I moved! Everything is in boxes and just everywhere. But
folks need to eat! So we are in the grocery store trying to think of what to
cook.
Ah-ha! Pulled pork! Easy to make
and creates a lot! We should try a
new recipe and actually follow it!
And thus,
we buy the meat, go home, start to brine the pork, and then realize… it’s a
recipe that is actually cooked in a smoker and not a crock pot. Remember, read
the recipe first! Don’t just check for the correct ingredients!
So, now we sort of follow the recipe. Brine the pork in the
fridge overnight, 12 hours, in 1 ½ cups of non iodized table salt (what is
pickling salt anyways???) and enough water to submerge it in the crock pot
bowl. The next morning we drained it, covered it in the spices, and then put it
in the slow cooker. We had it on low for an hour then on high for the remaining
time. I wanted it to heat up slowly since we took it right out from the fridge.
Note on the spices: I actually had fennel seeds and was able
to grind them up! The grinder (a small spice/coffee grinder) doesn’t work very
well if you just push down and pulse it because the seeds are so small. I
actually shook mine a little to toss the seeds around while it was grinding
them up.
After 7 hours I tried to shred it, but it was still too
tough. I just cut the fat off and then cut it off the bone and put it back in
for another 2 hours. After 9 hours some pieces were starting to shred but some
pieces were not. Nate was leaving so we just took it all out and cleaned up. I
think 11-12 hours were needed.
We were worried about leaving it in the pot with on water so
I added about a cup of water to it. Don’t do that! So much liquid cooks out of
the pork that it ended up basically in a broth.
Rub:
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
1 teaspoon whole coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon paprika
Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and
grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder,
onion powder, and paprika.
Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over
the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub
as possible adheres. Put into crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours.
Use fork to
check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling
with a fork. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at
least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve!
Pulled Pork Sandwich:
Put a little butter on a roll and then griddle on med - med high until browned.
Quesadilla:
Heat some oil on a pan
Put down one tortilla, add the cheese, pork, let it cook until it melted.
Top with additional tortilla, flip and cook until browned.
If you are not good at flipping (the edges aren't sealed so it all falls out)...
heat another tortilla until browned and then put it on top of the other one!
Scramblette:
Heat meat and veggies in a pan, pour 1-2 beaten eggs over the top, scramble until done!
