There are so many low and slow style pork dishes out there as it’s a great meat for this style of cooking. Think tender, juicy, pull apart, moist meat. This Mexican style pork is named after the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula where such dishes are cooked on a daily basis. Our Mexican style Al Pastor BBQ Rub lends itself perfectly to this dish and saves time in the preparation and certainly doesn’t disappoint in the flavour department. There are similar variations all over the world of this style of pork and is similar to Cuban or a Hawaiian pork which are also cooked in orange or pineapple juice.

We recently saw a similar dish being prepared on The Chef Show on Netflix and if you haven’t seen it, it’s a great watch. They used banana leaves to line the roasting dish and cover the pork. I can imagine this really adds to the flavour and will try and get hold of them next time. We used foil and cooked it in the oven but this would work great cooked in the BBQ with the foil removed part way through to add some smoke flavour.

Ingredients;

• 2kg Pork shoulder (cut into 3 inch cubes)
• 45g Al Pastor BBQ Rub 
• 3 Ancho chillis
• 20g Achiote paste (optional)
• 350ml Orange juice
• 4 Garlic cloves (chopped)
• 1 Large onion or 2 small (sliced into 2cm thick rounds)
• 2-3 Tomatoes (halved)
• Juice of 2 limes
• Salt and pepper

Method;

• Take the ancho chillies and soak them in a little boiling water. Once they have softened, remove the stems and seeds and chop finely.
• Mix the Al Pastor BBQ Rub, chopped garlic, ancho chilli, orange juice, lime juice, achiote paste and season with a little salt and pepper. If you can’t get hold of achiote paste, our BBQ rub already contains achiote powder so it doesn’t matter if you miss it out.
• Pour the marinade over the chunks of pork, coat evenly and leave to marinate at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
• Meanwhile add a little oil to a hot pan and add in the discs of onion and halved tomatoes. Cook on both side until almost blackened but not burnt.
• In a large roasting dish, add in the chunks of pork and top with the onions and tomato. Pour over any remaining marinade. Cover with foil to tightly seal the dish.
• Preheat the oven at 155c and cook low and slow for around 3 hours or until the pork is tender. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10-20 minutes before removing the foil. You could also cook this using a slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours.
• Shred the pork into bite size chunks with a fork.

We served ours over rice with plenty of the juices from the dish and some refried beans on the side. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and splash over some of your favourite hot sauce. Scatter with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime. You could also serve as part of a plethora of dishes and have a Mexican style meze. Serve with other dishes such as fried plantain, pico de gallo, corn tortillas and a roasted corn salsa.

This style of pork can be used in so many dishes so the more leftovers the better. It also freezes well to be used at a later date. The meat is great in tacos, quesadillas, Burritos, in sliders or even Mexican eggs.