SLOW ROASTED CAROLINA PULLED PORK

This is Amandas Aunt Junes recipe. It is really a great meal.
The slaw is a must for great BBQ. It must be a North Carolina thing because you don't see it (or at least I haven't) anywhere else.
I hope you enjoy.


SLOW ROASTED CAROLINA PULLED PORK

1 – 8 1/2 LB. PICNIC PORK SHOULDER (WITH BONE) BOSTON BUTT
1/4 CUP BETTER THAN BASIC BARBECUE RUB

PUT PICNIC PORK SHOULDER IN A LARGE ROASTING PAN. RUB ALL OVER WITH BETTER THAN BASIC BARBECUE RUB AND LET STAND AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR 1 HOUR.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 300 DEGREE AND INSERT A MEAT THERMOMETER INTO THICKEST PART OF ROAST. COVER PORK SHOULDER AND PAN SNUGLY WITH FOIL AND COOK UNTIL TEMPERATURE OF PORK REACHES 180 DEGREE ABOUT 5 HOURS.

REMOVE PORK FROM OVEN AND LET STAND UNTIL COOL ENOUGH TO HANDLE. RESERVE ANY PAN JUICES.

REMOVE AND DISCARD PORK SKIN. USING 2 LARGE FORKS, SHRED MEAT AND THEN TRANSFER PULLED PORK TO A LARGE POT. POUR RESERVED PAN JUICES INTO POT ALL OVER PULLED PORK.


BETTER THAN BASIC BARBECUE RUB

IN A SMALL BOWL, STIR TOGETHER
1/2 CUP SUGAR,
6 TBSP. KOSHER SALT,
1/4 CUP SWEET PAPRIKA,
2 TBS. HOT PAPRIKA,
2 TBS.CHILI POWER,
1 TBS. DRY MUSTARD,
1/2 TSP. CAYENNE AND
1/2 TSP. BLACK PEPPER

BLEND WELL. STORE IN A GLASS JAR UP FOR TO 6 MONTHS. ( I USE McCORMICK GRILL MATES PORK RUB).


BARBECUE SLAW

3/4 TSP. SALT,
1/4 TSP. RED PEPPER,
1 TSP. BLACK PEPPER,
6 1/2 TBSP. SUGAR,
2 LBS. CABBAGE (1 MED. HEAD),SHREDDED
1/4 C. KETCHUP,
3 TBSP. CIDER VINEGAR.

MIX TOGETHER SALT, RED PEPPER, BLACK PEPPER AND SUGAR. TOSS WITH THE CABBAGE. ADD KETCHUP AND VINEGAR AND TOSS AGAIN.

Slow Cooked Carnitas

I had a 9.5 lbs pork shoulder in my freezer and felt the need to break it down into a couple of meals. I started with the BBQ Pork, which was tasty! Then I still had a lare chunk of meat left but was looking for a way to use the avocados on my counter. So this is what I came up with:


1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 - 4 pound pork shoulder roast (mine was bone in & I trimmed all the excess fat off which was a LOT)
3 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
2. Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Use cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.

We used this on tortillas with rice, sour cream, shredded cheese and avocado. It was really good! We ate the left overs just as meat, not added to anything and the flavor was really nice.

I goofed and added 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of 1/4 tsp, which is why I put the amount in bold text. I did not mind the extra cinnamon...however, next time I make this, I will add much more corriander and half again as much cumin than in the original recipe. I also added smoked paprika.

BBQ Pork Sandwiches

Today was a hectic day and I did not have time to fuss with an hour or so in the kitchen preparing and serving dinner. So I opted for something that could sit in the pot for a couple of hours (or slow cooker for even longer) and serve quick on sliced rolls. I was born and raised in North Carolina where they know BBQ pork. Please note, this is NOT Carolina BBQ Pork. This is quick and easy pork that beats the heck out of store bought BBQ pork, but I don't think I'll ever be able to match Carter Brothers in High Point, NC.

3 lbs pork shoulder
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp prepared mustard
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients except pork in large pot, dutch oven or crock pot. Add pork shoulder and coat with sauce.

If using stove top, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours until pork is falling apart and sauce it to desired thickness. Stir occasionally.

If using crock pot set on low temperature and cook for 6-8 hours stirring occasionally.

Pull the pork apart with a fork, stir into the sauce and pile on top of a sliced roll or hamburger bun. May top with coleslaw as I like it or chedder cheese as my husband likes it. The kids like the meat itself served with rice.

Sauteed Pork with Mustard

4 7-oz pork loin (I have used regular bonless pork chops)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)


Mustard Sauce:

2 1/2 tbsps butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsps whole-grain mustard
2 tsps lemon juice

Pound the pork to uniform thickness, then score the fat around the pork slicing partway into the meat.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on the pork.
Pour 2 tbsp of oil into panover medium heat.
Saute' pork until golden brown on both sides, once browned turn heat to low and cook until done.
When pork is finished remove from pan and reserve.
Wipe pan with paper towels.

Put the 2 1/2 tbsps butter in pan over medium heat, Once the butter has melted add the 2/3 cup of cream. Mix the Mustard and the Lemon Juice with the cream.
Bring the sauce to a boil and cook until it slightly thickens, then place the sauteed pork back in the pan and coat it with sauce.

