Love Cafe Rio

When I die and go to heaven (assuming that I’m going in that direction), there had better be a Cafe Rio there. Life — and heaven — just wouldn’t be worth it if I couldn’t eat at Cafe Rio.

Cafe Rio.  Sweet pulled pork burrito enchilada style.  Black beans and rice.  Salsa with cilantro.  Guacamole.  Sour cream.  (I think I’m hungry. . .)

Saturday, the local grocery store had a fabulous sale on pork.  I bought some to make sweet pulled pork.

Have you ever made it before, Nina?

Nope.  But how hard can it be?

I scoured recipes on the Internet.  I found a recipe that I thought was on my skill level (cocky-and-confident-but-woefully-lacking-in-real-skill).  It called for 2 cups of brown sugar.  TWO CUPS!  No wonder it’s considered ‘sweet’ pulled pork.

I put the pork in the crock-pot.  I poured the salsa/brown sugar mixture over it.  I put the lid on the crock-pot and turned it on high.  Every couple of hours, I basted the meat with the sauce.  At times, I was concerned because there was so much liquid.  The recipe said not to worry.  I worried.

It smelled wonderful as it was cooking.  I gained ten pounds just from the aroma.

After cooking for 10 hours, the meat literally shredded itself as I stirred it.  And, amazingly enough, there was just the right amount of liquid.  (Guess I shouldn’t have been so skeptical.)

And how did it taste?  Mighty fine.  Mighty fine.

Now, I just need to find a recipe for the yummy green sauce that Cafe Rio uses . . . .