Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas.

I work in an Italian restaurant.  Its pretty amazing and I'm always proud to talk about the food we dish up there.  The ingredients are mostly local and in-season (right up my alley) which makes it serendipitous, for me anyway, that everyday before we open the cooks prepare us staff lunch.  We all sit down at the bar and fill up on whatever delicious concoction Jose has prepared for us (in case you were wondering Jose is not Italian). 
About a week or so ago I arrived for my shift a half hour early to clean and set up the bar in preparation for an impending health inspection. If you have ever worked in a restaurant for any amount of time you understand the weight of the phrase "impending health inspection".  No matter how careful and clean you are this health inspector will strike the fear of God, Himself into your heart.   She's nefariously good at what she does.  
I digress.
 So this particular day I was hunched over the soda gun with toothpicks and sanitizer when an amazing shredded pork dish comes to the bar for lunch. I still had quite a bit of work ahead of me before open so I plugged on working,  a decision that has haunted me ever since.  When 10 people dining together are completely silent, save for a few 'Mmms' and 'Yums' for the duration of a meal, you know its got to be delicious. 
That staff lunch was the inspiration for this recipe. I went straight home with the promise of shredded pork in my fridge for days to come.

Here is what you will need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
a teeny pinch of ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

 Now, as you can see I used two small pork tenderloins instead of one large roast- because that's what I had in my freezer- so I cut the spice quantities in half.

Take all your dry ingredients and mix them together in a bowl

Coat the pork with the spice mixture

Place a few bay leaves on the bottom of your slow cooker

then place the pork on the bay leaves

measure our your stock/broth

and pour into your slow cooker, careful not to rinse the spices from the pork.

Now set it and forget it! 

(slow and low for 8 hours)

I don't have any photos of the succeeding steps because while this little beauty was cooking away I went to work and instructed Chris to do the shredding but not the photographing... Once the pork is finished remove it from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Using two forks shred the pork and return to the slow cooker so that the meat can absorb the Au jus.

From here you can do just about anything from carnitas to risotto (I did both!)  For the carnitas add fresh pico de gallo, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime. To make a full meal add a side of black beans and roasted sweet potato. Pork and sweet potatoes were meant to be together.

Save the leftover pork for tomorrow's recipe, that is, if you have any.

Enjoy!

Sunday Dinner: Honey Dijon Pork Tenderloin.

Since the restaurant closed I've been able to do 'Sunday Dinners' whenever I please. Which means they've been happening less frequently on Sundays...but today I was in the cookin' mood and I had a wee little pork tenderloin in the fridge, some potatoes in the pantry and a good ol' fashioned can of peas just calling my name.

In defense of the peas, I love them canned. I do not love them frozen. And seeing as I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first CSA box of the season, it had to be canned.

Okay, back to the tenderloin.

My favorite way to prepare pork is to pair it with a sweet(ish) glaze or sauce. Also, I have seasonal allergies (stay with me here). Like, my- head- is- going- to- explode- from- the- intolerable- pressure- and- all- I- want- to- do- is- pull- the- covers- over- my- head- and- burrow- deeper- into- my- bed- allergies. So A good friend of mine suggested I get myself some local honey to combat the allergies. Every morning while the coffee is brewing a psych myself up to take a teaspoon of honey straight up. I shudder and choke as the nasty stuff slips slowly down my throat. Kitchen immunotherapy (sort of like bathroom surgery), if you will. You see, I hate honey so I'm scheming up a way to get the stuff into my system without provoking my gag reflex. And the idea hits me to make a glaze for the pork with the local honey. Kill two birds with one stone! Only, I didn't know, in order for the honey to work as an antidote is has to be raw; uncooked. Frig.

Well at least the pork was killer.

Here is what you will need:

1 boneless pork tenderloin
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
3/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 TBSP Honey
1 TBSP fresh or dried parsley
a pinch or two of dried thyme
2 TBSP freshly chopped green onion or chives
2 TBSP evoo

My tenderloin was only 10 ounces so I just eyeballed the ingredients for my sauce. Taste as you go, if you want a more subtle mustard flavor adjust the honey and vinegar amounts.


Start with the tenderloin, mine was really well trimmed but you may need to remove the silver skin (the tough membrane that covers the top of the loin) from yours.


The secret to a really good sear is pat the meat down with a paper towel to wick away the moisture, then salt and pepper and set aside while you prepare the glaze.

In a small bowl mix together the mustard, honey, white wine vinegar, parsley, thyme and green onion. Now taste it and adjust to your liking.

