Celebrate National taco Day, October 4th, with this recipe from Melissa’s The Great Pepper Cookbook.

Prep time is 30 minutes, total time is 3 hours, 50 minutes.

The recipe is made in a Dutch oven, but you can easily make it in a slow cooker.

RECIPE: SLOW-COOKED PORK TACOS

Ingredients For 12 One-Cup Servings

 
Basic Garnishes

 
More Garnishes
 

 
Preparation

[2] Pork butt, also called Boston butt (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[3] Pork shoulder, also called picnic shoulder (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

2. HEAT the oil in a large straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

3. COMBINE the chiles and their water in a large bowl with the onion mixture, broth and next 5 ingredients (through cumin). Place half of chile mixture in a blender, taking special care: The hot food expands rapidly, causing a risk of scalding.

To be safe, before blending remove the center piece of the blender lid to allow the steam to escape, secure the lid on the blender, and place a towel over opening in the lid to avoid splatters. Process until smooth. Repeat the procedure with the remaining chile mixture.

4. HEAT a Dutch oven over high heat. Add the pork, fat side down; cook until browned, turning several times, about 10 minutes. Stir in the chile mixture, and bring just to boiling. Reduce the heat and partially cover. Simmer until the pork easily pulls apart with a fork, about 3 to 4 hours.

5. REMOVE the pork from the heat and let it cool until it can be handled, about 30 minutes. Shred the pork and serve with the fixings with warm tortillas.
 
 
Here’s the history of tacos.
 
 
WHAT IS PORK BUTT?

Pork butt has nothing to do with the butt—the rear end or behind—of the pig. The rear of the pig becomes ham (including prosciutto and serrano hams).

Instead, pork butt is a cut from the shoulder of the pig. But it isn’t the same as pork shoulder.

On October 4th, National Taco Day, you can:

 
In Lorena Garcia’s New Taco Classics, the Latin American chef covers approaches to tacos and other street foods of her native region: arepa, empanadas, tamales.

“While I take inspiration from classic renditions of favorite Latin American dishes,” says Chef Garcia, “I make them my own by experimenting with savory and sweet notes, with contrasting elements, with flavors that brazenly cross culinary and geographical borders.”

She inspires you to think outside the taco shell—and inside, too.

You can see a partial galley of the book here.

Here’s the history of the taco—invented by silver miners in the 18th century—plus THE NIBBLE’s own suggestions for thinking outside the shell.

Got rolls? Here’s the recipe for these typical soft, white dinner rolls from King Arthur Flour.

For harvest season, add these slightly sweet, light-gold rolls from King Arthur Flour to your bread basket for a tasty change of pace

And why just dinner? Enjoy them at breakfast and lunch, too.

WHAT’S A DINNER ROLL?

There are many different types of rolls, based on regional, national and other preferences–from the crisp French roll with a crisp crust like a baguette, to the hero roll, long and relatively soft for sandwiches.

The textbook dinner roll is a yeast roll with a soft, pull-apart interior and browned and a crisped exterior. The soft crumb enables sauces and gravies to be sopped up readily. Others enjoy them with butter.

Here’s an explanation of the differences, and recipes for nine types of dinner rolls, from King Arthur Flour.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN DINNER ROLLS

Prep time is 15 minutes to 25 minutes. Bake time is 24-26 minutes.

Ingredients For 24 Rolls

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all dough ingredients in a large bowl, mix and knead into a soft, smooth dough. You can use your hands, a stand mixer or a bread machine set on the dough cycle.

2. PLACE the dough in a lightly greased bowl and allow it to rise for 60 to 75 minutes, until it’s puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk). Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

3. DIVIDE the dough into 24 equal pieces. Round each piece into a smooth ball.

4. LIGHTLY GREASE two 9-inch round cake pans. Space 12 rolls in each pan. Alternatively, you can place all 24 rolls on a 9″ x 13″ sheet or baking pan.

5. COVER the pans and allow the rolls to rise until they’re crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

6. UNCOVER the rolls and bake them for about 20 minutes. Tent lightly with aluminum foil and bake an additional 5 minutes or so, until the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. A digital thermometer inserted into the middle of a center roll should register at least 190°F.

7. REMOVE the rolls from the oven; brush with melted butter if desired. After a couple of minutes, turn the rolls out of the pan onto a cooling rack.

8. SERVE warm. Store completely cooled rolls, well-wrapped, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

[2] Classic dinner rolls. Do you know the 9 different types of dinner rolls? (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour).

[3] Stock up on pumpkin purée: We have a month’s worth of non-pie recipes for it. Here’s more about pumpkin purée from The Kitchn.