Pulled Pork Tacos with an Apple Slaw

Here is the third course of my menu project for school. I love cooking big pieces of meat and thus it was only natural for me to incorporate one into the menu. For some reason I always feel so accomplished whenever I successfully tackle a gargantuan food item. I like to think it means that I would be more able to survive if trapped in the wilderness and had to hunt down some wild animal for food. This recipe is only a slight variation of a previous post. I top it with a nice apple slaw to add some crunch and help cut through the fattiness of the pork. And even if you don’t like cole slaw, I urge you to give this combination a try. A couple of my taste-testers mentioned that they didn’t normally like the stuff on its own, but it worked really well with the pork.

Spice Rub:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/8 cup each of chili powder, cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder, and Hungarian paprika

Pork:

• 8 lb bone in pork shoulder
• 2 1/2 cups orange juice
• 2 tbsp honey
• corn tortillas

Apple Slaw:

• 1/2 savoy cabbage
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 3 granny smith apples
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp celery seeds
• 2 tbsp sugar

Procedure:

1. Trim the pork shoulder of any excess fat (if not already). Combine the ingredients for the spice rub. Place the shoulder in a roasting pan and coat all sides with the spice mixture. (Reserve any excess spice rub for later.)
2. Set the pork fat side up and add the orange juice to the roasting pan. Seal tightly with foil and place in a 300 degree oven for five and a half hours. Remove the foil, raise the temperature to 450 degrees and continue to cook for 30 minutes.
3. Shred the cabbage and carrot. Julienne the apples. Combine the vegetables and apples with the mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, pepper, celery seeds and sugar to make the slaw. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.
4. Remove the pork from the pan and let rest for 30 minutes before shredding. Pour the liquid from the roasting pan into a saucepan and reduce by two-thirds. Skim and degrease. Stir in the honey. Give it a taste and the flavor can be adjusted by adding more orange juice, spice rub, and/or honey.
5. Toss the pork with the sauce. Serve on warmed corn tortillas topped with the slaw.

Yield: 8 servings