Spatula Diaries: Pulled pork tostadas for Super Bowl snacking

Ahh, the pork butt.

Few cuts of meat are as reasonably priced and versatile, and cooking it to fork-tender perfection requires almost no culinary skills.

Sure, you can show off your grill prowess and smoke it low and slow, painting on a tangy baste until the butt falls off the bone. Or, you can get smart and lazy and lock it in the oven overnight at 250 degrees. While you’re sleeping, the fat-strapped butt is agreeably roasting away, preparing to fall apart in the morning as you carve it with eager forks.

Your stupid-easy pulled pork is perfect for all sorts of applications, including barbecue sandwiches, pulled pork pizza, spicy pork wontons, the pork-based stew posole and these super delicious pulled pork tostadas with chipotle crema. Enjoy this hearty game-day dish.

Pulled Pork Tostadas with Chipotle Crema

Serves 10-12

For the pulled pork:
1 6-pound bone-in pork butt (shoulder roast)
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
3 bay leaves

Heat the oven to 250 degrees. Season pork generously with Kosher salt and cracked black pepper and place it fat side up in a good quality oven-proof roaster, such as Le Creuset. Add bay leaves and a small amount of water to the bottom of the roaster. Leave the lid off (this will ensure the fat crisps), and place in the oven overnight, or for about 8 hours. Remove from the oven and cool. “Pull” the pork into shreds with your fingers or with forks, separating and discarding fat. Reserve the pork for tostadas.

For the tostadas:
12.5-ounce package tostada shells (about 24 shells, assume 2 per person)
Guacamole or refried beans
Pulled pork

A combination of the following:
Roasted red and yellow peppers, sliced
Shredded cabbage or lettuce
Crumbled queso fresco
Fresh sliced jalapeño peppers
Radish slices
Fresh cilantro
Salsa

Chipotle crema*

Spread the guacamole or refried beans on the surface of each tostada shell. Add the pork and a combination (or all) of the next seven ingredients. Drizzle with chipotle crema and serve.

*For the chipotle crema:
1 cup sour cream or Mexican crema (available at Latin American supermarkets)
2 tablespoons canned chipotles in adobo, chopped with juice

Combine the sour cream or crema and chopped chipotles in a food processor, pulsing until smooth. Taste and add more chipotles for additional heat, if desired.

Maggie Heyn Richardson is a regular 225 contributor and the author of Hungry for Louisiana, An Omnivore’s Journey (LSU Press). Reach her at hungryforlouisiana.com.