Smoked Pork Fajitas
i just made smoked pork fajitas
This is what Tuesday looks like after a smoke. There is a glass dish of pork in the fridge and there is a skillet, and twenty minutes later there is this.
The one thing people get wrong is shredding it. Leave the pork in thick pieces. It already has bark on it, and bark is the best thing in the pan — shred it and the smoke disappears into a mush that tastes like any other taco meat.
Peppers go in last and come out still bright. You are looking for soft with colour, not collapsed.
- Makes
- 8 fajitas
- Hands-on
- 20 minutes
- In the pan
- 12 minutes
- Needs
- Leftover smoked pork
What you need
The pan
- 1 1/2 lb smoked pork, cold, cut into thick pieces — bark and all
- 2 red bell peppers, cut into wide strips
- 1 orange bell pepper, cut into wide strips
- 2 large white onions, cut into thick strips
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp neutral oil or beef tallow
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Juice of 1 lime
- A large handful of coriander, roughly chopped, stalks and all
To build
- 8 flour tortillas
- Sour cream
- Spring onion greens, sliced
- More coriander
- Hot sauce
How it goes
1 — Cut the pork thick and leave it alone
Cold pork out of the fridge, cut across into pieces about the size of your thumb, every one carrying some black. Do not pull it into threads. That is the whole difference between this and every other pork taco.
2 — Get the skillet properly hot first
Cast iron over high heat until a drop of water skitters. A lukewarm pan makes the onions weep and the whole thing stews.
3 — Onions first, hard and fast
Oil in, onions in, and leave them untouched for two minutes so one side takes colour before you move them. Three or four minutes total — soft at the edges, still with some bite.
4 — Then the peppers, two minutes only
In they go with the garlic, cumin and paprika. Two minutes, tossed twice. They should still be bright red and orange and hold their shape, exactly as they do in the picture.
5 — Pork in last, just to heat through
Push everything to one side, pork into the clear space, let it catch for a minute, then fold the whole pan together. Three minutes. It is already cooked — you are warming it and crisping the bark, nothing more.
6 — Lime and coriander off the heat
Pan off the heat, lime squeezed over, a big handful of coriander through it. The pan is still hot enough to wilt the coriander, which is all you want.
pro tip — Warm the tortillas directly on a gas flame, five seconds a side, until they puff and char in spots. A cold tortilla tears.
7 — Build them on the plate
Filling down the middle, three spoonfuls of sour cream on top, spring onion and more coriander over. Fold, do not roll.
Twenty minutes off the back of Sunday's work. That is the best meal of the week and it cost nothing. LFG.