Pulled Pork Tacos

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried  pulled pork, but if you haven’t, you need to make it as soon as possible. It’s nothing more than pork, marinated with barbecue sauce and spices and cooked at a low temperature for a long time, which makes the meat so tender that it can be easily pulled into shreds. And if we then enjoy it in taco form, the recipe becomes unforgettable!

It’s usually made in the oven, with a cooking time of around 6 or 8 hours, but since we can’t always spare that much time, today I’m going to tell you how to make it with the WMF Perfect pressure cooker, which will give us just as good a result in less than half the time.

We can make pulled pork with different cuts of meat, from pork shoulder or neck to ribs, whichever you can get most easily; but it should always be a cut with some fat, so the result is juicier.

With the amount of meat I indicate in the recipe you’ll have pulled pork for many dishes, but this way of preparing the meat freezes beautifully, so if you freeze it in portions, when it’s time to use it, you’ll only have to thaw the meat and in no time you can prepare a delicious dinner.

And since we have such rich, flavourful meat, what do you think about putting it inside a Mexican tortilla, adding sautéed peppers, pickled onion and a little coriander, and making some impressive tacos? Of course, this is my version, but you can top the tacos with whatever you like best…

Come on, mate, let’s get to the recipe!!

WMF Perfect Pressure Cooker, Revol porcelain tray, Emile Henry ceramic ramekins and Pallarès carbon steel knife

How to make pulled pork at home

Ingredients (6 units)

For the pulled pork:

• 2 kg of pork shoulder in one piece
• 140 g of barbecue sauce
• 120 g of concentrated tomato sauce
• 40 ml of vinegar
• 250 ml of water
• 250 ml of orange juice
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• ½ teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper (optional)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

For the pickled onion:

• 1 red onion
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

For the tacos:

• 6 corn or wheat tortillas
• Pulled pork
• 1 red pepper
• Pickled onion
• Coriander

Method

For the pulled pork

1. First, using a very sharp knife, remove any excess surface fat from the meat and season it with salt and pepper.
2. Next, prepare the marinade for the meat. To do this, put the barbecue sauce, vinegar, oregano and concentrated tomato sauce in a bowl and use a pastry brush to coat the piece of meat well.
3. Cover the bottom of the pressure cooker with olive oil and heat it over medium-high heat.
4. When the oil is very hot, add the meat and sear it on all sides (including the ends) until browned.
5. Once the meat is seared, add the water, orange juice and ground cayenne pepper, if using.
6. Close the pressure cooker and keep it on high heat until the second ring rises. At that point, lower the heat just enough so it doesn’t lose pressure, that is, so it doesn’t drop below the second ring, and keep it on the heat for 50 or 60 minutes. In my case, the power on the hob is numbered from 1 to 9. I kept the cooker at around 3 or 4 throughout the cooking time.
7. After that time, remove the cooker from the heat and release the pressure. Check that the meat is very tender, almost falling apart when you touch it. If not, put the cooker back on the heat for another 10 minutes.
8. Once the meat is nice and tender, take it out of the cooker and put the cooker back on the heat, this time uncovered and over high heat for 5 or 10 minutes so the sauce reduces.
9. While the sauce is reducing, shred the meat with a couple of forks or, if you prefer, with very clean hands.
10. Once the sauce has reduced and the meat is shredded, return the meat to the cooker and stir so it soaks up the sauce well
11. Our pulled pork is ready now; let’s make the tacos.

For the pickled onion for the taco

1. Start by cutting the onion into very thin rings and putting it in a bowl.
2. Next, bring some water to the boil and, once boiling, pour it into the bowl so it covers the onion well and let it sit for 10 minutes.
3. After that time, pour the contents of the bowl into a colander and let the onion drain well.
4. Once drained, put it back in the bowl, add the sugar and lemon juice, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.
5. After that time, drain the onion again and it’s ready to use.

Assembling the tacos

1. Start by preparing the peppers. Wash the pepper, remove the seeds and cut it into strips about 1 cm wide.
2. Salt the pepper strips and heat a frying pan, or a wok, with a little oil. When the pan is hot, add the peppers and sauté them for a few minutes, so they are cooked but still firm, not too soft. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Clean the pan and put it back on the heat, and without adding any oil, warm the tortillas on both sides.
4. Once the tortillas are warm, assemble the tacos. To do this, put pulled pork on each tortilla (if it isn’t hot, warm it up before assembling the tacos), some pepper strips and pickled onion. Chop a little coriander and sprinkle it over each taco.
5. And enjoy!

WMF Perfect Pressure Cooker, Revol porcelain tray and Pallarès carbon steel knife

Notes

• Although traditional Mexican tacos are made with corn tortillas, I’ve given you the option of making them with either corn or wheat tortillas, since the latter are usually easier to find. However, you can make them however you like best.
• You’ll see that for the taco filling I’ve barely given any quantities in the ingredients, but this is a bit to taste; if you want more or less pepper, onion or meat, you can fill them to your liking.

Revol porcelain tray and Le Creuset ceramic ramekins

Although the recipe looks long, the only tricky part is putting the meat in the cooker and having patience while it cooks. Once it’s ready, making the tacos is as easy as making a sandwich… and incredibly tasty.

Just one warning: once your friends try the tacos you make, you’ll see more and more people signing up for your Friday dinners!