Recipe courtesy of Pinky's Westside Grill
Pork Tacos with Korean Barbecue Sauce
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 10 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 10 servings
- Calories
- 896
- Total Fat
- 62
- Saturated Fat
- 16
- Carbohydrates
- 36
- Dietary Fiber
- 3
- Sugar
- 25
- Protein
- 49
- Cholesterol
- 169
- Sodium
- 1752
- Total: 9 hr 45 min
- Active: 55 min
Ingredients
Pork Butt:
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons coarse salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
One 7- to 8-pound bone-in pork butt
16 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
Korean Barbecue Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon chile garlic sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Asian toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cilantro Honey Slaw:
1 small carrot, shredded
1 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 medium red onion, julienned
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Asian toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
Tacos:
Corn or flour tortillas, for serving
Directions
- For the pork butt: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, mix the chili powder, coriander, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Pat the pork butt dry with paper towels, then set on a large cutting board. With a paring knife, starting on the fat side up, poke about a 1-inch hole 2 inches deep and insert a garlic clove. Do this in random places all over the butt. On the fat side, cut a crisscross pattern just through the fat so the flavor will go deeper in the meat when we spice it. Since most people don’t keep stainless steel hotel pans around the house, the best thing to cook the pork in is an aluminum roasting pan with a cake cooling rack in the bottom (to keep from sticking). Put the pork in the pan and sprinkle both sides with the spice mixture. Leave the fat side up for cooking and put the bay leaves in the bottom of the pan. Pour about 1/2 inch water in the bottom of the pan for moisture at first; there will be plenty of fat rendered as it starts cooking!
- Cover the pan first with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil so no steam escapes. Put the pan in the oven. Cook for 2 hours, then turn the oven down to 275 degrees F and continue to roast until the internal temperature reaches 185 to 190 degrees F, 6 to 7 hours more.
- Pull out of the oven carefully (by now there is a lot of pork fat) and set on the stovetop to rest for a few minutes. Remove the covering from the top of the pan and pull out the bay leaves. Shred the meat, using a pair of tongs. Insert into the fat side and twist and pull; you will see garlic cloves, caramelized meat and lots of liquid fat! Remove some of the fat from the top if you want, but I prefer to just fold it in with the meat, because that’s where the flavor is. The best tip I can give you is, if you can twist the bone and pull it out, it’s ready to eat!
- For the Korean BBQ sauce: Using a small saucepan, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chile garlic sauce, vinegar, pepper, ginger and sesame oil. Stir with a small whisk and turn the burner to medium; bring to a boil. Meanwhile, combine the cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Once the sauce is boiling, add the cornstarch mixture and whisk until thickened. Turn off the burner.
- For the cilantro honey slaw: Combine the carrot, cilantro, onion, granulated garlic and seasoning salt in a 6-quart mixing bowl and toss together with a pair of tongs. In a 2-quart mixing bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, honey, sesame oil and vinegar. Pour the wet ingredients over the Vegetables and mix together using tongs.
- For the tacos: Time to make the tacos!
- Place 2 or 3 tortillas on a medium-temperature flat top grill or cast-iron skillet and heat both sides until you see brown bubbly spots and the tortillas are warm. Add 3 ounces pork per taco shell, then add 1 ounce Korean BBQ sauce and 2 ounces cilantro honey slaw and enjoy a very flavorful and very popular meal at Pinky’s Westside Grill!