CACOILA SANDWICH (PORTUGESE PULLED PORK)

Slow cooked pork butt marinated in a dry rub and cooked in a white wine/orange juice until fork tender. Served shredded on buns.

          

Hi everyone! What I am sharing with you today is one of my food loves. Love! Love! Love! Cacoila was my introduction to Portuguese food. I was addicted to this delectable amalgamation of slow-roasted pork and spices the very first time I had it, mainly because it was very much like the pulled pork sandwiches I had as a child in Vietnam. This sandwich is very simple—pork and bread, but the flavor is so incredible! If you try this, you will understand why this savory, aromatic, salty, tender, juicy, slow-cooked pork ranks as one of my personal favorite dishes.   
                                                   

My recipe is an adaptation of one I found by Richard Methia. I have made it a couple of times before, making adjustments along the way. As with any other slow-cooked meat, the optimal cut to use for cacoila is one with a lot of marbling and fat. I use boneless pork butt as Richard recommended. One notable deviation from his recipe is the marinating process. I marinaded the pork in a dry rub overnight—the original recipe did not. Another adaption I made was lowering the oven temperature to 250 degrees F instead of the recommended 325 degrees. I find that I get tender and more consistent result cooking meat at the lower temperature.

In the past, the only time I was able to enjoy these sandwiches was when I visited my favorite Portuguese take out restaurant 90 miles away.  I would only have it a couple times a year. Now that I have very closely replicated the recipe, I will be able enjoy cacoila whenever I want! And it is so easy! I cut the pork into 1-inch cubes then let it marinade in a bag of dry spice rub overnight. The next day, the pork goes into a dutch oven along with white wine, orange juice, red wine vinegar, salt, and a bay leaf. Then it's into the oven for about 3.5 hours or until fork tender. Once done, I remove and shred the pork, skim the fat off the top of the drippings/marinade, stir the pork back in, then serve on a sub or a bulky roll. So wonderful!!

UPDATE: When this post was originally published, I provided a link to Richard Methia's site. Unfortunately, the link no longer exists and I have since removed it. But I want to thank Richard for providing the inspiration for this recipe.

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CACOILA SANDWICH (PORTUGESE PULLED PORK)

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INGREDIENTS:

3 lbs. boneless pork butt

1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. smoked paprika

2 tsp. salt, divided

1 1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp. thyme or oregano (either one works well)

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 cup white wine (I use Casal Garcia Vinho Verde)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

6 bulky rolls or buns

INSTRUCTIONS:

Trim excess fat off pork. Don't take too much off—it is needed for flavoring. Cut into 1-inch cubes. Combine all of the dry spices (use only 1 1/2 tsp. salt) for the rub. Sprinkle on pork, place in a zip lock bag, and seal. Massage dry rub into pork. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Combine wine, orange juice, red wine vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Place pork and spices in a dutch oven. Pour liquid into dutch oven. Tuck in a bay leaf. Cover and bake for about 3.5 hours  or until fork tender.

Remove pork from oven. Shred using forks. Skim the top layer of fat off the pork dripping/marinade. Mix shredded pork back in the dutch oven. Serve rolls or buns. Makes 6 sandwiches.

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