NaBloPoMoNoProFoNo #12: Happy Taco Tuesday! #RECIPE - slow cooker pork carnitas

It's Taco Tuesday!  We don't make tacos EVERY Tuesday for fear of getting sick of them (and man do I love tacos, so that would be sad).  We do make them a lot though, a couple of times a month. There is a ton of flexibility in both the taco base -- beef, fish, beans, pork, whatever -- and also in the fixins platter (more on that later).  But today I'm posting a recipe for slow-cooked pork carnitas tacos because they are one of my favorite things, and boneless ribs are frequently the cheapest meat at my grocery store at 1.99/lb (huzzah!).  I consider my pork carnitas tacos company-worthy, so if I ever serve this to any of you, pretend you don't know how easy they were, please.

TACO MEAT:

Slow-cooker pork carnitas
Recipe adapted from Cook with Sara, who adapted it from somewhere else.

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless pork country style ribs
 1 large onion
 3 tsp. salt
A bunch of fresh ground black pepper (I never measure, I just grind pepper til I'm bored of it)
6 tsp. oregano
4 tsp. cumin
Chopped garlic: at least a few cloves worth, or more

Instructions:

Chop boneless ribs into chunks -- maybe about 2" wide, or so.  It's not super-critical since you shred them later.  Toss in the slow cooker.

Chop onion roughly into chunks. Toss in the slow cooker.

Add the salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and garlic to the slow cooker and mix it around with your hands so it's coating the meat evenly-ish.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  (Note: you do not add liquid.)

We serve the meat in chunks and just shred-as-we-go into our own tacos (and also add the cooked onions, which are tasty).  Since ribs aren't the kind of meat you can trim before cooking, there will be little bits of fat and such that we just pick out.   

FIXINS PLATTER:

You heard it here first: every meal that can have a fixins platter, should have a fixins platter. For tacos, there are a million possibilities.  I always include avocado and lettuce, and then depending on what's in the fridge I also add shredded cheese, chopped green onion, red cabbage, tomato, red onion, cilantro, or whatever else seems awesome. 

TORTILLAS AND REFRIED BEANS:  Also requried for a successful Taco Tuesday. But this entry is getting long and already contains a recipe, so I'll discuss these on Thursday (tomorrow being what-I-ate-Wenesday, of course, DUH).