. Second, we used the chili water to cook the meat instead of just normal water. Delicious decision. Next, we used 5 guajillo chilies instead of just 4 - 5 came in the package and it seemed silly to keep an extra pepper just hanging around. We were afraid the tacos would be super spicy since we kept coughing when we were de-seeding the peppers (again, do this BEFORE you re-hydrate them), but they were the perfect spice level. We also played around with adding sour cream, onions, cilantro and lime juice (at varying levels). The end decision was they ALL added to the complexity and deliciousness of the dish.

All in all this is our favorite Mexican dish we've ever had - and that's saying a lot. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe (adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen and thefoodpeoplewant.com)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 5 (5 came in our package so we used 5) medium dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1 dried chipotle chile, stemmed and seeded
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 small white onion, roughly chopped (plus a few thinly sliced rings for garnish)
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (plus more to taste)
• 3 pounds, boneless pork shoulder (we used Pork Loin - we thought it would be dry but it was DELICIOUS)
• Warm corn tortillas
• Sour cream, hot sauce, thinly sliced radishes and cilantro, onion, and lime for garnish

METHOD:

1. Place the chiles in a small bowl, cover with very warm water and let stand for 30 minutes.  Drain, reserving 2/3 cup of the soaking liquid, then transfer the rehydrated chiles and the reserved liquid to a blender.
2. Pulverize the bay leaves in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and add them to the blender along with the vinegar, onion, garlic, oregano, allspice and cloves.  Process to a smooth puree, adding water if needed to keep the mixture moving through the blades.  Press through a medium mesh strainer into a bowl.
3. Set a large, 6-quart pot with a lid over medium-high heat and add the oil.  When very hot and almost smoking, pour in the puree and stir constantly until it sears, concentrates and darkens into a spicy-smelling paste, about 5 minutes.  Remove the pot from heat and season the sauce with salt.
4. Preheat the oven to 325°.  Cut the pork shoulder into slabs about 3-inches thick.  Lay the meat into the pot with the chile paste, then flip it over to cover evenly, spooning on more sauce over the top to coat the pork well.  Pour 1/2 cup water around the meat, cover tightly and place in the oven.  Roast for 2 1/2 hours, basting the meat every 30 minutes with the liquid and rendered fat that accumulates.  If all of the moisture evaporates, feel free to add more water to the plan to allow you to continue basting. Let the pork rest for 20-30 minutes before serving.
5. Shred or pull the meat apart into-bite size pieces using two forks (Ours fell apart with just tongs!).  Toss the meat to incorporate any of the leftover chile braising liquid, check for seasoning and add more salt to taste.
6. Place the chile pork in a warm bowl and serve alongside the warm corn tortillas.  Have your guests assemble their own tacos, adding their own garnishes to taste.

Makes about 20 tacos