Slow Cooked Asian Chuck Roast

It is a new year and I am going to again say that I'm going to post once a week! I'd like to try one new recipe each week. I have a few recipes tagged and I'm really looking forward to what comes next!

This week I made a Slow Cooked Asian Chuck Roast which is a Wegmans recipe. 

A few changes:

- Used a dutch oven instead of crock pot

- Used prepared dried noodles instead of the frozen Udon noodles

- Instead of pan searing flour I used flour with a pinch of salt and white pepper

- Canned baby corn instead of frozen since it wasn't at the grocery store

- Fresh broccoli instead of frozen since that is what I had at home

The Thai stock smells amazing! It is a great way to add flavor without needing a purchase lot of ingredients. I have 2 cups left so I need to figure out how to use the rest of it! I'm thinking noodle soup!

The BBQ sauce had a bit of kick too it but it actually was sweet when it had all cooked out.

Slow Cooked Asian Chuck Roast

Adapted from Wegmans

serves 4

Ingredients
2 1/2 - 3 lbs Boneless Beef Chuck Roast
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 bottle (20 oz) Asian-Style BBQ Sauce
2 cups Thai Culinary Stock
1 can Baby Corn, sliced in 1/2-inch rounds
16 oz (1 package) Broccoli
Chinese Noodles, prepared per pkg directions

Directions
Dust meat with flour; pat off excess. Heat oil in large braising pan on med-high, until oil faintly smokes. Add meat. Brown, turning to brown all sides, 3-4 min per side. (move to slow cooker if using). Stir in BBQ sauce and stock.

Cook meat in slow-cooker 4-5 hours on high or 7-9 hours on low or in dutch oven for 2-3 hours. Remove just the meat and transfer to clean platter.

Add corn and broccoli to slow-cooker on high; stir to combine. Cover; cook 5-15 min, or until vegetables are thoroughly heated. Stir in noodles; transfer to serving platter and top with meat.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue

Super easy recipe with hardly any prep!! I discovered this recipe when we were going to an impromptu cookout and I didn't have anything to make! I googled to see what I could make with frozen chicken breast and this did not disappoint! I have added this to our meal rotation to change up the pulled pork.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue
adapted from:All Recipes

Ingredients
6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 12 oz bottle BBQ sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions
In slow cooker, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Add chicken and stir around a bit.
Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

Hearty Slow Cooker Chili

I adapted this recipe from many different recipes available online and based off of the food in my kitchen. I really didn't want to have to go to the grocery store!

I used a combination of ground pork and ground turkey, roughly 2 -2.5 pounds and tomato sauce for tomato puree. I also added in some tomato sauce that was left over from dinner the other night. I actually keep a small container of the Chili Seasoning pre-mixed which is handy for assembling this meal!

I browned the meat and combined everything in the slow cooker the night before and stored it, covered, in the fridge. When I woke up I popped the insert into the cooker and set it on low. Volia! Dinner is served!

Serve with my Quick Rise Bread or with tortilla chips!

Hearty Slow Cooker Chili
serves 4-6

2 pounds ground beef (or pork or turkey or combination)
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced celery
3/4 cup diced green bell pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 (10.75 ounce) cans tomato puree (or sauce)
2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1-2 tablespoons Chili Seasoning

1. Place the meat in a skillet over medium heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain grease.
2. In the slow cooker combine the meat, onion, celery, green bell pepper, garlic, tomato puree, and kidney beans.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of chili seasoning, stir, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. 
4. After a while (when you get home from work?) taste it and see if you want it spicier, if so add more chili seasoning.

Beef Stew

Here is a yummy (and easy) slow cooker beef stew recipe! I found the recipe off All Recipes. I selected it based off the over 2000 reviews. Because this was a meal that included kids (and they will refuse to eat a meal based on seeing certain ingredients) I blitzed the onions and celery in the food processor so that there were no visuals. Keep the potatoes and the carrots in the larger chunk sizes so that way they aren't mush after cooking for so long.

I prepped and assembled the meal the night before and kept it in the fridge. I woke up on Saturday morning, plugged in the slow cooker, then we ran our errands and attended our sporting events. We came back to a delish and warm stew!

I also made a loaf this dutch oven bread.

My dad's tomato based beef stew recipe can be found here!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Serves 6-8

3 - 4 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 heaping tsp paprika
1 heaping tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaf
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp of gravy master
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 potatoes, large dice
4 carrots, sliced thick
2 cups beef broth

12 oz frozen peas

Put all the ingredients (minus broth and peas) in the slow cooker and stir together so everything is coated. Then add the beef broth and give another stir. Everything will be a soupy mess.
Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

About 20 minutes before serving add the bag of frozen peas.

Lemongrass Slow Cooked Pork and Spicy Pickled Napa Cabbage Slaw

This recipe was adapted from the Skillet Cookbook by Josh Henderson. I was skimming through the book and this recipe jumped out at me. I like pulled pork. I like Asian food. Seems obvious to combine the two, no?

