Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Had 1/2 pork butt the wife wanted out of her freezer and said do something with it.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but when I left my parents house, my buddies 80 year old Mom invited me to live with them.  She was from Woohaca (sp?) .She cooked for everyone so since I was getting free rent, I always would help her.  I learned allot about authentic Mexican cooking from her.  But the best thing I learned is that cooking takes time.

Last night prepared the butt with a dry salt brine.  Also chopped up some garlic, onions, celery, and carrots that had seen some better days.  This morning, seared the roast, and it's been simmering for the past six hours. Going to remove the roast and let it cool, then shred it with two forks.

I'm going to strain everything out of the liquid and let it sit for a day.  I'll skim the top tomorrow and reserve it .  The hard top crust that forms is like making my own maseca.  Then I'll reserve some of the liquid & mix it and mix it all with the meat. And toss it on the cool side of a hot 400dF grill for about 20 minutes.

After that, I can do anything with it.  Tacos, burritos, salad, tamales,  taquitos - anything you can wrap in a tortilla.

Will probably make a couple trays of enchiladas and freeze one and have the other for dinner - that'll be the second day of the cook.  Will bake it on the cold side of the grill (light one side, put the food on the other) to avoid heating up the house. 

My Mexican "Mom" would cook no matter how hot it was.  There was always fans running in hour kitchen to cool things down.  She also always had a pot of beans on the stove and some stage - soak, boil, refry.  She lived into her 100's - always cooking and keeping busy.