Smoky Slowcooker Pork Roast and Pulled Pork

Smoky Slowcooker Pork Roast and Pulled Pork

This recipe came maxi-sized for funerals and other parties. We don't have a roasting pan, so we make do with a slowcooker. Original recipe attached for comparison.

We often chop and mix the rub the night before so we can toss this into the crockpot on the way out the door. 

Mike’s Slow-n-Low Pork Roast - Quartered and Slowcookered

Meat rub - Ingredients for rub:

• 1 TBSP seasalt

• 1 TBSP garlic (granulated or powder) – I like granulated

• 1/2 TBSP black pepper

• 1 TSP ground cumin

• 1/2 TSP ground sage

• 1/4 TSP ground thyme (or just a dash)

3.5-4 lb boneless butt pork shoulder roast

1 pounds/ 2 large onions

1 pounds/ 4 medium carrots

2 Tbs Liquid Smoke 

1 bay leaf

1 cup broth 

Instructions (20 minute prep time):

0. Chop vegetables to final desired size (You can remove them or mix them into pulled pork as preferred)

1. Combine rub seasonings

2. Either pat rub onto sides of the meat with hands, or place meat in crockpot with tongs, then sprinkle rub on top and roll meat in the rub until it's absorbed on all sides

3. Place seasoned meat in crock pot, fatty side down

4. Add liquid smoke and bay leaf 

5. Add carrots and onions for flavor. Keep meat and veggies as low as possible for maximum liquid coverage. 

6. Add 1 cup of beef broth. If absolutely necessary to cook, add a little more liquid to almost cover meat as necessary for the slowcooker. This can be avoided if you have a low snug fit and you'll be able to turn meat a few times.

7. Cook on low for 8 hours (may be slightly less time depending on your oven). The pork will be ready once the meat has reached an internal 195 degrees and has the desired texture.

8. Remove meat from heat to rest for 10 minutes. Then, remove fat from top of meat, then slice, pull or chunk meat as desired. 

9. You quickly create pulled pork by beating in a stand mixer and adding a desired BBQ sauce.

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And the original:

 

Mike’s Slow-n-Low Pork Roast

13-16 lb boneless butt pork shoulder roast (Costco $1.69-1.99/lb)

Liquid Smoke – ½ bottle

3 pounds onions (if desired)

5 pounds carrots (if desired)

Meat rub - Ingredients for rub:

• 4 TBSP seasalt

• 4 TBSP garlic (granulated or powder) – I like granulated

• 2 TBSP black pepper

• 1 TBSP ground cumin

• 2 TSP ground sage

• 1 TSP ground thyme

Instructions (20 minute prep time):

1. Combine rub seasonings

2. After rinsing meat, either pat rub onto all meat surfaces with hands, or spread rub on cookie sheet and dab meat in the rub on all meat surfaces

3. Place seasoned meat in roasting pan, fatty side up

4. Add ½ bottle liquid smoke and 2-3 bay leaves at the bottom

5. Add 1 cup of beef broth 

6. Add 5 pounds of carrots and 3 pounds of onions for flavor

7. Roast in oven 400 degrees (or electric roaster pan) for 20 minutes, then turn down to 225 degrees for approximately 11 hours (may be slightly less time depending on your oven). The pork will be ready once the meat has reached an internal 195 degrees.

8. Remove meat from heat to rest in its juices for 30-45 minutes. Then, remove fat from top of meat, and pull or chunk meat as desired

Your home will smell lovely all day, and your hungry eaters will be ready to feast on this simple and yummy meal.

Thai Peanut Noodles

When I was still single, invited this guy over for dinner. In an effort to impress him, I made this chicken/noodle/peanut sauce recipe. As we were eating, he was like, "Peanut butter noodles!" I was so annoyed that he would describe my practically gourmet meal in such a mundane way. Alas, that really is what it is, so now we just embrace it.

 

The above picture was taken tonight when we threw something tonight. It's delicious! We used leftover noodles, and frozen veggies on the side. Also, this version was meatless, but it can be made with chicken as well. This meal is also super fast, which makes it even better.

Thai Peanut Noodles

AKA


 Peanut Butter Noodles

• 1/2 cup green onions, diced
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• ~ 2-3 cups cooked long pasta noodles (spaghetti, linguini, fettuccine, angel hair, etc.)
• 2 Tbsp sesame oil 
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• Optional: shredded or diced chicken

Sauce: 

• 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger (or 1 Tbsp fresh)
• 1/4 cup honey OR 2 Tbsp brown sugar
•  1/3 cup peanut butter (chunky preferred)
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp rice or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce

Instructions:

•  In a wok or large skillet, heat sesame oil. Add cooked pasta, green onions, carrots, and garlic. Mix well and allow to heat through.
• Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, combine all sauce ingredients over medium heat. Stir until heated through and peanut butter is completely melted.
• Pour hot sauce over noodle mixture. Combine.
• Garnish with additional chopped green onions and chopped peanuts. Serve with additional steamed vegetables. (We often use broccoli and cauliflower, but any stir fry vegetables work too.)

Canadian Cheese soup

Soup season is upon us! Soup is among my favorite classes of food.  Scott likes cheese soup, and was dreaming about how they are serving cheese soup at the Cannon Center tomorrow, so I looked up a recipe, and we made some. The recipe called for Canadian bacon, which we didn't technically have, but since it's basically ham, we did have that.

