Shredded Pork Flautas

Hi Everyone!


So here it goes with my first real post...and for the topic of conversation I am going to share my Cinco de Mayo dinner.  I've always thought it was funny how cinco is such a big deal in the US and less of a big deal in actual Mexico.  I guess it's just an excellent reason to eat a lot of food, wear sombreros, and drink copious amounts of corona and patron.  With that said, let's jump right into it!


Shredded Pork Flautas


This recipe originally came from my friend Katie Peters (check out her blog, it's amazing! : http://foodwineandmodpodge.blogspot.com/)  Because I am making it for 7 or 8 people, I supersized her original recipe and added a few touches of my own.  These flautas aren't the easiest to make and take a good amount of time, but are well worth it.


Ingredients:
1 bone in pork shoulder roast (mine was 6 lbs)
Dry spice rub (cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder, taco seasoning, and chili powder)
1 large yellow onion
1 can el pato tomato sauce
1 can regular tomato sauce
3 cups good quality chicken stock
Light olive oil
Peanut oil
Package of small or medium size flour tortillas
Large can of enchilada sauce
3 cups of shredded white cheddar cheese or crumbled cojita cheese


Directions:

Just as Katie's recipe states, first take the pork shoulder and rub it all over with all the dry spices.  You can mix the spice rub up however you want based on what you have in your cupboard.  Because my roommate and I are always cooking we basically have almost everything you could ever imagine on hand.  Once you have covered the roast, sear all the sides in a medium hot pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Once crusty on all sides, transfer to a slow cooker on top of half of a roughly chopped yellow onion.

Roughly chop the remaining onion and add to the pan with the pork shoulder drippings.  Saute the onions on medium heat until they soften then add 1 can of el pato sauce, 1/2 a can of tomato sauce, and 3 cups chicken stock.  Bring to a medium boil, stirring often and making sure to scrape up all the bits off the bottom of the pan.  

Once boiling, remove the mixture from the stove and carefully ladle the liquid around the pork roast.  Be careful not to pour it directly over the pork roast.  I added the remaining tomato sauce on top of the roast.  Once this is complete, cover the pot and set to low.  Let it sit like this for 3 hours then baste the roast with the liquid once every hour for the last 3.  The roast will sit in the pot for about 6 hours total.

While the pork is sitting in the crock pot you can fry up the tortillas.  Put about 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a pan and heat it up until it starts to smoke a little.  Place the tortillas in one at a time frying each side for about 5 seconds.  This part is pretty dangerous so just be careful not to splash any of the hot oil.  After each tortilla is done, place between paper towels to drain and set aside.

Because my pork shoulder was so large, it had to stay in the crock pot for about 8 hours total.  It is well worth it though, when I pulled it out it looked like this, completely falling apart.  I then picked through it to remove the bone and a little bit of fat that was in the roast.  

Once you have all your tortillas done and pork shredded, you can now roll the flautas.  This is where my recipe varies slightly from Katie's.  Take a small amount of the pork and add a handful of the shredded cheese to it.  Wrap these tightly and spread out evenly on a nonstick cookie sheet.  Place them in a 400 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes.

These are the completed product!  Katie included a red sauce with hers.  Because I am taking these to a potluck, I am serving them with chile con queso, guacamole, sour cream, and red sauce all on the side.  The recipes for my queso and guacamole are in the following posting.  Thanks so much for the amazing recipe, Katie, and for everyone else out there, hope you enjoy!