What? A Crock?

For various and sundry reasons which change from day to day, I will rely heavily on my slow cooker from now until February.  I use that ceramic culinary colleague consistently, come cooler climate.
 (be impressed)
Especially when I'm busy with important things like decorating for holidays, shopping for gifts, carving pumpkins, throwing a football, (thinking about) raking leaves, wrapping up in a blanket by the fire, and other such important things, I like to start the slow cooker and go on about my day.

Pork shoulder/pork butt has become a frequent flyer around here.  Why, you ask? Well, for me, one pork shoulder can provide multiple meals for my family of four.  In fact, I get three totally different dishes from this lovely piggy.  -And because its so stinking delicious, of course. Today we will discuss pork street tacos.  I can't really tell you how much I love these.  Street tacos are a staple in my life and I might starve without them.

 

Pork Tacos
what you need: slow cooker, sharp knife, food chopper/processer, two forks for shredding meat, medium sized skillet

7-ish Pounds Pork Shoulder (sometimes called Pork Butt. same same.)
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 Tablespoons Salt
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Splash of White Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Onions, (1 for the chopper, 1 finely diced for topping)
soft corn tortillas
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

With your sharp knife, trim the fat from the pork.  Toss spices, olive oil, garlic, one onion, sugar and vinegar in to the food processer/chopper.  Whirl them around for 10 seconds or so to make a paste for rubbing on the meat.  -then rub it on the meat. Make sure you get in the folds, on top, underneath, on all sides.  This is something you will probably want to do while the meat is resting in the bowl of the slow cooker because its pretty messy. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the bowl with the pork and turn the slow cooker on high for about 4 hours.  When the meat is fork tender and shreds easily, pull it apart with two forks and let it set in the juices (turning heat to low) until you are ready to serve.   Enjoy these tacos on corn tortillas dressed with chopped cilantro and diced onions.  *You will want to warm your tortillas in a skillet over medium heat -or even in the microwave if you see fit, but if you choose the microwave method, make sure to add a damp paper towel in with the tortillas while they heat so they don't just crumble in pieces.
You will have  A LOT of pork left. Separate the pork into two containers to be transferred to the fridge or freezer for later when you will prepare barbeque pork sandwiches and tamales at a later date.