This is adapted from a recipe in my favorite Bon Appetit issue, May 2003, all recipes from Mexico! Their recipe requires 2 to 3 hours of cooking. Mine requires less than an hour if you have a pressure cooker. This is one recipe that my kids love!
1 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tsp finely grated orange peel
1/2 c water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
3 pounds bone in country-style pork ribs, cut in half
Place all ingredients in pressure cooker and bring to high pressure for 25 minutes. Take off pressure with cold water and check to see if meat is very tender and falling apart. If it is done, remove meat to bowl to cool and bring liquid in pan to a low boil. Cook liquid until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Leave the liquid in the pan and add 1/4 cup brandy and continue cooking for 5 minutes. While the liquid is cooking down, shred meat (discarding any fatty parts) and add to pot after brandy has cooked off for 5 minutes or so. Continue to cook until the meat on the bottom begins to brown in the remaining fat. (If you do not have a pressure cooker, just cook the above ingredients with enough water to cover for 2 hours or so, until meat is very tender, but you will need to cook down the liquid for a LONG time to concentrate the flavor, adding the meat back in at the end.)
For serving, pile meat in warm flour tortillas with diced avocado and fresh salsa. We also use corn tortillas if that is all we have. This is very useful for other recipes too! You can make enchiladas with it or use it as a topping on cheese enchiladas. It is also great with a tomatillo-based salsa verde. I have used leftovers on nachos or cold in a sandwich. My kids LOVE this recipe.
