One of my recently-discovered favorite places to eat is Cafe Rio. I know it’s a chain and all, and it’s not some super-cool hole-in-the-wall, but man, have you tried their sweet pork? It is to DIE for! Incredibly tender and really well spiced, I love it in anything… burritos, quesadillas, nachos. In a word: yum.
Alas, I live about 60 miles from the nearest Cafe Rio. And I typically visit one that is 1000 miles away, when I need a California fix from my land-locked state. Not really easy to get to.
So a couple weeks ago (wow this post is late), I decided to try my hand at one of the sweet pork recipes I found on Pinterest. I have to say, I got my hopes way, way up at the beginning, they were kind of dashed in the middle, but by the end, all was excellent.
The Process: I am just going to be really, truly honest here and say that I have only cooked pork maybe two other times in my life. It’s intimidated me, for whatever reason. But I was cooking for a group, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
It was about 11:00am when I finally decided what to make for dinner. So although the recipe says to marinate for 8 hours, I certainly didn’t have time for that. Instead, I concocted my own way of doing things.
I put two pounds of pork tenderloin and a pound of pork chops in my trusty crock pot, and cut slits everywhere in the meat so the Coke would seep in nicely. Then, I poured a can and a half of real Coke (not Diet!) all over the meat. My crock pot is on the small side, so it just about covered the meat. I then set my crock pot on the 6 hour setting (since I didn’t have 8 hours!) and went along on my merry way.
When I checked it 4 hours later, I was discouraged. It looked so rubbery and the Coke had made weird little black specs in the mix. Arrrgggh. So I turned it down for a half hour, then back up for the rest of the time on the advice from a cook far more experienced than me (thanks Mom!).
After draining the Coke from the pork at the end of the six hours, I surveyed the meat in front of me. Huh, not bad I thought. Then I remembered a video I saw on Facebook a few weeks ago, and got out my hand mixer to shred the pork.
I’m telling you, I’ve never laughed so hard while using a mixer. The pork shredded quickly and nicely and I was so tickled that I couldn’t stop laughing. How have I gone 29 years without knowing about this tip?! Drat, just revealed my age. Oh well. Anyways, put the hand mixer on low and you too can laugh hysterically while shredding meat!
When everything is shredded, add the rest of the ingredients, stir really well to make sure everything is well coated, and let it cook for another half hour to an hour, however long it takes to get the rest of dinner ready. I let mine cook for 45 minutes and it was perfect.
The Verdict: I can have sweet pork without going to California! Yippee! I was initially really concerned that it would only taste like Coke, because the Coke flavor was really strong when I tested it. Then, after cooking in the enchilada sauce mixture, it took on all these different flavors that were subtle and excellent.
Everyone around the table loved it, too, although some said it was a little on the sweet side (just a warning). We’ve had this in everything over the last few weeks: burritos, salads, quesadillas, sandwiches, and as a stand-alone. Every time, it tastes great! I highly recommend it as an easy crock-pot recipe.
I tweaked the recipe a bit for my personal tastes, and I’m going to give this whole post-the-actual-recipe-in-your-blog thing a try! So, without further ado: the recipe!
Sweet Shredded Pork (Just Like Cafe Rio!)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 9 hours
Total time: 9 hours
Yield: 3lbs Shredded Pork
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork chops/roast (or a combo)
- 2 cans Coca-Cola (not Diet)
- 1.5 cans red enchilada sauce
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 small can diced green chiles
- 1 cup brown sugar
- Cut 1/2 inch deep slits in the pork to allow the soda to marinate properly. Put all pork in a good-sized crock-pot, and pour the soda all over, making sure to cover most of the pork. Cover and cook for 8 hours on low (6 hours on medium will also work).
- After cooking, save 2 tablespoons soda from pork, then drain the rest. While still warm, use a hand mixer to shred the pork. Make sure to not over-shred!
- In a separate bowl, combine enchilada sauce, green chiles, brown sugar, and garlic. Add reserve soda. Mix well, then pour over shredded pork.. Make sure to coat well!
- Cover and cook on high for an additional 45-60 minutes, or until sauce is thoroughly cooked.
- Serve immediately. Goes well in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, sandwiches, or on its own. Can be frozen as well.
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