You are here: Home / Archives for pork

Crockpot Pork Shoulder

March 11, 2011 by 2 Comments

I don’t use my crockpot enough. I don’t know why, because I’ve always had success with any recipe I’ve tried, so it’s nothing there’s been anything to deter me. More likely than not it’s laziness; even though crockpot cooking is easy, it still involves a level of commitment to preparing things well in advance which I sometimes lack. I got a nice 3.5 qt crockpot for Christmas and it’s the perfect size for myself and my husband, so I really should start utilizing it more.

I had an abundance of apples from my Boston Organics delivery, so I decided to use them in a savory application with some onions and a pork shoulder. This was such an easy dish to put together: I got it ready after I made dinner one night and my husband turned on the crockpot in the morning. It cooked for about 9 hours total and it was so good. The pork was tender and infused with a wonderful apple flavor and the onions were a golden brown and so sweet.

Crockpot Pork Shoulder

3lb pork shoulder, bone in
2 apples, sliced in eighths
2 onions, sliced in thick rings
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
salt and pepper to taste

Place one layer of apples and onions on the bottom of the crockpot and then arrange the pork on top of those. Scatter the rest of the apples and onions around the pork shoulder and add in the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 8 – 10 hours, drain liquids off and serve the pork along with the apples and onions.

Filed Under: meat Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Nothing says appetizing like "pig vag".

October 25, 2009 by 2 Comments

009That’s what our friend Squallie called this particular dish while in its preparation stages. While it’s not the most enticing of descriptions [and if it is enticing to you, we here at Food Shenanigans do not condone bestiality and are now judging you] it is fairly apt, as evidenced by the photo on the right. Granted, it doesn’t look anything special now, but man, when this was done, it was good. I had been wanting to make pork chops for awhile now, and my husband wanted me to make them like his mother did, with stuffing. Of course, he had no idea how they were stuffed or with what, so I started looking at various recipes and throwing out ideas at him. When I said the magical combination of cornbread, chorizo and cheddar cheese, he was sold. The idea came courtesy of Eggs to the Apples and the execution was mostly mine as I forgot to print out the recipe and didn’t feel like looking it up when I got home that night.

The idea is pretty simple and you can really use whatever you’d like for your own recipe. I went with a pared down version of the original, as I didn’t think I could convince the husband that he wanted to eat cooked dried cranberries and I couldn’t find fresh sage at the grocery store. Below is the recipe I ended up going with, and approximate measurements as .. it was late, and I was hungry.

4 thick pork chops, split in the center so that you have a pocket for the stuffing
2 cups of cornbread, cubed
3 chorizo links, casing removed and diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 T vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Start the chorizo cooking in one pan. In another pan, heat the two tablespoons of oil. Season the pork chops with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sear on each side for 2- 3 minutes, until starting to caramelize [the inside will be raw, but will finish cooking in the oven].

006008

Once the chorizo is cooked through and starting to brown up a little, remove it from the heat and add it to the cubed cornbread, along with two tablespoons of the rendered fat from the chorizo. Mix that up, adding however much of the chicken broth will be needed to make the stuffing come together and be moist enough to go in the oven for 8 minutes and not completely dry out. Once the chorizo, cornbread and broth are mixed together evenly, add in the cheddar cheese and give it one last mix.

010

Stuff as much as you can fit into the pocket in each of the chops. I overstuffed mine, but that’s only because I realized I made way too much stuffing. Luckily, the extra stuffing didn’t go to waste, as the husband ate it immediately upon finding it on the counter. Bake in the oven for about 7 – 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops. Cover with foil and let them rest for a few minutes after coming out of the oven.

These were delicious! Well, I have to admit, it’s really the stuffing that was delicious. Pork chops aren’t my favorite by any means, so the stuffing was really the reason I made them. There’s some sort of crazy magical chemistry that must have happened while in the oven, because the stuffing just worked so perfectly. The spicy and sweet chorizo complemented the sweet cornbread so well, and cheese just makes everything better. I feel like I’ll try to shove this stuffing into anything I can get my hands on. And… sorry for that image. Here’s another picture, that’ll make it better:

015

Filed Under: meat Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Carnitas means little meats.

July 25, 2009 by 1 Comment

It also loosely translates into delicious, fyi.

For some reason, I usually end up making either some quasi-Mexican food or pasta for poker night. It’s always easy to make and it’s not too expensive to make for a large group (on poker night, we can go through 3 – 5 pounds of meat, along with whatever else I make). This time around, I decided to bust out the slow cooker my mother-in-law got me for Christmas and use it to to slow cook some pork for tacos.
 

 
I figured the rub probably couldn’t be screwed up, so I didn’t bother looking for a recipe. For the 4.5 pound pork shoulder that I bought, I used the following mix:

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons Mexican chili power
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon salt

That went onto the pork shoulder, and then I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning before I went to work, I tossed it [almost literally, I came pretty close to dropping it] into the slow cooker along with 2 cups of chicken stock. Now, before you say it, I know that traditional carnitas should be cooked in lard, but .. c’mon. I just can’t do it. I know it would have added more flavor, but it’s LARD. I am slowly broadening my cooking horizons, but I’m not there yet, dudes.
 
The pork shoulder cooked for just about 10 hours, and when I got home from work it was perfect. Tender enough to shred apart, still enough bite that it wasn’t just mush. Also? The rub was great. Next time I’ll probably cut the pork shoulder up into smaller pieces and sear those, so that the flavor really comes through.
 

 
After it was shredded, I threw it in the pan to crisp up a bit with some oil, to give it something closer to the traditional carnitas, with the crispy, almost caramelized edges and tender meat.
 
Once all of that was done, I served the carnitas with diced chicken breast [seasoned with salt, pepper and Mexican chili powder, with a splash of lime juice], refried beans, salsa, and corn on the cob.
 

 
This is a nice way to still keep the poker food budget down, but still also make something that’s a bit more creative than the typical stuff I’ve been making lately. I also liked the fact that it’s a pretty healthy meal and has great flavor from the pork and the fresh salsa.
 

Filed Under: meat, poker food Tagged With: , , , , , ,