Hello everyone! Over the weekend I made a mess of braised pork shoulder for use with tacos and enchiladas tho I'll probably just have a ton of tacos because tacos are life for me lately. I started with a 5.5 lb bone in pork shoulder, or pork butt, trimmed some of the fat cap off and salted the outside. Seared it hard in peanut oil. Once it was nice and browned and my dutch oven had a nice fond going on I pulled it out and added 1 huge yellow onion 1 carrot 1 big poblano pepper 2 jalapeno peppers 2 serrano peppers Heavy pinch of salt Cooked those until they took on some color from the browned pork bits and then tossed in a whole head of peeled garlic, crushed up but not minced or even chopped - we cooking for a very long time. When the garlic smells nice we hit it with our seasonings. Cumin and mexican oregano, fresh cracked black pepper and a packet of Goya Sazon, a seasoning blend but mostly I go for it because it's a nice red color and MSG is always appreciated for meaty dishes. Once those spices are smelling nice and fragrant I added 5 terrible winter tomatoes. If y'all were here eating with me, I'd blanch them to remove the skins, but it's just me and I honestly don't mind. We aren't looking for fresh tomato flavor, mostly the acidity and the pectin for our gravy. I added a half cup of water and 3 bay leaves, tasting for salt and pepper and adding more as necessary. I put the pork butt back in and covered. It cooked for 5.5 hours and shreds easily. Early braise pic and taco beauty shot included!