A Waco federal woman’s group hosted a tea last month, and I served these. Add green olives or pimiento as a garnish.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 12 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 tacos |
Ingredients
- 1 (3 1/2) pound bone-in pork shoulder roast
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, or more as needed
- ½ cup kosher salt
- 1 large egg white
- ¾ cup water, or more as needed
- 2 cups finely diced Honeycrisp apple
- ⅔ cup finely diced white onion
- ½ cup seeded and finely diced jalapeno pepper
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 2 limes, juiced, or to taste (Optional)
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 12 flour tortillas, warmed
- 2 limes, cut into wedges, or as needed (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Season pork all over with rosemary and freshly ground black pepper.
- Stir flour, salt, egg white, and water together in a large bowl until very smooth. Adjust with more flour it’s too runny. Add pork shoulder and coat thoroughly.
- Spread a few spoons of excess “plaster” into a baking dish or pan. Add, fat-side up. Use a spoon to re-apply plaster to any spots that need it, as well as to the top.
- Roast in the center of the preheated oven until the surface is dry and hard and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 185 degrees F (85 degrees C), about 3 1/2 hours.
- Let cool for 15 minutes to 1 hour. Break pork up into big chunks and transfer to plate. Add some of the pan juices that accumulated at the bottom of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator, 8 hours to overnight.
- Combine apple, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, salt, lime juice, and cayenne in a bowl for salsa.
- Slice chilled pork into strips and then cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
- Heat a dry, nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Brown pork in the pan, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve pork on warm tortillas with the salsa and lime wedges.
- You can use any herbs or spices you want to season the pork with, just don’t season with salt.
- Let pork rest at least 15 minutes before removing plaster crust and serving, if not making into tacos.
- You can shred or chop the pork into smaller pieces if desired. You can also pan-fry the pork in reserved rendered fat instead of in a dry pan.
- The video shows how to make enough salsa for 6 tacos. The amounts above are doubled to make enough for 12 tacos.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of “plaster” coating. The actual amount consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 496 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 60 g |
| Cholesterol | 52 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 4494 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Holy cow!!! Amazing, even the kiddo loved it. The salsa is great worth the fresh cilantro
So freaking awesome! Loved it so much, I made it once, then made it again! Apple Salsa was divine. The Plaster imo needed to be thicker than shown. First time I made it as it looked in the video & much of it slid off. Second time, I made the plaster fairly thick & it stayed on a did a great job in keeping the meat moist. I hope a lot of people give this a try. They wont be disappointed.
This recipe is amazing! I’m not really a cook, but the video was incredibly helpful and I was able to make this and impress my family. We even made it again a few days later because we liked it so much. It will be one of our favorite meals from now on. And Chef John is just wonderful.
So good!