Recipe #61 - Mexican-Style Sweet Shredded Pork

In Utah, there is a fantastic restaurant chain called Cafe Rio.  Its the kind of place that you crave when you move away from the state.  One of their specialties is sweet pork.   You can get it on their salads or in the tacos or burritos.  It is probably their most popular item, and it is fantastic.

Well ladies and gents, this recipe tastes a lot like Cafe Rio sweet pork.  Brace yourself, cuz its good.

You can find the recipe on page 140 in the cookbook, and I don't see it online.  Really though?  If you don't have this cookbook yet, click on the link to the right and just buy it.  Your family will thank you!  Serious.  Buy it now.

You start with a boneless pork shoulder roast.  (I had to buy two small ones to get the right weight.)  You get it all seasoned up and massage the spices in.

Then you sear the pork for about a minute on each side.  (So funny story...I was cooking something else in my big skillet and thought to myself, "Self, you can totally fit a roast in your small skillet to just brown it.  No big deal."  Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but that skillet was FULL.  Oil was popping out everywhere and it browned crazy-fast.  Note-to-self:  Just wait a couple minutes. Clean the pan and then use the right tools.  Geez, woman.

Now you combine everything you need for your sauce: enchilada sauce, brown sugar, salsa, Worcestershire sauce, and apple juice.  Mix it all up in your slow cooker.

Add the pork roast and cook on low for 7 hours.

After 7 hours of cooking, you shred the pork.  Then return it to the crockpot with some more brown sugar and let it simmer on high with the lid off for 30 minutes.

This gives you time to prep the rest of your meal.  We used the meat to make tacos, but I really wanted to do Cafe Rio style salads.  Alas, I did not shop accordingly and taco fixings were already in the fridge.

When the meat is all ready it will look a little something like this.

We added a little guacamole, a little pico de gallo, some shredded lettuce and a sprinkle of cheese to make our tacos.  My entire family gobbled these up.  My picky eater had 3 tacos for dinner!  She has even just asked for a bowl of the shredded meat as a snack before.  Give it a try.  I'd love to hear what you think!