Pork tacos

This has become my go-to stewed pork filling for tacos, but today's edition took it to another extreme of fat and flavor. I've been reading about and seeing shows about quesabirria tacos, and that was the inspiration behind the special edition taco below.

For the filling:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 lbs. pork country style ribs or shoulder/butt, cut into 2" chunks
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Half of a yellow onion, thinly sliced
5-6 whole cloves of garlic
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin
Enough water or chicken stock to mostly cover the pork (2-3 cups)
More salt to taste

Generously salt and pepper the pork chunks. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot until nearly smoking. Add about half the pork in a single layer - do not crowd, and brown nicely on all sides, turning every 2-4 minutes. Remove browned pieces and add remaining pork to pan and repeat. Add sliced onion and garlic and stir occasionally until onion begins to soften. 

Add remaining browned pork and accumulated juices back to the pan. Add the water or stock to just about cover the pork, and stir up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add thyme, bay leaves, oregano, coriander and cumin. Partially cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 90-120 minutes, tasting for salt about halfway through. Pork should fall apart easily when pulled with two forks. 

Remove the pork from the broth and set aside. Shred as much as you need for tacos.

Allow the broth to stand until the fat has floated to the surface. Skim and save the fat in another bowl (more on this later). 

For the regular tacos:

Shredded pork from above

Corn tortillas, fried lightly in vegetable to toughen them up and hold together
Shredded mozzarella or other cheese of your choice
Pickled onions (recipe here) and/or Diced onion and cilantro
Salsa of your choice

Assemble and eat!

For the ultimate pork taco (needs a better name... quesacarnita? quesapuercomamamia?)

Reserved fat from the stew
Shredded pork from above
Corn tortillas
Shredded mozzarella
Diced onion and cilantro
Small cups of reserved broth from the stew, heated up

This is where it gets to be like quesabirria. Heat up a large skillet over medium-high. Add 1/2 tsp drops of fat to the pan and place tortillas on top, spinning and spreading them around to coat the bottoms well. Sprinkle the entire tortilla with cheese. Spread some shredded pork over half, then fold the tortilla over the pork to make a taco. Press gently to flatten. Carefully flip and fry on both sides until crisp. Remove from the pan and get ready to dig in. Sprinkle on some onion and cilantro, dip the taco into the hot broth, and chow down. Squeeze a little lime juice on for extra goodness. Crazy good.

I'll post pictures next time - these disappeared faster than I could snap them with my camera.