Cigar City Jai Alai +Pulled Pork Carnita Bowl

Is there anything cooler than a slow cooker? Prep the meat before going to work, let it slowly cook all day long, then come home to a finished homemade meal!? Self high five!

This recipe was adapted from Skinny Taste. Brown a decent sized pork shoulder on all sides and combine in the slow cooker with chicken stock, adobo peppers, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper and adobo seasoning. Set the temperature and go about your day!

What you get is a fall apart, juicy cut of meat. You shred the meat and let it cook in the juices another 15 minutes. Holy pop of flavor, Batman!

To build the burrito bowl, microwave or boil one cup  of white or brown rice and juice one lime into it. Next come the toppings and you can do this any way you want. Here's how I prefer it: salsa on top of the rice. What kind? Any kind! I really liked Ousley Ouch's Peach Mango Habanero. Next, the pulled pork and some of the juices. The rest is random: fresh lettuce, roasted red peppers, a dab of sour cream, sliced avocado, shredded cheddar cheese, hot sauce and a slice of lime! Boom!

I get flavors of the spicy. sweet juicy pork mingling with the peach mango salsa, the crunch of fresh cut cool lettuce, sweet and charred peppers, tangy sour cream and the soothing noted of creamy avocado. So hard to eat this dish *slow*! (see what I did there?)

Mexican influenced dishes are usually best paired with hop forward IPAs. They compliment the notes of cilantro and citrusy flavors and help calm the heat from spices. 

Cigar City's Jai Alai is no exception. One of my top favorite beers, it is bursting with sweet malt flavors balanced by a pronounced hop profile of pine, resin and tropical fruit. 

This pairing was so perfect that I wish I had more than one can of Jai Alai on hand! The malts melted into the juicy pork while the hops lifted and cut thru the richness of the toppings. It calmed the flames from the adobo peppers and hot sauce while enhancing the flavors of the pork. 

Of course, you could also make tacos out of this recipe. That's totally allowable.  

Other beers I would like to try with this recipe are: Stone Ruination 2.0, SweetWater IPA, and Terrapin High-5!

Thanks for reading! See you at the dinner table. 

Peace. - Lana