We'll be rubbing down the pork loin instead of injecting it this time, and here we've put together our own rub consisting of brown sugar, red pepper flakes, McCormick "Steak" seasoning, and garlic powder.
As with all the times we did rubs during our summer grillstravaganza, the seasonings are spooned or poured over one side of meat...
...then worked in by hand until it sticks to all the surfaces. The meat is flipped over and the process is repeated with the other side.
Wrap the meat up tightly and set it away in the fridge over night (or even just for a few hours) to let the flavors develop.
The pork loin is set in the crock pot the next morning and cooked - with no extra liquid or seasonings - for several hours so it becomes pull-apart tender. When the pork is nearing done, we go about putting together the queso for the nachos. First we're taking poblano and red bell peppers and cooking them under the broiler until their skin blackens and chars.
Toss the blackened peppers into a bowl and tightly cover with plastic wrap so they steam in their own heat. After a few minutes peel back the wrap and you'll find the skin is now loose and incredibly easy to remove just with your fingernails. Discard the blackened skin and then roughly chop the peppers.
Here we're cooking the chopped peppers, along with some diced onion, in a medium sauce pan.
After the onions soften, cut up large pieces of Velveeta (or whatever cheese you want to use for the queso) and throw them in.
For a little added flavor, we also threw in half a can of tomatoes with green chilis.
Stir regularly as it heats of medium to medium-low heat.
Eventually you'll get to this perfect melted consistency. Lower the heat and continue to stir every now and again as the rest of the meal comes together.
We made our own chips for the nachos, but you could of course use store-bought. For this nacho experience we cut corn tortillas into wedges and then baked them. You could instead fry them in oil on a skillet, or use flour tortillas.
Finally the pork loin is finished cooking through - here it is about to come out of the crock pot.
You can see how the rub baked directly into the outer layer of the meat.
Cooking in the crock pot without liquid creates an incredibly tender meat - the loin literally pulled apart with my fingers and no utensils required at all.
We're going to turn this into "pulled" pork by simply shredding the meat using two forks and pulling the loin apart.
Once it's all shredded, throw the pork loin into a large bowl.
.
Although tender and easy to tear apart, the meat will be a bit on the dry side, which we're going to fix while also adding in another dimension of flavor by spooning in some of our homemade meat stock.
Don't drench it, but instead just use a few ladlefuls and then gently mix together so the meat soaks up the liquid.
Now we're ready to assemble the actual nachos by laying out the chips in an oven-safe pan and then setting a piece of pulled pork on each individual nacho. Don't skimp here or throw it on haphazardly - you won't each chip to be full of awesome!
Along with the pulled pork, we also diced up some jarred jalapeno and sprinkled it all over the chips for a little heat.
Finally we shred some pepper jack cheese on top and then set the nachos into the oven until the cheese melts.
After coming out of the oven, we take our previously made queso and spoon it over the nachos.
Yeah...it's stupidly awesome, looking and smelling fantastic!
We're soon going to be plating up these nachos that are exciting enough to be a meal, but first we've got one more element to add...
...some salsa! Forget the jarred stuff, we're making our own! For this meal Megan tried to recreate the Chili's restaurant salsa and we get really amazingly close. The recipe's actually incredibly simple - canned rotel chili tomatoes, canned jalapenos, and regular canned diced tomatoes mixed together in the blender, then squeeze in some fresh lime juice and sprinkle some salt and garlic powder. The color and texture is spot-on, and the flavor is very close to what you get at Chilis.
Use tongs or a pancake turner to serve a few nachos on a plate, then spoon some salsa on top or over on the side. Delicious!
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