Slow-Cooker Al Pastor Bowls

Labor Day weekend. The end of summer, again. I'm learning that the annual cycles — the holidays, the seasons, the school years — are the backbone of this life, the recurring rhythm that holds everything together. Each Labor Day is different from the last, and each is the same. The barbecue. The people. The beginning of fall, which is always the beginning of something else.

This year's barbecue: my house, my grill, my food. Brett and Claire. Carol. Jen and her kids. A couple from the book club — Denise and her husband, Greg, who is quiet and amused by everything Denise says, which is the foundation of a good marriage if I've ever seen one. The backyard was full and the grill was hot and I made enough food for twenty because I am Diane Dawson's daughter and that is what we do.

Mason and Aiden (Jen's son) have become friends. They're close in age — seven and eight — and they share a love of science and a tolerance for their little sisters' chaos. They spent the barbecue collecting bugs in the backyard and cataloging them in a notebook Mason provided. The notebook has columns: "Bug Name," "Where Found," "Alive or Dead," "Interesting Features." He is building a database. At seven. I don't know whether to be proud or concerned.

Lily and Sophie (Jen's daughter) ran around the yard like two small, shrieking tornadoes, emerging periodically to demand popsicles and report on imaginary horses. They are five and five and their friendship is immediate, intense, and conducted entirely at full volume.

The summer garden is yielding its last. The tomatoes are slowing. The basil has bolted. The zucchini, mercifully, has stopped. I pulled the last of the peppers and roasted them with olive oil and salt, and they were sweet and smoky and perfect, the taste of a summer well-spent in the dirt.

I made pulled pork for the barbecue — the slow cooker method, eight hours, Sweet Baby Ray's (still), shredded with forks, served on homemade buns. The same recipe I made during fire season two years ago, but different — different because I'm different, because the kitchen is different, because the people around the table are different. The recipe is the same. The life has changed. And the pulled pork holds it all together, the way food always does, the way it always will.

I’ve made slow-cooker pulled pork enough times now that it has its own gravity — drop it in before the guests arrive, walk away, and eight hours later the whole house smells like something worth gathering for. This al pastor version is the one I keep coming back to: the pineapple does something sweet and sharp to the pork, the guajillo and chipotle bring the smoke, and it all shreds into exactly the kind of tender, saucy pile that feeds a backyard full of people without breaking a sweat. Denise took seconds. Greg took thirds and said nothing, which from him counts as a rave review.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 8 hrs | Total Time: 8 hrs 20 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 lbs boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 3-inch chunks
1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks in juice, drained (juice reserved)
3 dried guajillo chilies, stems and seeds removed
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
4 cloves garlic
1 small white onion, quartered (plus extra diced for serving)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon achiote paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups cooked white or brown rice, for serving
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed, warmed
Fresh cilantro, lime wedges, and salsa verde, for serving

Instructions

Rehydrate the chilies. Place guajillo chilies in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak 10 minutes until pliable, then drain.
Blend the sauce. In a blender, combine the rehydrated guajillos, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, reserved pineapple juice, garlic, onion quarters, apple cider vinegar, achiote paste, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, and salt. Blend until smooth.
Load the slow cooker. Place pork chunks in the slow cooker and pour the blended sauce over the top, turning pieces to coat. Scatter the drained pineapple chunks over the pork.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours), until the pork is fall-apart tender and pulls easily with a fork.
Shred and rest. Transfer pork to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Return shredded pork to the slow cooker and stir to coat in the juices. Let rest on WARM for 10 minutes to absorb the sauce.
Assemble the bowls. Divide rice among bowls. Top with al pastor pork and black beans. Finish with diced white onion, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and salsa verde.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow-Cooker Al Pastor Bowls — The Pulled Pork That Holds It All Together