I made homemade mozzarella cheese last night and we were looking at things to make with the leftover whey. I made honey whole wheat bread (also pictured below), and we used whey instead of water to make our broth for this soup. We didn't even think that there could be potential problems with the chemistry of the dish (e.g., if there was still rennet and acid in the whey, it might curdle the soup, just like it curdled the cheese), but it seemed to have worked out. Served it with steamed broccoli and homemade honey whole wheat bread.

From: 10/2/16

Update 10/11/17:
Somehow the recipe didn't make this post, so here's  one we've tried since. We subbed regular bacon this time:

Canadian Cheese Soup

3 cups chicken broth
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 small onions, diced
6 ounces Canadian bacon, trimmed and diced
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon black pepper and/or 1 Serrano pepper finely diced
- Maybe some extra flavor with a splash of Worcestershire sauce and/or cider vinegar

Mix vegetables and broth together in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Melt butter in a sauce pan then add flour. Cook for a few minutes for a nice golden roux. Whisk milk into roux and keep stirring while bringing to a boil for a couple minutes

Mash broth boiled veggies with a potato masher; you still want some chunks when you're done. Add ham/bacon and leave on low heat. Slowly whisk in milky roux. Remove from heat, add cheese and stir until melted.

Apricot cream curry

I'm not a fan of apricots-- I really want them to be peaches, and they taste woodier. My parents had a tree full of giant, lush apricots and were heading out of town, so we ended up with gallons of them. I'd heard of grilled peaches before, so I tried grilling apricots, with pretty good success. The grill softened out the woody texture and released deliciously sweet syrup. They went well on pancakes and toast, but there were just too many of them.

Later that week, we were craving curry. Keeping tiny cans of coconut milk on hand just to make a little curry can be a pain. I did some googling around (research is a strong word for that), and I found some suggestions that northern India doesn't have coconuts anyway. Instead they just make their curry with broth, or soaked nuts.

Nuts aren't exactly cheap, nor part of our regular diet, but the woodiness of the apricots got me thinking, and I decided to replace coconut milk and sugar in our standard curry recipes with lightly blended, grilled apricots. 

You remember our Duck curry in a Duck, right? We tried that recipe with blended apricots instead of coconut milk, and the weirdest thing happened. Our familiar curry tasted like tomato curry. No tomatoes were included (other than a splash of ketchup in the curry paste), yet our tongues were telling us we were eating tomato curry. Not the dinner we expected by any means. 

Since we've had plenty of red curry off that batch of red paste, we thought it was time to go yellow. We adapted this recipe for a basic yellow chicken curry. It worked better with the creamed apricots than the red curry. 

http://pinchofyum.com/easy-homemade-yellow-curry-paste

http://pinchofyum.com/thai-yellow-chicken-curry-with-potatoes

Yellow Curry Paste

• 4 large shallots
• 4 large heads of garlic (not individual cloves - FULL HEADS of garlic)
• 1 6-inch piece of fresh ginger
• 8 Thai chili peppers, but we just used 3 chilis from the garden
• 1½ tablespoons salt
• 2-3 tablespoons turmeric
• 2-3 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 2 teaspoons roasted ground coriander
• 1 stalk Lemongrass
• ¼ cup packed cilantro leaves and stems

Bake/grill the ginger, peppers, shallots and garlic in foil envelopes. Ginger and peppers for 15 minutes, shallots and garlic for 45. Then blend it all together in a food processor. If your food processor is weak sauce, like ours, you'll probably have more success dicing the Lemongrass and cilantro, and blending them first.

Makes about 2 cups, and freezes well for several batches of curry.

Yellow Apricot Pork Curry

• 2 cups potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 pound pork loin, or chicken cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 carrots sliced
• ⅓ cup yellow curry paste
• 2 cups apricot cream 
• 2 cups potato water
• 1 Tbsp Better Than Boullion broth base
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional)
• 
  
• cilantro and rice for serving

Cut and cook the potatoes for 15 minutes in just enough water to cover while you prep the other ingredients. SAVE THE POTATO WATER to add some starch back to your curry. The hot water mixes well with the broth base.

Quickly fry up the meat then set aside. Fry the onions 3 minutes.  Add the carrots and curry paste, stirring for another 3 minutes. When the curry paste has browned up and is releasing its wonderful aromas, add the remaining liquids. Bring to simmer and simmer for at least 10 minutes to meld.

Serve over rice.

OG style Italian sausage soup

It's a bit early for soup, but Scott's having TMJ issues, so anything he doesn't have to chew much makes him happy these days. I think OG spares you some of the preconceptions you might have when you see, "Olive Garden." Always nice to have a soup to hit the spot. We even used Turkey Sausage on special, and didn't notice a real difference.

Slow Cooker OG style Italian Sausage & Kale Soup

20 MINUTES PREP; 5 HOURS COOKING;  SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 3 russet potatoes, sliced into wedges then halved
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups kale or Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 2 ounce cream cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Brown and chunk sausage. Fill crockpot with sausage, potatoes, onion, garlic and broth. Cook low for 8 hours, or high 4. Finish with kale, milk and cream for about 30 minutes to desired texture.

Recipe adapted from Somewhat Simple

Chicken Ranch Tacos

Confession time. The first gift I ever gave Elizabeth was an onion. I guess we'd cooked together and discovered our mutual appreciation, and it felt like a really safe gift to give when you're not actually quite dating yet.

This is my little brother's favorite dish. Dice up chicken breasts, add taco seasoning and ranch dressing. We added a few onions cut into strips while cooking up the chicken, then made it extra creamy by dumping in plain yogurt while it was cooling down. I use yogurt as a healthier alternative to mayo and sour cream in many recipes, but it doesn't always cook well.