Cooking In, DinnerKerry Alaric Cheeseborobeans, black beans, charred, chili powder, cloves, cola, Cooking In, corn, cumin, dry rub, garlic, ground, Mexican, nutmeg, onion powder, pork, pork shoulder, pulled, roasted, sage, sauce, scallions, simmered, slow-cooked, soda, soy, soy sauce, spiced, spices, spicy, sun-dried tomato, sundried tomato, tacos, tortillaComment

The Devil Went Down To Mexico

Cooking In, DinnerKerry Alaric Cheeseborobeans, black beans, charred, chili powder, cloves, cola, Cooking In, corn, cumin, dry rub, garlic, ground, Mexican, nutmeg, onion powder, pork, pork shoulder, pulled, roasted, sage, sauce, scallions, simmered, slow-cooked, soda, soy, soy sauce, spiced, spices, spicy, sun-dried tomato, sundried tomato, tacos, tortillaComment
Tacos Diablo | Pulled, Hot Spice-Charred Pork Shoulder, Simmered in Cola, Sriracha, and Soy Sauce with Spicy Black Beans, Corn, and Scallions
AFTER MAKING MY PULLED PORK TACOS just a few days earlier, I knew I wanted to try a version with pulled pork. I bought an almost 4-pound pork shoulder, liberally seasoned the exterior (with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, cinnamon, ground sage, and chili powder), and seared all the edges in hot oil in a big pot to get a good seal on the pork and a good char of the spices.

I then poured in in a whole two liter bottle of cola, a good amount of sriracha, cider vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic, then brought that to a boil before turning the heat way down and letting it simmer for about two hours, turning the shoulder every hour hour or so to get even color on the whole shoulder.

Pork Shoulder in Cola, Soy Sauce, Sriracha, and Mustard

After that two hours, I removed it from the liquid, reapplied the dry rub (with the addition of brown sugar) to the shoulder's "fat cap", then placed it in a 275° oven for another hour.

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Meantime, I let the liquid from the pot keep cooking, turning up the heat just a little as to make a nice reduction when the pork was done finishing in the oven.

After letting it set for 10 minutes—and effortless pulling the bones out with just two fingers!—I "pulled" strips of the pork shoulder with a fork, lightly tossed them with just a tad of the reduction, and put them into a sun-dried tortilla (cut into squares to get the same amount of tortilla at the ends as in the middle of a taco), topped with with some black beans I "punched up" with cumin and sriracha, some sweet corn kernels, and chopped scallions.

The beginning bites of the finished product were full of "complementary" trifectas. The sweetness of the cola permeating throughout the pork meat with the saltiness of the soy sauce and the spicy and heat of the sriracha. The tender and juicy leans pork and the crumbs of crispy skin more greatly comforting the the flavorful morsels of pork fat that nearly evaporated in the mouth. The sweet, snappy kernels of corn added savory texture to the softer, richer black beans and the bright, tongue-tingling and palate-cleansing freshly chopped scallions.

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Tacos Diablo

Tacos Diablo

Tacos Diablo

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And speaking of trifectas, I have one more tacos to go. This whole thing started when I came across some black bean tortillas at my local bodega. They were gone before I had a chance to buy them. Second place I looked only had the spinach and sun-dried tomato tortillas. When I find the black bean tortillas, expect it to—again, rounding out the triumverite—to have beef. And also be awesome.

Bun Apple Tea!

KAC

Tacos Diablo | Pulled, Hot Spice-Charred Pork Shoulder, Simmered in Cola, Sriracha, and Soy Saucewith Spicy Black Beans, Corn, and Scallions