Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Last night for dinner we recreated one of our favorite dishes from Cafe Rio, the Pork Barbacoa Burrito. We have been recreating their burritos for quite sometime now but we always use steak because we haven't had the recipe for the pork. There are many versions of this copycat recipe but most of them include coke, pepsi or sprite but this version doesn't and it's very easy to make.

Sweet Pork

• 1 pork boneless pork loin (mine was 4lbs) (you can even use chicken breasts)
• 1 can jalapeno salsa; El Pato brand, can add 2 cans if you like more on the spicy side than the sweet side (see picture; it's in the latino section at Wal-mart)
• 2 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. cumin
• 1 t. pepper
• 1 T. garlic salt

Place all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours. After 4 hours cut the roast into 3-4 sections and let it cook for another hour. After one hour you can begin to shred the pork in the slow cooker (I used 2 forks). It will still be tough and so you just want to start to break it up. You'll still have large pieces of pork. Keep coming back every hour or so and you can break it down even more. I did this about 3 times and after the 7 hour mark hit the pork was moist enough it just kind of fell apart. Depending how much juice you have you can leave the lid off at the end to thicken the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. I didn't measure the cumin, pepper and garlic salt so I'm just estimating on the amounts. Add however much tastes good to you.

*Now, I'm sure you could leave the pork alone for the full 6-8 hours and it would pull apart and taste the same but I couldn't resist playing a little, and I told myself I needed to keep testing it to make sure it was tasting just like Cafe Rio's pork. Pathetic I know but I'm home all day and after smelling it for 4 hours I couldn't help myself. And the longer you cook it the better it tastes. Some pork loin recipes you cook for 16 hours!Now there are also recipes for the rice which are more complicated than I think needs be. We always just cook up rice, we use brown (trying to eat healthy) and then add cilantro and lime juice after it's cooked. No, I won't be giving you a recipe for beans (although you can find some) because I think it's worth the $0.59 for a can of pinto beans and Wal-mart has some that are "Ranch Style" which add a little more flavor. As far as the green sauce goes (see picture) we, okay I don't actually eat it at Cafe Rio or at home, but Matt and my extended family all prefer the Herdez Salsa Verde. Just use the kind you like the best. Now you just assemble the burrito. Add a little cheese, or a lot if you're me and microwave or bake or broil. It's that easy and it tastes very close to Cafe Rio. Oh, and the leftover pork freezes just be sure to put the sauce with it.