Thursday, May 12, 2016

Tres Cerditos Tacos (Three Little Pigs Pork Tacos)


My wife and I were visiting her best friend in NY when we stopped by this great gastropub called Prison City Pub and Brewery in Auburn, NY. (Whenever we are back up there, I'll probably do a full review.) I ordered a sandwich they call Three Little Pigs which is made of pork prepared 3 ways: pulled pork, ham, and bacon. I really enjoyed this so I decided to come up with my own version with a Mexican flair called Tres Cerditos Tacos. I did a bit of research into the ways pork is prepared in Mexico and I came up with my duo of tacos that contains pork three ways: carnitas, chorizo, and bacon.

Ingredients:

Basics:

Carnitas
1lb chorizo
½lb bacon
Corn tortillas

Recommended Toppings:

Chopped cilantro
Sliced avocado
Queso cotija
Fresh lime
Crema
Roasted tomato salsa

Directions:

Cook the carnitas according to the recipe I previously posted here, and while it is resting prepare the other meats. Cook the pound of chorizo by either cooking the sausages and then chopping them, or, my personal favorite way, strip off the casings and cook the stuffing. If you can find uncased ground chorizo, that would be perfect but I have had a lot of difficulty finding that. Once cooked, set aside. Slice the bacon into thin bits and fry again, set aside and drain once finished. I recommend using the bacon grease to fry the carnitas.

Once you meats are all prepared, prepare your toppings. I recommend chopped cilantro, avocado slices, some fresh slices of lime, cotija cheese, crema, and my roasted tomato salsa. Cotija cheese is a crumbly Mexican cheese that has a similar texture to grated parmesan, but it doesn't melt. If you can't find it, feel free to use any cheese you usually like on your tacos, I suggest a combination of monterey jack, cheddar, and mozzarella. Crema, as I mentioned in my nachos recipe, is Mexican sour cream. Crema is more liquidy than sour cream so I like to store it in a squeeze bottle for easy serving. If you can't find crema, feel free to replace with sour cream.

Once all of the meats and toppings are ready to go, it's time to start making tacos! Place two soft corn tortillas and put a serving of carnitas in one and a serving of chorizo in the other. Sprinkle the carnitas with the bacon bits, and some cheese, then spritz with lime. Top the chorizo with some chopped cilantro, a few avocado slices, some of the cheese, and then squeeze on a little crema and spritz on some lime. Enjoy!