Taco Tuesday - Pork Tacos & Creamy Herbed Corn

I came across a Momofuku recipe for Pulled Pork Lettuce Wraps in the July issue of Cooking Light, and I thought it would work perfectly for Taco Night! Of course, the recipe called for four hours of oven time. No mom of a two-year-old has time for watching an oven! Plus, no mom in Alabama I'm sure wants to use their oven in the summer. So, I tweaked and adapted the recipe for a slow-cooker, swapped the lettuce for corn tortillas, and we enjoyed a whole new menu for Taco Tuesday! Pork takes a long time to cook in a crock pot, but the end result should be very tender and delicious. To make sure it gets enough time, get it started first thing in the morning to be ready for dinner that night!

The Filling: 

Start by making the Korean inspired sauce in a bowl. You'll need fresh ginger, sherry, olive oil, chicken broth, soy sauce, and chile paste. The original recipe called for a special type of chile paste called gochujang. I had no luck finding it at our grocery stores, but Amazon Prime came to the rescue and this onewas at our door two days later. And y'all, it looked legit. I'm sure you could substitute in any kind of chili paste, though.

There's usually a chicken stock container already open in our fridge - I like to write the date it was opened right on the lid so I know how fresh it is.

 After making the sauce, rub a 2.5 lb. boneless pork shoulder with salt and brown sugar, place it in a slow cooker and cover with the sauce. Let the pork cook on low for 10ish hours, and shred when ready to serve!

The Topping: 

The meat will be very flavorful, so I simply topped with lettuce, green onion, and radish for some fresh crunch and color. 

The Side:

I served the tacos with creamy herbed corn. They are basically giving cobs of corn away in Alabama this time of year (even the fancy organic, non-GMO stuff), so it cost almost nothing to pick some up. I faux grilled it on the stove (though if you own a real grill this would be an awesome time to bust it out). Here's a fun fact: I never serve corn on the cob here at the Klein Casa because both Max and I have a chipped front tooth that was repaired by being bonded, so neither of us can bite into apples, corn, etc. Unfortunately, little man followed in Dada and Mama's footsteps and has already chipped his front tooth too, but that's another story. Anyway, if we were corn-on-the-cob people I would totally just leave the corn as is and slather the sauce right on. Since we're not, I just took a big knife and cut the corn off the cob, then mixed it with the mayo/sour cream mixture and sprinkled on some fresh herbs. I then dusted some chipotle chili pepper spice on. I'm sure the creamy sauce would work just as well with a bag of frozen corn if that's what you have on hand. 

Korean Inspired Pulled Pork

Ingredients

1 Tbs. grated peeled ginger

2 Tbs. sherry 

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. chicken broth

1 tsp. soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)

1 Tbs. gochujang (chile paste)

2.5 lb. boneless pork shoulder

2 Tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

Directions

Mix ginger, sherry, olive oil, chicken broth, soy sauce and chile paste in a small bowl and let stand. Next, rub pork with brown sugar and salt and place in a crock pot. Cover with the chile sauce and cook on low for 10ish hours (less depending on your slow cooker). 

Creamy Herbed Corn 

Ingredients

Four ears of corn, grilled or broiled and cut off the cob

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

juice from half a lime

1/8 cup dill or other fresh herb

salt

pepper

chipotle chile powder

Directions

Mix equal parts sour cream and mayonnaise in a large bowl. Squeeze in lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Mix cooked corn right into bowl and top with some fresh herbs (I used dill). Dust with chipotle chili pepper if you have it on hand! 

*This recipe makes a lot of pork! I used the leftovers the next night on hamburger buns to make  sandwiches po' boy style :)