Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Grilled Country-Style Pork Tacos

Tacos are good. Soft shell, hard shell, grilled meat, shredded meat, with toppings, without. I will eat almost anything in a tortilla, so I make many a taco recipe. This evening we had a taco porkstravaganza, with boneless country-style ribs that were rubbed, grilled, and sliced up. (Also, I may start shouting “PORKSTRAVAGANZA!” from my deck every time I grill pork, just to see if the neighbors notice. They already look at me strangely for photographing my food.)

The spice mixture I use is a wet rub from a Weber cookbook, but to lighten things up, I just lightly drizzle the pork with some olive oil and use this as a dry rub, instead. If you’ve never grilled boneless country-style pork ribs, give them a try. If they’re well trimmed, they’re quite lean, and they grill up nice and juicy, like pork loin. (But they’re usually even more economical.)

This gives us enough for a couple of meals, and then some. The leftovers are great in quesadillas or burritos. Or as puppy snacks. Puppies love pork tacos.

Grilled Country-Style Pork Tacos
Serves 6-8

Rub
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1½ tsp. oregano (preferably Mexican)
1½ tsp. dried minced garlic flakes
1½ tsp. ancho chile powder
1½ tsp. brown sugar
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1½ - 2 lbs. boneless country-style pork ribs, well trimmed
Olive oil, for drizzling
Tortillas and taco toppings

1. Combine rub ingredients until well mixed.

2. Drizzle pork with olive oil and add half the rub mixture. Using your hands, rub into pork. Flip pork and repeat with additional olive oil and remaining rub. Cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours.

3. Grill pork on medium-low until cooked to medium or medium well, about 20 minutes.

4. Thinly slice, and serve on tortillas with toppings.

Note: It is not easy to photograph the inside of a taco.

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