Meat
Roasted Pork Shoulder
275 Degrees
6 hours
Dry spice rub of your choosing
–>I used a certain spice rub created by Ms. Maureen S. last xmas

When I started reading through this cookbook I realized that I would need a wok. My first wok was non-stick, and rusted after about 6 months where the Teflon peeled away. (gross!) When I lived in San Francisco there was this awesome store in Chinatown called The Wok Shop. I always went in there, but never bought anything- even though it is freakishly reasonably priced. Once I moved and started looking for woks online, I realized I had missed a great opportunity- this store is considered one of the best wok shops in the country, if not THE wok shop. Luckily for me they have a fairly straight-forward online ordering system.  I ended up with 1 handmade iron wok, a gas oven ring (yay! no more electric stove!), a two tiered bamboo steamer, and a Chinese-style pickling jar for my main squeeze all for under $50, including shipping. What a steal!…I appreciate the big warning on the ordering page “our products do not have lead.” Did they previously?!?

Dinner
Roast pork stir fry with kale
and julienne veggies
Place the wok over high heat, drizzle oil into the hot pan
Add julienne veggies, stir fry 1 minute
Add pork and kale, stir fry until warm
add a 1/4 c or so broth, cover and steam- serve with rice

We’ve had a tub of plan greek-ish (thick, but not quite thick enough to count as strained) yogurt in the fridge for about a week. We also had some cucumbers and some dill, along with a few lemons to boot. So, I made a little tzatziki sauce to eat with my Chinese food, and it was delicious.

Lunch/Dinner
Pulled pork sandys
We used Fornax sliced sourdough boule, but just about any hearty bread would do
smear mustard on one side of the bread and BBQ sauce on the other
place pulled pork on sandi, put pickles, or jalapenos, or any other treat on the pork
Slice cheese (we used Moz.) and make sandwich
Toast for 5 minutes until warm through and the bread is crispy

Dinner
Pork Chili
Chop: onions, carrots, potatoes and soften over heat with oil S & P
Deglaze the pan with some red wine, hopefully less crappy than the wine I chose
Add pork, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and full head of garlic, pressed
cook until the liquid is absorbed
deglaze with broth and bring to a boil
add tomatoes- simmer 30 minutes
Add red and white kidney beans- simmer 30 minutes

Who knows what creation will result from the leftover chili!

After a long journey across the country with my man crow, my cat, and in a strangers car, I’ve arrived in New England. More importantly, I will soon be reunited with the JP crows!

I immediately started missing Oakland, and Oakland taco trucks, the second we left California. The thought of entering a taco-free world, and worse yet, a hard shell taco world (and what I thought would be a ceviche free world, until the crows retreated!), was eating away at my soul with each passing day. I knew that I had to share the glory of a good taco with my parents, who were so graciously allowing me to stay at their house while I got my proverbial “shit together.”

The results? Joyous, wonderful, & delicious.

for proper assembly smear black bean goo on the bottom of the shell. add meat. add cream, pile on cilantro, cabbage, and salsa. drizzle with hot sauce, squeeze 1/4 lime. enjoy!

Now, of course, my taco was not “authentic” either. I used no lard or deep frying, and chose to fill my taco with more than meat + onions + cilantro. Nonetheless, it filled a void in my tummy. My favorite animal meat is pig. I love me some pig, especially when it is cooked by several men in a taco truck. I, of course, could not replicate this on a New England grill, so I had to think fast! I went with some extremely thin sliced-bone in- somewhat fatty-pork. Marinaded in Lime zest, oil, hot peppers, cilantro, salt and pepper, then grilled to a tender but done perfection, I sliced it as thin as possible to form the base of our tacos.

Soft Shell Taco Essentials (the players)

small taco shells- I prefer a yellow corn tortilla, but white corn or flour will do, I suppose
cilantro
red onion
hot sauce
red cabbage
sour cream
salsa
karen’s magic bean goo creation (recipe below)
limes- juice and zest
meat product of your choosing!

So, one could just use these ingredients as is, and have a delicious taco. I made a few small, simple, and fast additions to really make it delicious.

Sour cream: Zest a lime and add 1/2 the juice to a 1/2 of sour cream
Salsa: A pico de gallo style salsa would work, this time I cheated and bought some. If you feel like being 100% home made you: take 3 large tomatoes & dice them finely. Zest 2 limes, add all juice. Dice 1/2 a red onion. chop a full bunch of cilantro. dice very finely at least 1 jalapeno, more if you like heat. Finely grate 2 garlic cloves. Mix everything together with a heafty dose of S & P.
Karen’s Bean Goo: The first time I made tacos at home was with our Oakland friend Karen. She made a black bean “hummus” earlier in the day that went SO WELL with our dinner tacos. Drain & rinse a can of black beans. In a blender combine, black beans, a tomato, a green pepper, cilantro, S & P, and some onion. Blend until smooth.
Cilantro & onions: In a bowl, mix a bunch of cilantro with 1/2 a diced onion. Juice a lime over it and add a good amount of salt. It should taste salty.

Recipe for delicious cornmeal poundcake to come!

Also- a thought. Let’s combine our ceviche with a tostada shell, these taco toppings, cucumber and have a ball!

I left out the apple brandy because I didn’t have any on-hand and upped the amount of cider instead. Next time I may leave out the pearl onions (not a big fan) and substitute with a chopped vidalia. The finished product was very thick and sweet. The pork was so tender- it just broke apart and mingled with the other ingredients leaving each spoon full of flavor.

I should have taken Anthony Bourdain’s advice and skip the bread and potatoes and focus right in on the meat but i couldn’t deny my love for carbs, especially dipped in delicious meat juices.  We ate ourselves into a food coma and ended up leaving Anotonio’s with an ungodly portion of pork.  We ended our New Bedford experience with a trip to Lydia’s Bakery for some much needed coffee and sweets.

The next morning i had a revelation on what I should do with my leftover mountain of pork: make one of my favorite sandwiches, the Cubano.  I waited a day, then shredded up the pork, chopped my lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles and created an assembly line.

My man crow and I each made two Cubano’s each- one for dinner and one for lunch the following day at work.  Since we both have different preferences, mine being extra pickles and mustard- hold the mayo, and his being extra pork and mayo- hold the mustard, we decided to construct our own.  My kitchen lacks a panini press so i had to brainstorm an alternative.  This is how you construct a make shift panini press: heat olive oil in a large skillet, add the Cubanos, spray the top of the sandwiches with extra virgin olive oil spray, place a layer of aluminum foil over them then top that with a smaller skillet.  To weigh it all down and achieve the “press” put a tea kettle full of water on the top skillet.  The set up is not visually appealing  but it does the job!

Finished Product served w/ a simple slaw