Sorta Pulled Pork

The rolls I mentioned the other day were made to go with this recipe.  I first had pulled pork at Calhoun's in Knoxville (the original location in a barn).  I found a recipe for Carolina Pulled Pork in my It's All American Food cookbook.  It said I needed a barbecue or something to smoke the pork with hickory wood chips and a crock pot, and bone-in pork shoulder.  Well, I have neither grill nor smoker, and crock pots are way too small for the kind of cooking I do.  Plus, my pork was a boneless butt.  So, being me, I didn't follow the recipe too closely; I just did what I could.

MARJIE'S SORTA PULLED PORK

1 piece of pork, about 5 or 7 pounds (or whatever you have)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 cup water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
Barbecue Sauce

In a stock pot, heat the oil, and cook the onion until soft.  Add the pork, brown on all sides, and add the water and all spices except the barbecue sauce.  Heat to a simmer, turn down and cook for 3 or 4 hours, until the meat is really soft.  Pour off the cooking juices into a very large measuring cup, and add ice to chill and take the fat out of the juices.  While that's chilling, shred the pork with a pair of forks, removing the fat as you go.  Return the pork to the pan, scoop the ice remnants and congealed fat from the juices. and use the pan drippings to make your favorite barbecue sauce, or add some to your favorite store-bought (which is what I did).  Heat through and serve on some wonderful rolls.

OK, it's undoubtedly not up to Big Dude Larry's standards, but my guys wolfed it down.  They were happy that there was enough for lunch the next day, too.

And look at the texture of those rolls! See what I meant when I said they were fine grained and beautiful?

Tomorrow is one of my two autumn book sales!  We'll see what treasures I can find!  Oh, wait, I can't buy any more books because I have no more storage space.  Of course. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Pork Butt

Oh, the title possibilities here: "Rubbed Butt"? Or, as my kids term it, having seen this unfortunate label on a piece of meat in the supermarket some years ago, "Butt Whole"? Anyway....last week it was pretty chilly here. We're talking high of 58 from Monday through Thursday sort of chilly. Paula posted about her ribs, and, since I had the "butt whole" out of the freezer, I thought, "Well, why not adapt?" So adapt I did.

RUBBED PORK BUTT

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. mustard powder
ground black pepper

Mix all the seasonings together in a bowl. Smash into all sides of the meat. Put it in a roasting pan, let it sit for a while, then put it in the oven at 325 for about 30 minutes per pound (mine took 6 hours - and it was boneless). Ladle the fat off the pan drippings, and add 1/2 cup water. To this, whisk in 1 cup cold water whisked with 2 tbsp. cornstarch; cook until the gravy thickens and turns clear. Serve with "Heart Attack Potatoes":

Wash, slice and boil 4 to 5 pounds red skinned potatoes (leave skin on) until tender. Drain in a colander. In the same pan, melt one stick butter and one stick margarine. Grind in a bunch of black pepper, and add chopped fresh or dried parsley - about 1/4 cup. Stir in the potatoes and serve. "Heart attack goodness on a plate!" according to one of my daughters, hence the name.

Pulled Pork (sorta)

"I promise to love, honor and cherish, and go out to dinner every Friday and Saturday night, for as long as we both shall live." Or, at least, that's how I remember our vows.

When we lived in Knoxville, there was a great rib place in an old, converted barn, right in the middle of all of "the stuff of civilization". While I love a great plate of ribs, I don't like the mess when I'm out, and I don't like all the tooth work involved. Not that the meat is tough, I just don't like chewing it off the bone. One of their great dishes was "Pulled Pork". It literally was the meat pulled off the ribs, then doused in a great barbecue sauce. Served with steak fries, it was a manly dish adapted to the more delicate needs of a mess-averse girly-girl.

Since 1994, when we spent an entire summer on the road for business (literally - we left Memorial Day weekend, and returned on Labor Day, so the kids could start school th next day), my dearly beloved has refused to follow the "out to dinner" part of his vows unless we were out of town - and not happily then! So, Friday and Saturday dinners for me are the ones I refuse to take much time for. On Friday and Saturday, I'm doing something that takes a while - wallpapering, sewing, new drapes, whatever - and I'm not going to waste a lot of time cooking. So last Thursday night I had made the Wall Street Journal's pork roast, but had a lot left over. Saturday I remembered the Pulled Pork, and decided I'd make a variation of it. Everyone loved it.

SORT OF PULLED PORK

2 to 3 pounds leftover pork, cut into small strips
2 cups water
3 beef bouillon cubes
1 onion, minced
1/4 cup water whisked with 1/4 cup flour
A couple of dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
3 loaves French Bread, cut in half

Boil the water, cubes and onion, and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk in the water/flour mix; stir until thickened. Add the pork; simmer about 15 minutes. Spoon into the rolls with a slotted spoon, to avoid too much gravy; add more gravy if desired. This is a very filling, and easy, meal.

Pork Roast

When reading Wednesday's Wall Street Journal (on Thursday), I came upon an article about pig farmers in England losing money on their products. To publicize their plight, they recorded a song and video called "Stand By Your Ham". Of course, I had to google it, and it made me giggle. It also reminded me of a recipe I had seen in the Wall Street Journal a couple of Saturdays ago. They were interviewing a chef named Donald Link from Louisiana, and he said he likes to cook this at home.

DONALD LINK'S PORK ROAST

1 Boneless Pork Butt (around 8 pounds)
salt & pepper
2 tbsp. oil
2 onions, sliced thin
8 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 tbsp. rosemary
1 tbsp. thyme
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
juice of 1/2 lemon

Rub the salt and pepper into the port; let it sit about 30 minutes.

Slice the onion and garlic; mix with the rosemary and thyme and set aside.

In a dutch oven, brown the pork in the oil. Remove from the pan to a platter. Add the butter to the pan and melt it. Whisk in the flour; combine until smooth. Stir in the onion mixture until it's coated with the butter/flour combo, then whisk in the chicken broth until smooth. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Return the meat and juices to the dutch oven. Roast, covered, in the oven at 275 for 3 to 4 hours, basting every hour, until the roast is up to 170.

Remove the pork roast from the dutch oven, and let it sit on a platter. Skim the fat off the broth in the pan, and simmer the broth over medium-high heat until it is reduced by 1/3 and coats the back of the spoon. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Serve with white rice and collard greens with bacon.

I didn't have a dutch oven, so I used a covered roaster. I also used garlic powder instead of garlic. Other than that, I went "by the book" on this one. Oh, and I'm not from Louisiana, so I'm not quite sure of the "collard greens" thing. We ate spinach. Jeffrey ate some leftovers for breakfast, so it must have met with his approval.