Serve with veg. of your choice.

Crepes

My husband and I were in the kitchen this morning when I opened the fridge, noticing how many left over ingredients we had from Thanksgiving and Christmas fixings. I hate a cramped fridge so my first thought was, "What can we make with oranges and cool whip or whipped cream?" My husband's eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "Crepes!" Brilliant idea, honey!

So we'll start with the crepe batter and then discuss some sweet and savory fillings.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
a pinch of salt

Mix ingredients thoroughly then cover and place batter in the fridge overnight (if you planned far enough in advance). By morning all those little lumps of flour and air bubbles will have dissolved and you'll have a smooth batter. Remove from fridge and let come to room temperature, you may need to add a touch of milk to thin the batter. You're looking for a very thin batter (slightly thicker than water) so it will quickly and easily coat the bottom of your skillet or crepe pan if you own one.

Some prefer to add sugar and vanilla to their batter if they are making sweet crepes, but I like this recipe for both sweet and savory.

Once batter is at room temperature and the correct consistency, heat a medium-sized, nonstick skillet over medium heat and spray lightly with cooking spray. You'll have to play with the next step a bit to adjust for your pan size but start with 1/4 cup of batter. Hold pan in one hand and batter in the other. Pour batter to one side of the pan and at the same time begin to rotate pan to cover the bottom with batter...this may take practice.

You can see in this picture that I did not wait for the batter to settle overnight, there are lumps but you would never know once it's cooked.

Let cook for 30 seconds - 1 minute. Using the edge of a spatula, lift the edge of the crepe to check for doneness...a tiny hint of brown is good, then flip. Cook for another 30 seconds - 1 minute or so and remove from the pan.

Now is the fun part...dressing your crepe. Here are some of my favorite ways to dress up a crepe:

Orange and Sugar - this is a very simple topping but by far a fave! Lightly sprinkle crepe with granulated white sugar then squeeze a fresh orange wedge all over the sugar...not too much or it will feel soggy and dribble. Fold in half then fold in half again to resemble a pie wedge. These don't last very long, we just pick up and eat by hand :) These are equally as delicious with fresh lemon juice.

Strawberry, Pomegranate and Balsamic - I made a lovely strawberry preserve mixture out of frozen strawberries, balsamic vinegar and pomegranate syrup. Slather the preserves onto the crepe and top with fresh whipped cream, roll and eat! Sooo yummy.

Lemon Curd, Mascarpone and Fresh Fruit - Mix equal parts lemon curd and mascarpone cheese, thinly slice apples, pears or strawberries. Slather on lemon cheese mixture, stack on fruit and top with whipped cream. This is particularly lovely because of the textures if using apples or pears. You get a nice crisp bite from the fruit, a slightly tart taste of lemon with a silky, creamy feel from the mascarpone....mmmmmmm.

Chicken, Baby Spinach and Feta - Sweat onions and garlic in olive oil, add chicken strips cut from the breast meat and some red pepper, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. You can add your spinach in this mixture to wilt it or layer it on the crepe if you prefer more texture. Put chicken mix on crepe, sprinkle with crumbled feta and roll.

Tonight we're having a Hawaiian inspired pork crepe. I sweated some onion and garlic then added pork chunks...I only had bone in pork chops in my freezer so I cut the meat from the bone before cooking. Seared the pork, then added soy sauce, brown sugar and crushed pineapple. Top with grated cheddar and viola!

Get creative with your toppings. Try bananas and chocolate, blueberries and whipped cream, the sky is the limit!

Cassoulet

This recipe was presented at one of our Gourmet Night meetings almost 2 years ago. The recipe comes from Cooks Illustrated, which is a favorite recipe source for the lady who hosted this particular gourmet night. Although I do find this recipe to be more complicated than most of the dinners I put together, I highly recommend making it and I do so as often as I can because it's soooo delicious!


Simplified Cassoulet with Pork and Kielbasa
1/2000

This dish can be made without brining the chicken, but we recommend that you do so. To ensure the most time-efficient preparation of the cassoulet, while the chicken is brining and the beans are simmering, prepare the remaining ingredients. Look for dried flageolet beans in specialty food stores. If you can't find a boneless blade-end pork loin roast, a boneless Boston butt makes a fine substitution. Additional salt is not necessary because the brined chicken adds a good deal of it. If you skip the brining step, add salt to taste before serving.

Serves 8

Chicken
1 cup kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 bone in chicken thighs (about 3 1/2 pounds), skin and excess fat removed

Topping
6 slices high-quality sandwich bread , cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 3 cups)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

Beans
1 pound dried flageolet beans or Great Northern beans, picked over and rinsed
1 medium onion , peeled and left whole
1 medium head garlic , outer papery skin removed and top 1/2 inch sliced off
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 slices bacon (about 6 ounces), chopped medium
1 pound boneless pork loin roast (blade-end), trimmed of excess fat and silver skin and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion , chopped fine
2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes , drained
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cup dry white wine (you can sub more chicken stock in pace of the wine)
1/2 pound kielbasa sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices




1. Brining the Chicken: In gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve salt and sugar in 1 quart cold water. Add chicken, pressing out as much air as possible; seal and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 hour. Remove chicken from brine, rinse thoroughly under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Preparing the Topping: While chicken is brining, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix bread crumbs and butter in small baking dish. Bake, tossing occasionally, until light golden brown and crisp, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature; set aside.

