Cafe Rio Pork

Mmmm... Cafe Rio. It makes me miss Provo. There's only one Cafe Rio in the Phoenix area, and it's a bit too far to go there much... especially with a baby that doesn't like the car. I love their burritos and their amazing pork salad. Making the pork is pretty expensive, so I don't do it much, but the huge upside of making my own is that I make a lot of it and then eat it in quesadillas, tacos, burritos, on a salad, etc. I also throw it in some tupperware with rice, beans, and cheese and let Michael take that to work for lunch. This pork has many uses.

There are lots of recipes out there for Cafe Rio pork, and I think they're all pretty good. I most often use one similar to this one. Here's the recipe:
Café Rio Pork
(a mix between Sheri Denney and Martha McMullin's recipes)

7-8 lbs. pork roast (Do a 3-4 lb pork roast if you are just doing your family)
4 cups root beer
5 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
4 T molasses or honey
3 tsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. salt
2 - 3 cups brown sugar
pepper to taste
4 tsp. cumin

Recipe Note: The above sauce makes a ton! So if you have a 3-4 lb pork roast, half the sauce.

Salt and pepper roast and cook in crock pot 8 hours or overnight on low in water. In the morning remove the roast from the crockpot and pull apart with fork, removing fat. Drain all the water in the crockpot. Don't overshred the pork or it will turn mushy. Add the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot and add shredded pork. Cook another 4 hours in crockpot on low.


I don't really cook it the way this recipe calls for.... I just throw all the ingredients together in the crock pot around 10 or 11 a.m., (I don't let the roast cook by itself in water for several hours) turn the crock pot on high, and it's ready by dinner. And it's delicious! Maybe it would be MORE delicious if I cooked it overnight like this chef recommends, but whatever. I'm not usually thinking about the next day's dinner at nighttime, so that's not really practical for me. Also, I know that the real Cafe Rio people use Dr. Pepper instead of Root Beer to cook the pork. I've tried both and they both taste good, so I usually use Root Beer because I'll actually drink the leftover soda if I use that.

Anyway, this pork is awesome. I usually throw it together with romaine lettuce, rice, (I use long grain wild rice, but any rice is fine) tomatoes, cheese, beans, and ranch dressing. (I am too lazy to make the special dressing, although you can find that recipe too in the link above). You can throw on whatever else on this salad too. (tortilla strips, guacamole....) This pork is great because I can get my salad fix without my husband complaining about eating a salad. :-) And, like I mentioned, you can also throw it in burritos, tacos, or whatever else. Make lots of it and enjoy it slowly- it's worth it!