Tacos. That's right, you heard me. Tacos. More specifically, Taco Tuesday....a whole entire day where it is totally cool to get your taco on. Like so many other types of food, there is a ton of room for interpretation when creating tacos. When I was growing up, tacos were pretty straightforward....ground beef with the taco seasoning packet, shredded cheese and lettuce, salsa and sour cream, maybe a little chopped up white onion, and refried beans, served either in a flour tortilla or with tortilla chips to make nachos. (My momma LOVES her some refried beans...we ALWAYS had some in the pantry and some in a Tupperware container in the fridge.) While there is NOTHING wrong with this type of taco, I mean, I still crave them every once in a while, but it's just ONE way to get your olé on!

For those of you who aren't familiar with my hometown of Wenatchee, it is an agricultural area with a large Hispanic community, and it has SO SO SO many amazing Mexican restaurants and taco trucks to enjoy. La Fuente in Wenatchee (THE CABBAGE SALSA ALONE) is my go to for some grubbin' Mexican American cuisine, but I extra, super duper uper, really really REALLY love the taco truck (Toy Parade parking lot.....amiright?) The warm corn tortillas, with your choice of marinated carne, pollo or carnitas, ever so slightly kissed with char....with a simple but flavorful salsa, white onion and cilantro. Boom. Done. Stick a Fork in Me.

Tonight, at Taco Tuesday at mi casa, it's all about spicy, smoky, and sweet Carnitas. This is a favorite of mine, yet strangely....I don't make them that often. So this afternoon, I went ahead and whipped up a batch of my Carnitas Marinade and tossed that onto some untrimmed pork loin I got from my butcher, Larry. I always let it get happy for at minimum a few hours....ideally, overnight. (I've included my Carnitas recipe and SOP below for you guys.) I heat my Dutch Oven up til it's screaming hot and then sear it all off and let it braise away for 4 hours or so. The boy child, Maso, likes it with shredded cheese in a flour tortilla all grilled up with his rice and cilantro and lime black beans on the side...and the hubs and I like it on warm corn tortillas, with my cilantro lime refried black beans, homemade pickled jalapeños, some sliced avocado, and diced white onion and cilantro.......maybe some yummy Cotija.....and some homemade red rice.....maybe some Tapatio.....*drool!*

Carnitas recipe:

Juice from half a lime (other half of lime reserved for braising)
3 Cloves garlic-smashed
1 tbsp fresh oregano
2 scallions- rough chop
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 tbsp ground Pasilla chile
1tbsp ground chile de arbol
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1.5 tsp ground cumin
4-5 seeded and rehydrated Guajillo chiles
3 seeded and rehydrated Ancho chiles
1 juiced orange (reserve squeezed orange sections for braise)
2 tbsp honey
1.5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-2" cubes
4 cups of chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Ancho and Guajillo Chiles getting ready for a long hot soak!

All of the beautiful greenery we are using in our marinade!

Assemble all of your ingredients and take care of all prep for pork, etc.

Add ground spices to toast in small saucepan over low-medium heat. be careful not to burn them, as they can have a bitter flavor if over toasted. add all of the ingredients (MINUS the pork, bay leaves, chicken stock, and reserved orange rinds/pulp/lime) to a blender. Make sure to put on the lid tightly, and use a kitchen towel over the top of the blender lid (safety first, boys and girls!!), and blend until smooth, adding some of the soaking liquid from the rehydrated peppers to get to a smooth consistency, if necessary. Set aside.

Place cubed pork into a large casserole dish, and pour marinade over top. Use your sparkling clean hands to massage the marinade into the meat. Once all coated in marinade, cover the dish with plastic wrap, and place into refrigerator for at least 3 hours....but overnight is best.

Once marinated for at least 3 hours, preheat oven to 325, put Dutch oven on stovetop, and heat to screaming hot. Add an additional tbsp or so of EVOO, and remove meat from refrigerator. When your pan is ready, add meat carefully to it and sear all around to get a little char, and really concentrate that flavor.

When the meat has been seared off................

add the oranges reserved after squeezing, squeeze in the remaining limes and toss the remainders in the pot with pork. Add the chicken stock and bay leaves....bring it to a simmer, then put the lid on and place into oven at 325 degrees for 4 hours.

4 Hours Later....

Carefully remove Dutch oven from oven, and get a pan nice and hot....remove half of the carnitas from Dutch and place into hot pan to get a nice hard sear on meat....add some braising liquid as needed until nice crust on meat develops.

Top with all of your favorite condiments in nice warm corn tortillas. I serve mine with homemade refried cilantro lime black beans, fresh cilantro and onion, avocado, and some Cotija cheese.

.....give it a try for your next Taco Tuesday, and keep following for more great recipes and tutorials for all things taco.....and beyond!

*Recipe is for a family of 4...with super yummy leftovers for the next day!*