Slicing the pork: quarter-inch and even
Ok so the meat's done marinating, we talked about why you dont need a trompo, and now we're at the part where a lot of people either rush or overthink it. Slicing.
Here's the thing. You're not trying to shave this paper thin like a real trompo would. You're aiming for quarter-inch slices, give or take, cut against the grain. That thickness matters more than people think. Too thin and it turns into jerky the second it hits a hot pan. Too thick and the outside chars before the inside's even close to done, and you end up with a raw middle and a burnt edge, which is the opposite of what we want.
Find the grain first
Before you cut anything, look at the meat. The grain is the direction the muscle fibers run — you'll see faint lines going one way across the pork. You want to slice across those lines, not with them. If you cut with the grain you get long stringy pieces that are tough to chew no matter how good the marinade was.
Pork shoulder, which is what most of you are working with, has grain that shifts a little as you move across the cut. Dont just set your knife angle once and plow through the whole thing. Check every few slices and adjust.
The actual cutting
Lay the meat flat on your board. Pat it dry first — I know it's been sitting in marinade, but a wet surface makes the knife slip and that's how people nick a finger. Dry it, then cut.
Use a long knife if you've got one. A chef's knife works fine. You're not sawing, you're pulling the blade through in one motion, quarter-inch, quarter-inch, quarter-inch. Try to keep your slices consistent width because they're all going into the same pan at the same time and you want them to finish together.
If you hit a chunk of fat or connective tissue that's not rendering down, trim it off to the side. Dont fight it into a slice. Just set it aside.
Why even matters more than thin
I've had people ask if thinner is always better, like they're trying to get as close to trompo-shaved as possible with a kitchen knife. My opinion — and I've gone back and forth on this — is that even beats thin every time. A pile of quarter-inch pieces that are all the same size cooks predictably. You know when to pull it because everything's behaving the same way in the pan. A mix of thick and thin pieces means you're pulling some out early and leaving others in, and that's how you get half your meat overdone.
Consistency is the skill here, not precision. Nobody's grading you on perfect quarter-inch geometry. They're grading you on whether the pork's actually good to eat.
A 3 a.m. tangent
I'll tell you, some of my best thinking on this stuff happens at weird hours. When the twins were newborn I was up one night around 3 a.m. holding Boston, and I had nothing to do with my other hand, so I was standing at the counter dry-toasting a batch of guajillos just to have something going. Mckenzie walked in half asleep and just looked at me like what are you doing. I didn't really have an answer. But that batch turned into a genuinely good salsa later that week, and it's made me think slicing and prep work like this is kind of the same thing — it's repetitive, it's a little mindless, and if you pay attention to it even when you're tired, you get something solid out the other end. Doesn't have to be a peak moment. Just has to be consistent.
What to do with it after
Once it's all sliced, lay the pieces out on a sheet pan or a big plate so they're not clumped together. You're going into a hot pan or grill next to sear it, and if the pieces are stacked and stuck together they'll steam instead of char. Give them air.
Dont slice too far ahead either. If you cut it an hour before you cook, cover it and get it in the fridge — pork sitting out at room temp for a long stretch isn't worth the risk, especially once it's been broken down into smaller pieces with more surface area exposed.
Before next time
Go home and practice finding the grain on whatever protein's in your fridge, even if it's just chicken thighs for dinner. Getting comfortable reading which way the fibers run is the whole trick, and it's faster to learn on something low-stakes than on the pork the day of.