Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

I am not big on pulled pork nor am I big on things made with BBQ sauce.  This recipe has both and I LOVE it!  Recipe calls for Pork Shoulder Roast.  I used the sale slab of pork (I don't even know what it was called) and cooked it on the slowwwwww setting - i.e. 12 hours on low.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast 
• 1 cup barbeque sauce (I used "Dianna")
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 small onion, or 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
• 8 hamburger buns, split
• 2 tablespoons butter, or as needed

Directions

1.    Pour vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place pork roast into the slow cooker. In a bowl combine barbeque sauce, vinegar, chicken broth, brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme - mix well and pour into slow cooker.  Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours or High for 5 to 6 hours until pork shreds easily with a fork.

2.    Remove pork from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir to combine with juices.

3.    Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast buns, butter-side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pulled pork into toasted buns.

4.  Enjoy!

 

Roast Pork Tenderloin

Roast Pork Tenderloin Ala Bev Bj

I dined at Bev's house this summer.  She serve a Pork Tenderloin, roasted in the oven.  It was tender, juicy and stayed that way even when we reheated the leftovers for dinner the next night.  Delicious.

1.  Marinate the Port Loin in a mixture of diced Garlic and Olive Oil.   I put it in a plastic bag and refrigerated it overnight.  Use as much or as little garlic as you like.

2.  Bake the loin in a 425°F oven for 15 minutes.

3.  Turn the oven down to 225°F and continue cooking for about 25 minutes per pound.  Bev writes to kind of eyeball it after the first hour, depending on the size of the roast.  Hers are usually 2 to 3 pounds.

Once pork had to be cooked till well done.  That usually made it a bit tough and rubbery unless you were very very very careful.  The doneness of pork has now changed.  I like mine medium.

The following is taken from pork.org :

Pork today is very lean, making it important to not overcook and follow the recommended pork cooking temperature. The safe internal pork cooking temperature for fresh cuts is 145° F. To check doneness properly, use a digital cooking thermometer to measure the temperature at the thickest part of the cut without touching any bone. Once you have reached the desired internal temperature, remove from heat and let it rest for three minutes.

Fresh cut muscle meats such as pork chops, pork roasts, pork loin, and tenderloin should measure of 145° F, ensuring the maximum amount of flavor. Following these pork cooking temperature guidelines will not only result in a safe eating experience, but also preserve the quality of your meat for a juicy, tender, delicious meal.

Pork Cooking Temperature For Popular Cuts

Cut	Temperature
Pork Loin/Tenderloin	145° F – 160° F

Fried Rice

Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 Cups Short Grain Brown Rice
3 Cups Water
2 Tsp Salt

10 Oz (.3 kg) Country Style Pork Spare Ribs
1 TBSP Hoisen Sauce
2 Tsp Honey
1/8 Tsp - 5 Spice Powder
Pinch Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt

Vegetable Oil for frying
3 Eggs
1/4 Tsp Salt

1 TBSP toasted Sesame Oil
About 6 scallions (green onions) - slice and separate whites from greens
1-1/2 Tsp Grated Ginger
2 minced Cloves of Garlic
2 TBSP Soya Sauce
1 Cup frozen Peas, thawed

The recipe calls for "pasta boiled brown rice" which I did.  I will give you the pasta boiled rice instructions although I was not very successful with this method (I kept having to add water over and over and it took 3 times as long as stated) and in future would prepare the pasta according to package instructions and set aside to use.

Also, my grocery stores did not have short grain brown rice so I used long grain brown rice.  I would have preferred the short grain in this recipe.

Tastewise = Delicious

Instructions:

Pasta boil brown rice for 35 minutes (3 Cups of Water to 2 Cups of Rice).  Boil the water, add the rice plus 2 Tsp Salt.  Bring to a boil once again and simmer for 35 minutes.  Strain rice in a colander and set aside.  (or prepare rice according to package instructions and set aside)

Slice the Port Spare Ribs against the grain.  Cut quite thin.  Combine the Hoisen Sauce, Honey, 5 Spice Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Salt.  Add the cut pork to coat and set aside.

Scramble the Eggs in a bowl with Salt.  Add 1 Tsp Vegetable Oil to a large frying pan.  Add eggs and cook for about 1 minute until scrambled eggs are cooked through.  Set aside in a bowl.

Add 2 Tsp Vegetable Oil to Pan and add Pork to pan in one even layer.  Leave it for about 3 minutes until the underside is nice and brown, then turn and cook for about 3 minutes more on second side.  (My slices were VERY thin so it took only about 3 minutes in total to cook - 1.5 minutes each side).  Look for "browness" of slices more than sticking to the cooking time.  Repeat until all meat in cooked.  Do not over crowd and do not turn meat until the underside in nice and brown.
Put cooked meat into bowl with eggs.

Add 1 TBSP toasted Sesame Oil to pan.  Add sliced Scallion Whites.  Cook until brown.  Add Grated Ginger, and Garlic Cloves.  Add Soya Sauce.  Cook 30 seconds.
Add 1/2 of the Rice and mix well.
Turn down the heat and add the rest of the rice and 1 Cup of thawed Frozen Peas.  Heat through.  The rice is added in two batches for ease of handling.

Add the Scallion Greens and serve.

Roast Pork Shoulder

Roast Pork Shoulder

Pork Shoulder was on sale in the supermarket.  I didn't quite know what it was but bought it anyway and found this recipe to cook it.  I made it for Sunday Dinner and it was a huge success, moist and full of flavour.

Ingredients:

3 TBSP Olive Oil

3 TBSP chopped Garlic

Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

1 (4 Pound) Pork Shoulder

Preheat oven to 425°F.

In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Using a pastry brush (or your hands) spread the mixture all over the pork shoulder.

Set the meat on a rack set into a roasting pan.  I lined the bottom of the roasting pan with tin foil for easy clean up.  Roast for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 325°F.  Continue to cook until a meat thermometer reads 180 - 185°F, about 4 hours - (so that is 20 minutes on high heat plus about one hour per pound to cook).  Remove the pork from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle and the juices have settled, about 30 minutes.