Achiote Braised Pork Shoulder

Start with homemade achiote paste, braise with a boneless pork shoulder for 3+ hours until fork tender; serve with pickled red onions and tortillas.

Paste

• 4 tablespoons annatto seeds
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2-1/4 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 6 whole allspice berries
• 1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
• 2 habanero peppers, seeded or not, depending on your spicy preference (I processed them whole)
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white or rice vinegar
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon premium tequila

Ideally grind all spices to powder, and them process with liquids in food processor. I don’t have a spice grinder and so tried to just process everything together and ended up with a chunky/seedy sauce, which was actually good enough by the time everything softened from cooking.

Pork

Brown all sides of 2 to 3lb boneless pork shoulder in hot oil in a Dutch oven. Slice whole white onion. Pour above sauce over pork; add 1/2 cup water and onions. Cover, and cook for 3 hours at 300ºF oven or until fork tender. Turn and pour sauce over top of pork 2 or 3 times while cooking.

Pickled Onions

Slice a red onion as thinly as you can. Cover in 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand in refrigerator while pork is cooking, stirring occasionally.

Serve in warm tortillas.

Paste adapted from. Pork adapted from.