In an oven proof saute pan (you'll be going from stove to oven back to stove) on med-high, heat up the olive oil
When its hot, place the tenderloin in the pan

and sear each side for about 30 seconds

until its nice and golden brown on all sides.


Remove pan from heat and baste the meat with the glaze.

Make sure you use it all, brushing all sides then cook in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the tenderloin reaches and internal temperature of 145 degrees.


When the tenderloin is finished cooking remove it from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes.

While the pork is resting deglaze the pan. I don't have a photo of this step, sorry. There was a toddler having a melt down and a husband just getting home from work and, well, it slipped my mind. To deglaze take the saute pan with all the drippings and honey glaze and place it on the stove on medium heat. If you have a open bottle of nice white wine, you can use that, if not just use water. Pour the water/wine into the pan and with a wooden spatula or spoon scrape the fond (the caramelized bits of meat and sauce) from the bottom of the pan and stir adding enough water/wine to make a thin sauce to pour over your meat.

Just like so...


Pair it with a yummy green salad...

...mashed potatoes and peas and viola! Sunday dinner.

In theory now I would sit down with my husband and son and we would talk about how Chris's games went and the art project we worked on while daddy was working. Liam would eat his mashed potatoes and peas and push the pork around his plate after at least, giving it a try and then deciding he didn't care for it...

In practice, everything is on the table and were just sitting down to eat when I realize there are no serving spoons so I jump up to grab them, then Liam is spitting out his mashed potatoes into his hands and wringing his hands together then shaking them over the table spraying mashed potato bit and repeating the "S" word over and over because he doesn't like the texture. I jam a forkful of food into my face and chomp as I wipe his hands clean of potato. He refuses to try anything else on his plate and proceeds to cry when Chris and I make him sit with us at the table because DAMNIT this is SUNDAY DINNER! I munch a bit of salad and jump up from the table to microwave some leftover noodles and corn for Liam. By the time I get back to the table my plate is cold but at least Liam is eating something. Finally after a few fork fulls of noodles and corn we are defeated and let him down to go watch Thomas the train while we eat our thoughtfully prepared, yet cold dinners.

Just a day in the life.

Enjoy the pork Y'all.

Barbecue Pulled Pork

We can never go out to eat in a restaurant again. Liam simply will not have it. From the minute we are seated he turns into a snarling, twisted knot of tot that cannot be contained. And while I'm content to ignore his antics, fellow diners may find him... distracting.
So since we're not able to dine out I'm accumulating a nice little stock pile of recipes to turn to when I get the itch. Today's itch was Barbecue.
Here, in North Carolina, that means pulled pork.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Carolina Barbecue: Eastern style and Western or 'Lexington' style. The differences between the two range from the type and amount of sauce, the cut of the meat and even accompanying slaw. I'm not concenered, so much, with the latter two. Its the sauce that really makes or breaks BBQ for me. Which is why I'm a Western style gal, myself. Eastern is basically the meat and the teeniest bit of vinegar based sauce. And whenever I find myself eating it, I also find myself, very discretely, looking around for bottle of Texas Pete or KC Masterpiece. Which is probably a crime punishable by death in some parts of the state.

Right or wrong I like barbecue on my, ahem, barbecue.

This recipe is adapted from my friend Donna's recipe. I get by with a little help from my friends.

Here is what you will need:

2 lbs Pork roast, trimmed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons smokey paprika
2 Tablespoons crushed red pepper
1 Tablespoon onion flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder


**If you do not have all the spices in your spice cabinet, McCormick makes a slow cooker packet which is almost identical to this recipe.




I had never tried Smithfield before, but hey if its good enough for Paula Deen...

I love Paula Deen.

Out of the package, rinse the roast

and with a sharp knife trim away the excess fat.

Place the roast in the slow cooker.

mix together: Paprika, garlic powder,

Crushed red pepper,

and onion flakes

cover the roast with the spice rub.

Now drop in the brown sugar,

Ketchup and vinegar.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. I ended up doing a combination for about 6 hours.


Remove from the slow cooker.




If the meat pulls away easily from the roast its finished cooking.




Using two forks, pull the meat from the roast.

Once all the meat is shredded return the the slow cooker


and coat with remaining sauce. I let it sit in the slow cooker for another 10 minutes to warm it back up again before serving.

BBQ pulled pork with melty cheddar on a potato bun with green beans.

I'm one happy girl, y'all.