Ingredients
- 3-6 lbs. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2- and 3-inch chunks
- 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (or two cups of bottled, preferably one with heavy pulp)
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2+ bottles Fat Cat Mexican-Style Habanero Hot Sauce
- 1/4 cup achiote seeds (available in most Latin grocery stores or in Latin aisle of store)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- corn or flour tortillas
- 1 cup Mexican-style pickled red onions (recipe below)
- 1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1 cup chopped white onion
Instructions
- Place achiote seeds and oil in a cold pot and heat them together over medium heat until mixture starts to sizzle and the oil turns dark orange-red in color, about 5-10 minutes. When it reaches that color, turn off heat and set aside to cool. Take care not to burn achiote seeds, as they become bitter.
- Add orange juice, lime juice, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, 2 bottles of Fat Cat Mexican-Style Habanero Hot Sauce and achiote-oil mixture (with seeds) to blender and blend until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
- Place pork and blended mixture in a slow cooker, stir to coat pork well, and then put on top and cook on low 8 hours, or until pork is fall-apart tender.
- When done, remove pork from slow cooker, leaving liquid behind (do not discard liquid), and shred meat well with two forks.
- Once shredded, return pork to slow cooker and mix well with liquid. You want a thick, near-soupy, succulent consistency here, so you may want to transfer to a pot and reduce over a low flame until you reach the desired consistency..
- To serve, heat tortillas until pliable and top each with 1/3 cup of pork mixture, 2 tablespoons of Mexican-Style Pickled Red Onions, some chopped cilantro and onion and a splash more Fat Cat Mexican-Style Habanero Hot Sauce.
Notes
Note: When shredding pork, or working with achiote in general, do so in/on a non-reactive surface or a stainless steel mixing bowl, as the achiote oil in the sauce will stain whatever it touches.
RECIPES FOR PICKLED RED ONIONS:
Ingredients:
1 large red onion, halved and sliced thinly
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Instructions:
Place onion in pot, cover with water and boil for 5 minutes, or until it just starts to soften. Remove from heat.
Mix salt, sugar, vinegar, lime juice and 1/2 cup hot water from the pot in which the onions were boiled, in a separate bowl until sugar and salt have fully dissolved. Add another 1/4 cup hot water from pot to help dissolve salt and sugar, if needed.
Strain onions from water and place in bowl with salt-sugar-vinegar-lime-juice mixture. Stir well to combine.
Let mixture sit for at least 1 hour on counter at room temperature, or until the red color of the onions has begun to seep into the white part of the onion.
Drain onions and use.