Last Thursday evening Jim and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having a fabulous feast consisting of Pulled Pork Soft Tacos with all the trimmings: Black Bean Salsa, Tomato-Green Chili Salsa, Corn Relish, Sliced Avocado, Fresh Jalapenos, Creme Fraiche, Cheddar and Jack Cheeses and Flour Tortillas. While we were enjoying this great feast we thought how wonderful these soft tacos would be for a crowd pleasing casual dinner.
First off, you have to make a pretty good size pork butt to make it all worth while. The bigger the piece of pork butt, the longer the cooking time and the more tender the meat. I used a 7 pound Pork Butt with the blade bone, cooked it for six hours, slow and low, and the result was a tender, moist, flavorful roast.
In June, we are having family in from out of town for a week and I know I will be doing a lot of cooking. I want to cook for everyone, but I don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen while everyone is at the beach. This menu will be perfect for achieving a low stress, limited time in the kitchen kind of a day.
What’s so great about this menu is that I can make all of the accompaniments the day before and cook the roast on the day of the party. It is especially helpful if you have an oven with a delayed start time and a timed cook control. You can put it in the oven, set it and forget it. My kind of cooking for sure. All you have to do on the day of the event is cook and pull the pork and set out the accompaniments at the time of serving. (You can even cook the rice the day before and reheat it in the oven before serving.)
I am going to give you the recipe for the Pulled Pork. If you would like any of the others let me know and I will be sure to get them to you right away. Serve Golden Margaritas with this menu and you will be on your way to Super Cook Stardom!!!
No Stress Party Menu
Golden Margaritas
Pulled Pork Soft Tacos
Tomato-Green Chili Salsa, Corn Relish, Sliced Avocado, Fresh Jalapenos, Creme Fraiche, Cheddar and Jack Cheeses, Flour Tortillas
Yellow Rice Pilaf
Corn Tortilla Chips
Pulled Pork – Serves 8 Generously
1 7-8 Lb. Pork Butt with Blade Bone
½ Cup XVOO
½ Cup Southwest Spice Rub
2 Tablespoons Coarse Sea Salt
2 Cups Homemade Chicken Stock or Canned Low Sodium Chicken Broth
Preheat oven to 325º.
Mix the XVOO and the spice rub together to make a paste. Rub this mixture all over the pork butt. Sprinkle the meat with the salt. Place meat, fat side up in a large roasting pan and pour in one cup of water and two cups of chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. Cover the meat with a sheet of parchment paper and cover with heavy duty foil sealing the edges of the pan with the foil so no heat escapes.
Place the pan on the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and roast for six hours without opening the oven. After six hours, remove the foil and parchment paper, turn the heat up to 375 Degrees F and roast for 30 minutes. This final roasting will crisp up the top of the pork butt.
Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes. Using two forks shred the meat. Pour some of the Au Jus from the pan over the meat.
Hints and Tips: If you are not going to use the whole piece of meat immediately leave the rest of it in large chunks, cool completely, cover and refrigerate. This will keep the meat moist until you use it. These chunks of meat will last for several days in the refrigerator. Or you can freeze for use later. Freeze no longer than one month.
If you don’t want to spice it up with the spice rub, use salt and pepper only. This is a good idea if you are not going to use the whole piece of meat for soft tacos. Leaving off the rub will make the meat more versatile and can be used in other recipes. For example I use the left over pork in my marinara sauce. I certainly would not want southwest flavors in that.
Southwest Spice Rub
4 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
4 Tablespoons Ground Cumin
2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
2 Tablespoon Chili Powder
2 Tablespoon Ancho Chili Powder
2 Tablespoon Chipotle Chili Powder
4 Teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
2 Teaspoons Fine Sea Salt Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in a jar with a tight lid. 
Tomato-Green Chili Salsa
Corn Relish
You can always contact me with questions and comments right on the blog or, if you prefer, you can e-mail me at camille@camillecooksforyou.com I am always happy to assist. (I love it when people comment on my postings directly on the blog. It gives me a good idea as to whom my readers are.)