Taco Tuesday: Slow Cooker Spicy Pineapple Pork Tacos + Smoky Smashed Black Beans
These tacos were exceptionally delicious. Make 'em tonight for Taco Tuesday, add 'em to your food line-up for Super Bowl Sunday, or maybe just your typical I-Need-Tacos-Now Thursday...it doesn't matter when you make these tacos, just make them.
With El Cinco de Mayo Market and Finer Meat Co. right around the corner, I'm pretty well-equipped to dish out tacos on a moment's notice. I got the pork for this for less than $3/pound at Finer Meat. I'll let you pull your jaw off the floor... I've analyzed the cheapness of this meat to death. So much that I can't even come up with a coherent sentence or two to sum up my thoughts. All I know is that this $3 pork produced an inordinate amount of grunting and groaning come meal time. Maybe that's the point. There are no words for how delicious $3 meat can be when made into juicy, tangy tacos.
Don't let the lengthy ingredient list scare you off. There's nothing too exotic, and it's either going to be thrown in the slow cooker, thrown on the tacos, or thrown in the bean pot with little fuss. The greater concern is that a food fight will be started with all the throwing.
Slow Cooker Spicy Pineapple Pork Tacos + Smoky Smashed Black Beans
Serves: 2
Preparation Time: Pork takes 3.5-7 hours for slow cooker time & prep; beans take about 20 minutes.
For the pork:
1 lb. slab pork butt
1 c. pineapple juice
2 dried chile peppers (you could use ancho, chipotle, morita, whatever you like you best)
1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
a few shakes of hot sauce (I used Valentina)
pinch of kosher salt
For the tacos:
tortillas (I used local blue corn tortillas from EL Burrito Mercardo)
avocado, diced
Greek yogurt or sour cream
reduced spicy pineapple juice from pork
For the black beans:
1 15-oz. can reduced sodium black beans
1/2 c. broth (I used chicken, but you could use whatever suits you)
splash or two pineapple juice (optional, if you have on hand from tacos)
1 tbsp. BBQ sauce (I used a smoky chipotle)
1 tsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. ground oregano
few drops liquid smoke
salt, to taste
1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Method:
1. In a measuring glass, pour pineapple juice over dried chile peppers. Let sit for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle pork butt with salt and set aside at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Heat cast iron skillet to high heat and once it is smoking hot, place pork in the skillet. Brown on all sides and then remove from heat. Let rest for a few minutes.
2. In a small food processor, add the roughly chopped onions, garlic, chile peppers with pineapple juice, hot sauce and a pinch of kosher salt. Process into a salsa-like paste. Place browned meat in the slow cooker and pour paste onto the meat. Feel free to add a little more pineapple juice if the paste is too thick, but the juices from the meat will create more liquid as it cooks. Cook on high for about 3hours, or low 6-7 hours. I opted to chop the meat into chunks, rather than shredding it, so it doesn't need to be fall-off-the-bone,
3. Remove pork from slow cooker and chop into bite size pieces. Set aside and keep warm. Pour contents of slow cooker into a small sauce pan. You can strain out the onions if you'd like. Simmer gently until it has reduced by half and is somewhat syrupy, about 30 minutes.
4. While the sauce is simmering, make your black beans. I'd like to make this sound pretty, but all you need to do is put all the bean ingredients in a large sauce pan or bean pot (minus the cheese). Simmer, adding more liquid if needed and smashing with the back of a wooden spoon every once in awhile. Adjust seasonings as you see fit and once they're good and smashed, add in shredded cheese. Stir to incorporate.
5. Pour reduced saue over chopped pork. Serve in tortillas with diced avocado and Greek yogurt or sour cream, and smashed black beans on the side. Holy mother of pearl.
