Banh Mi Tacos

You should probably know by now that I could live off of tacos, pizza, or for that matter bacon. Many of these favorites of mine have some pork product in them. I love pork, and pretty much every piece of the pork. As much as I try a lot of new things, I stick to my standards when it comes to pork; ribs, chops, bacon, ham, shoulder. So this past week, I already knew I wanted slow roasted pork. At first, I was thinking tacos, but then the Asian influence stumbled upon me and I could not get the taste of a Banh Mi sandwich out of my mind.

This is when I came up with the Banh Mi taco. It was so worth it.

Ingredients:

• Pork shoulder, cut into large chunks, browned and slow roasted
• Pickled carrots and daikon
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, and sliced lengthwise, seeds removed
• Fresh cilantro sprigs
• 1 large jalapeno, seeds removed, thinly sliced
• Fresh corn tortillas, warmed
• Soy sauce, optional

Simple ingredients. Huge flavors.

At first my wife asked if we had these tacos before. I asked her why, and she said the pickled carrots and daikon really reminded her of something. She had her mind on the pork tinga that I had made for a family gathering some time ago. Granted, the pork tinga was delicious, and the pickled red onions were a great balance, it had nothing on the sweet, heat of these delicious tacos.

I’ll admit it now. I love Mexican and Asian flavors, and this taco married the two, and it was apparent to both my wife and I.

When your pork shoulder is fully cooked, and basically falls apart, make sure you shred it, much like you would handle pulled pork. Heat a large nonstick skillet on medium heat, and add enough of the cooked pulled pork to fill your tacos. The goal here is to get a bit of texture, a bit of light crisp if you will, on the pork.

Remove the lightly crisp pork, and arrange your tacos. I always double up my corn tortillas. I love the texture of two, plus they hold up well when being loaded with ingredients.

Add the pork, drizzle with a bit of soy sauce if you want, add the cucumber strips, pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro sprigs and a couple of the thinly sliced jalapenos.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Trust me, these bring out some really great memories of a Bahn Mi, while at the same time really satisfying your taco cravings.

Enjoy.