Hola Mi Gente,
Summer is right around the corner! FINALLY. It has been a long, long, interminably long winter over here (it snowed just a week ago in Chicago–AND IT IS APRIL). But we are getting more and more warm days out of the week, so I’m gonna go ahead and walk by faith and put my coats and boots away for the season.
Warm weather in this house means eating Al Fresco on the patio. It means keeping stashes of guacamole on hand to add dollops onto a tostada, torta, or taco. It also means it’s hot outside, so you wanna be a little more selective about what kind of heat you’re making in the kitchen. Enter the Instant Pot. This beautiful contraption that cuts your cooking time, and absorbs + contains the heat it creates when cooking.
Barbacoa is a traditional style of cooking meat that is low and slow. It is a labor of patience and generations of perfecting. In the Caribbean and Latin America, it is often made over hot coals in a hole in the ground, and covered by banana or maguey leaves. The flavors in the meat are simple, because the slow cooking process renders all the fat and highlights the natural earthy flavors of the meat itself.
We’re calling this recipe a barbacoa recipe because of the results it achieves: fall apart, juicy, put-on-everything meat. That having been said, you should definitely experience from-the-ground barbacoa for yourself sometime. There are few places left that make it traditionally, but when you find one, hold it tight and never let it go.
One of the ways we bring back traditional flavors into this modern-day form of cooking a barbacoa, is adding in fruit juices like pineapple and freshly squeezed oranges. While both of these are on the acidic side, when those flavors marry with the rendered fat of your roast, you end up with a perfectly balanced sort of gravy that is not sweet, or overwhelmingly savory either. Instead it has a sort of refreshing quality to it that is impossible to not keep dipping bread or tortillas into. Then every once in a while you can pile on a piece of pineapple into a bite for an extra zing of saborcito.
The best part? No marinating, and it’s done in right under 2 hours. I know typically that sounds like a long time, but trust me, for the results you get, 2 hours is a breeze. Also, because of the Instant Pot’s warm function (it lasts for 10 hours after the cook time is up), you can set it up to cook in the morning, and come home to a heavenly aroma, and a dinner (or meal prep protein!) that is ready to go from the pot to your mouth in record time.
This recipes pairs well with: My Signature Rice, Black Beans, Guacamole, 15-Minute Salsa, and Homemade Tortillas.
Love, love, love,
Instant Pot Barbacoa
Ingredients
- 1 2.5-3 LB Chuck Roast
- 2.5 TBSP Kosher or Coarse Salt If using table salt, use half the amount and adjust seasoning at the end.
- 1/2 TSP Finely Ground White Pepper
- 2 TSP Cumin
- 3 TSP Chili Powder
- 1/2 TSP dried oregano
- 1 TSP Garlic Powder
- 1 20 OZ Can Pineapple Chunks Use half of the juice in the can, discard the other half. For Whole 30, Use 1 C fresh pineapple + 1 C Water.
- 2 Large Oranges Juiced
Instructions
- Mix together all the dry ingredients and spices. Coat your roast well with the seasoning rub, and rub it into the piece of meat for about 2 minutes. Place pineapple chunks + juice, and orange juice into the instant pot. Place your roast on top of juices. Attach lid and set vent to sealed setting. Put instant pot on Stew/Meat function for 75 minutes. Once cooking time is done, quick release the steam, shred your meat, and enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
