Pulled Pork Burritos

I loved pulled pork. I especially love it because it seems so labor-intensive, but it's exactly the opposite. You can prepare it in the morning, let it cook in the crock pot (slow cooker) all day, and then shred it and toss it with sauce when you get home. It cooks itself! We used it for burritos.

I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from work tonite. The new one in Brooklyn is at Court and Atlantic, and it is lovely. The Trader Joe's at Union Square is heinous compared to this one. The store, built into an old bank, is spacious and clean...the aisles are wide, and the staff is really friendly. I have to think that the calmness of the shoppers has to do with the fact that they're in Brooklyn; the shoppers in Manhattan are rude and they fly through the aisles mindlessly. I picked up some brown rice tortillas, organic pepper jack cheese, and arugula (and some dark chocolate pistaccio toffee!).

Ingredients

2 lb pork butt (with bone)
2 onions
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
salt & pepper
Barbeque sauce (I used the tamarind barbeque sauce from the salmon dish described in an earlier post)
Tortillas
Pepper Jack cheese
Diced tomato
Diced onion
Hot sauce (optional)


Season the pork butt with salt and pepper, then brown the butt in a cast iron skilet with olive oil. Cut up the onions, carrots, and celery--they're just for flavor, so you don't have to cut them neatly--and put them in your slow cooker. Set the roast on top. If the pork butt left pieces in the cast iron skillet, deglaze with about 1/4 cup of beer, scraping up any bits stuck to the pan. Pour the liquid, and remaining beer, over the roast. Cook on low for about 8 hours. This is perfect for those of us who try to work 8 hour days....I don't know what to tell the rest of you who work for 12, 14 hours straight except: "chill out!"

When you get home, turn off the crock pot and remove roast. When it is cool enough to work with, shred the meat with 2 forks until it is completely pulled apart, discarding any chunks of fat you come across. Heat the barbeque sauce, and when it is warm, stir it into the meat. Return the shredded bbq pork to the crock pot and keep it on warm.

Heat the tortillas over an open flame and layer with shredded cheese, pork, tomato, and onion. Fold up and bite!