The pork was more salty/sweet and not spicy at all. The cabbage had some kick to it. We served the pork and cabbage over rice.

Since I don't make food in small quantities, the 1lb recipe was escalated to 7lbs. The list on the left is original recipe, the part to the right is what I put into it. As you can see this was some very rough math. :)

Lemongrass Slow Cooked Pork
1 stalk lemongrass,trim edges and slice into 2 inch pieces --> 4 stalks
1 3 inch piece fresh ginger root, cut into chunks --> 4 3 inch pieces of ginger root
1 lb pork butt --> 7 lb pork shoulder (bone in)
3 tbsp red curry paste --> 8 tbsp (the whole 4oz container)
5 tsp loosely packed brown sugar --> 4 tbsp brown sugar
5 tsp salt --> 5 tsp salt
3 tbsp lime juice --> juice from 4 limes, about 1/4 cup?
1/2 cup water or chicken stock --> 2 cups (1 can) chicken broth
salt and pepper --> omitted

Trim the lemongrass and ginger root. Put some into the bottom of the cooker. Rinse pork and put into the slow cooker. Combine the curry paste, brown sugar, and salt into a bowl and rub over the pork. Pour in the lime juice and chicken broth. Put in the rest of the lemongrass and ginger root. Put the slow cooker on low and let it cook for 10-13 hours.

Spicy Pickled Cabbage Slaw
1 head of napa cabbage cut into strips
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp sriracha
2 inches of ginger root, chunks
1/2 tsp sesame oil

In a small saucepan bring all ingredients (except cilantro and cabbage) to a boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and take out the ginger pieces.

Combine cabbage and cilantro into a bowl. Pour the warm dressing over the cabbage and cilantro.

Slow Cooked Pork #3

Yet another yummy pulled pork recipe! This one combines the previous two recipes I have posted. This has some kick to it!

If you use pork shoulder put in the slow cooker fat side up. This will help keep it moist and tender.

Slow Cooked Pork

½ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp cayenne

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp paprika 

1 tbsp black pepper
12 oz coca-cola 

1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup ketchup

4 ½ lbs roast pork, pork shoulder/pork butt, boneless pork tenderloin

Combine all ingredients, marinate over night, slow cooker for 8-10 hours, or until meat pulls apart when you poke it with a fork.

After you the pork is tender, remove meat from the slow cooker and shred it. Put back into the pot with all the juices liquid. Serve warm. 

Note: If there was a lot of fat and the pork seems greasy, put the fridge and let it chill. The fat will turn into a thick layer on the top and you can scrape it off. 

Alton Brown's Pulled Pork - Adapted

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.

This pork rub has some kick to it! I would use that again for sure. I would adjust the piece of meat (smaller, no bone, less fat), and I don’t think I would brine it again and maybe cook it longer depending on the size of meat.

The cut of meat! Whole pork shoulder roast!

Brine Bath Over Night!

Dry Rub

Getting there!

Bone removal

Put it back in to cook more

Shredded!

On a grilled bun!

In a quesadilla!

Scamblette! Aka scrambled omelet!

 Alton Brown's Pulled Pork

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!

Dad's Pulled Pork

My dad makes a great slow cooker pulled pork so I decided to give it a shot! This is a spicy and sweet BBQ sauce pulled pork.

I did a half batch, 2.5 lbs of boneless roast pork. You can use pork shoulder too.

Combine everything into the crock pot. 8-9 hours on low, 4-5 hours on high. I did about 6-7 hours of some variation of low and high.

Spices

Cover the pork with the soupy mixture

Pork is tender and starting to break apart when you jab it with a fork

Take it out and use forks to pull it apart/shred it

Put it back into the broth

Garlic butter grilled Kaiser rolls!

I melted a pat of butter with a little less than a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder in a frying pan. Raise the heat to about 7 and then put the buns in the pan for about 3-4 minutes, until they are golden and crunchy.

Look at that!!!

Normally we serve it burrito style on a tortilla with white rice and Mexican style shredded cheese and then grilled. And this is wonderful. However, when N. and I went to lunch at Woodstock Inn in Woodstock NH, we had pulled pork served on garlic butter grilled rolls.

So, for burritos I would keep the beans and corn. If I want to serve it on rolls, I would omit the beans and corn.

UPDATE 3/9/13: Used boneless pork loin pieces, very tender.

Dad's Pulled Pork

makes enough for 8-10 sandwiches

½ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp Red pepper flakes

1 tbsp Cayenne

1 tbsp Black pepper

12 oz Coke
1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup ketchup

4 ½ lbs roast pork, pork shoulder...
28 oz of black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)

Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight in the fridge.

10 h on low

Pull it apart

Put it back in and make make sandwiches or burritos!