Pulled Pork Tacos -- The Pork That Carries a New Year and a Mother Coming Home

2018. A new year. And the first thing I did on January 1st was call Mami and tell her the apartment is almost ready. Eduardo painted it last weekend — cream walls, because Mami likes cream walls, which I know because I have known my mother for fifty-two years and I know what color she wants on her walls even though she has never told me, because daughters know things about their mothers that have never been spoken aloud. The apartment is small — one bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room. First floor because Mami cannot do stairs anymore. Three blocks from my house. I can walk there in four minutes. I timed it.

January in Hartford is its usual miserable self. Single-digit temperatures, gray sky, the kind of cold that makes your bones ache and your soul question its life choices. But this January is different because this January has a deadline — February, when Mami arrives, when the apartment is ready, when the most important woman in my life will be three blocks away instead of fifteen hundred miles.

I spent the week stocking the apartment kitchen. Not with fancy equipment — Mami does not need fancy. I bought a good pot, a frying pan, a set of spoons, a cutting board, a blender for sofrito. The basics. The tools of a woman who has been cooking for sixty years and who needs nothing complicated, just the right instruments for the music she makes with food. I also stocked the refrigerator — habichuelas I cooked and portioned into containers, sofrito in ice cube trays, rice pre-measured in bags. When Mami arrives, the kitchen will be ready. The food will be waiting. The love will be pre-cooked and frozen in containers labeled with my handwriting, the way Mami labeled containers for me when I left for college.

Eduardo watched me stock the apartment and said, Carmen, she is going to come to our house for dinner every night. Why are you filling her refrigerator? I said, Eduardo, she needs to have food in her OWN kitchen for when she does not want to come to dinner. He said, When has your mother ever not wanted to eat? I said, Good point. But the refrigerator stays stocked. Pride is a thing. Even at eighty, pride is a thing. Mami needs to know she can feed herself, even if she never does, even if she comes to my table every night, even if the containers in her refrigerator outlast their labels. The option is the point. The dignity is the point.

Made pernil for New Year because pernil is how I start every year and how I will start every year until I cannot lift a pork shoulder, at which point I will direct someone else to lift it. The pernil was perfect. 2018 is going to be different. Better. My mother is coming home. Not to the island. To me. To three blocks. To four minutes. To the sound of more garlic, Carmen from a chair in my kitchen. I cannot wait.

Pernil is my anchor — the dish that orients me every January 1st, the one that says this year is yours, go claim it. With Mami’s apartment stocked and February coming fast, I wanted to carry that same energy into something I could make again and again through the weeks ahead, something to bring to her table or let her watch me assemble in my kitchen while she tells me I’m using too much garlic. These pulled pork tacos are my weeknight answer to the spirit of pernil — slow-cooked, deeply seasoned, and built for feeding people you love.

Pulled Pork Tacos

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours 50 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 to 3 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 cup orange juice (fresh preferred)
• 1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 16 small corn or flour tortillas, warmed
• For serving: diced white onion, fresh cilantro, sliced radishes, lime wedges, salsa or hot sauce

Instructions

1. Season the pork. Pat the pork shoulder completely dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and onion powder. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork, pressing it into every surface.
2. Sear. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the pork shoulder and sear undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes per side until a deep brown crust forms on all sides. Do not rush this step — the crust is flavor.
3. Build the braise. Remove the pork and set aside. Reduce heat to medium. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the pot and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes until softened and fragrant. Pour in the orange juice, lime juice, and chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
4. Braise low and slow. Return the pork shoulder to the pot, nestling it into the liquid. The liquid should come about halfway up the side of the pork. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Cook for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, turning the pork once halfway through, until the meat is completely tender and pulls apart easily with two forks.
5. Pull and finish. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and use two forks to shred it into rough, generous pieces. Return the shredded pork to the pot and stir it into the cooking juices. Let it rest in the liquid for 10 minutes over low heat so every piece drinks up the flavor. Taste and adjust salt if needed.
6. Warm the tortillas. Heat tortillas directly over a gas flame for 20 to 30 seconds per side, or in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until lightly charred in spots and pliable. Wrap in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm while you finish.
7. Assemble and serve. Pile pulled pork onto each warmed tortilla. Top with diced white onion, fresh cilantro, and sliced radishes. Squeeze a wedge of lime over the top. Serve immediately with extra salsa or hot sauce on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 420mg