Mexican Pulled Pork

This is my second time making this dish. It was a hit the first I made it, even my daughter who does not really care for Mexican food, couldn't get enough of it.
It is not too hard to make, the most time consuming part is actually the trimming fat and cutting. You can make a big pot of it and feed a crowd, or save the left over for enchiladas. You can even serve them with rice, and eat like a Chinese meal. I doubled the recipe to feed 8 people.

Ingrediants:
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pounds) boneless pork butt, fat cap trimmed to 1/8 inch thick, cut into 2-inch chunks (picture 1)
Table salt and ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small onion, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons juice from 1 lime
2 cups water
1 medium orange, halved

Steps:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine pork, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, cumin, onion, bay leaves, oregano, lime juice, and water in large Dutch oven(liquid should just barely cover meat) (picture 2 and 3). Juice orange into medium bowl and remove any seeds. Add juice and spent orange halves to pot. Bring mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring until meat is soft and falls apart when prodded with fork, about 2 hours, flipping pieces of meat once during cooking.



2. Remove pot from oven and turn oven to broil. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to bowl; remove orange halves, onion and bay leaves from cooking liquid and discard (do not skim fat from liquid). Place pot over high heat (use caution, as handles will be very hot) and simmer liquid, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy, 8 to 12 minutes, you should have about 1 cup reduced liquid. (picture 4)


3. Using 2 forks, pull each piece of pork in half. Fold in reduced liquid; season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread pork in even layer on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet or on broiler pan. Place baking sheet on lower-middle rack and broil until top of meat is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, flip pieces of meat and continue to broil until top is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Serve immediately with warm tortillas and garnishes. (picture 5)

How can we have Mexican food without good guacamole and pico de gallo?

Guacamole:

In a large bowl, scoop 3 avocado pulp, mix with juice from 1 lime juice, toss to coat. Using a potato masher add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne and mash. Then, fold in 1/2 medium diced onion onions,  1/2 seeded, minced jalapeno, 2 seeded and diced Roma tomatoes, 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, and 1 minced garlic.  Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

pico de gallo:

Slice 2 lbs.  tomatoes in half. Remove seeds from about half of the tomatoes. Chop. I prefer to finely chop the tomatoes, so the tomato chunks are slightly larger than the other diced ingredients. Pour them into a large mixing bowl.Dice 1/4 cup green onion, 1/2 cup red onion and 1/2 cup cilantro. Finely mince 1-2 hot peppers. Combine with the tomatoes.Add pressed 1-2 garlic garlic cloves to the salsa.Using a lime juicer, squeeze the juice of two limes into the salsa. Taste before adding the rest of the lime juice. Sprinkle with salt; drizzle with olive oil. Stir well.