3. Bring the beans, whole onion, garlic head, salt, pepper and 8 cups water to a boil in a stockpot or Dutch oven over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the beans are almost fully tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Drain the beans and discard the onion and garlic.

4. While the beans are cooking, fry the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until just beginning to crisp and most of the fat has rendered, 5 to 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, add half of the bacon to the pot with the beans; transfer the remaining bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Increase the heat to medium-high; when the bacon fat is shimmering, add half of the chicken thighs, fleshy-side down; cook until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned on second side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate; repeat with remaining thighs and set aside. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot. Return pot to medium heat; add pork pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add minced garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, and pepper to taste; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth and wine, scraping up browned bits off bottom of pot with wooden spoon. Submerge the chicken in the pot, adding any accumulated juices. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer about 40 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to simmer until the chicken and pork are fully tender, 20 to 30 minutes more.

5. Gently stir the kielbasa, drained beans and reserved bacon into the pot with the chicken and pork; remove and discard the thyme and bay leaf and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the croutons evenly over the surface and bake at 425, uncovered, until the flavors have melded and the croutons are deep golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

All I have to say about this recipe is it is fast and delicious! I'm not a fan of most Rachel Ray dishes, but this one came from Rachel and I really like it. I took it to a church friendship dinner and it got rave reviews! Hint: Start your oven early because it can take a while to heat up to 500 degrees!

Ingredients
4 1/2 pounds pork tenderloins, 2 packages with 2 tenderloins in each package
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, cracked
Steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and black pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves stripped and finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and finely chopped
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Trim silver skin or connective tissue off tenderloins with a very sharp thin knife. (I use my tomato knife for this as the blade is so thin and the serrated edge helps slice through the silver skin).

Place tender loins on a nonstick cookie sheet with a rim. Coat tenderloins in a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, rubbing vinegar into meat. Drizzle tenderloins with extra-virgin olive oil, just enough to coat. Cut small slits into meat and disperse chunks of cracked garlic cloves into meat. Combine steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and pepper with rosemary and thyme and rub meat with blend. Roast in hot oven 20 minutes.

Let meat rest, transfer to a carving board, slice and serve.

Oven fried chicken or pork

A few years ago I came across a Cooking Light Recipe for Oven Fried Chicken. I've not found the recipe again, but I remembered the basic ingredients and have altered it to make quick and tasty chicken for my family. I use to make whole wheat bread crumbs for this recipe, but have recently switched to the more convenient bread crumbs in a cardboard can :)

So here's the basic idea:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

3/4 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup flour
seasonings to taste - I use garlic powder, salt, and onion powder but have also added grated parmessan, black pepper, parsley, thyme and rosemary for additional flavor. My family prefers the garlic, onion and salt, though.

Mix the above ingredients and use to coat your meat. This works really well on boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts. If I'm using bone-in meat, it takes longer to cook and I remove all the skin to cut back on excess grease and fat. I also use this for pork chops, but find that they need less salt than the chicken.

Place your coated meat on a baking sheet that has been lightly oiled and use cooking spray to spray the top of each piece of meat. This keeps the breading from drying out and makes a nice crispy coating on the meat, like fried chicken without all the grease. Bake boneless pieces for 20 minutes, with bone-in pieces the time will vary from about 40 minutes to 1 hour.

I usually serve with garlicky green beans - frozen green beans that have been thawed are tossed in a hot skillet with some olive oil, salt and fresh garlic (or powdered garlic if fresh isn't available). Saute until green beans are tender and you have a bit of carmelly brown color to them.

I also serve rice with this. Add 2 tblsp of olive oil to a pot and saute one small onion chopped with a bit of salt. Once onion has browned I add 1.5 cups of rice, saute a couple of minutes then add 3.5 cups of water or chicken stock and water combination. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. This results in flavorful rice that does not scream for lots of butter :)

This has been a recent favorite in our house. Hope your family likes it!

Creamy Pork Chops

tonight we had the most wonderful pork dish;
2 butterflied chops about 3/4" thick seasoned well with fresh cracked pepper cooked in a skillet with 1 tbls butter and 1 tbls of evoo, cook until desired doneness (med.) remove chops from skillet and keep warm. Meantime in skillet deglaze with 3 tbls of chicken stock and 1/4 cup water. then wisk in 3 oz. of cream cheese w/ chives, when cream cheese has melted continue to heat until slightly thickened serve over chops.

I know the sound of cheese (cream or otherwise) and pork didn't exactly rock my world, but when I tasted it, that changed my mind quick.

I served it with green beans seasoned with butter and garlic powder and also rosemary scones (i'll have to add that recipe later).

Needless to say I am glad that my wife loved this as much as i did because it will show up on the menu again real soon