Pulled Pork
Yes, I went there…I said “give your man the butt.” You could have taken this a couple of different ways – (1) those whose minds are in the gutter, where mine occassionally wanders, went the sexual route (2) those that cook, immediately thought of pork butt and slow roasted goodness. Either way, it makes for some fun conversations with your guy.
I’ve decided to be a bit lazy in the kitchen lately, so I was trying to come up with something that I could cook that would be easy on me, but taste really good. Plus, I wanted to have some leftovers so I wouldn’t have to cook for a couple of days. Voila! Slow roasted pork butt.
First things first. A pork butt really isn’t a butt, it actually comes from the shoulder of the pig. The cut of meat has several names, when you go to the grocery store, but look for: pork shoulder, Boston butt, shoulder butt, or shoulder blade roast.
Words of Wisdom
Want to get your guy home from work a little earlier than usual? Call him up and tell him you are giving him butt tonight. Trust me, this works really well.
Back to cooking….The picture above is after cooking the roast and pulling it apart. When the roast is done cooking, it looks like a big dark brick of meat. But this is due to the rub on the outside of it. The meat will just fall apart when you touch it. I served mine with corn tortillas, tomatoes, and avocados. You could also serve this with bbq sauce on hamburger buns.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 3 – 4 Pound Pork Shoulder
- 10 Garlic Cloves (cut in half lengthwise)
- 1/4 Generous Cup Brown Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Chipotle Pepper Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Directions
In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
Unwrap pork shoulder and place into pan, with fat layer on top. Using a sharp knife, score the layer of fat into a diamond pattern, then cut 20 slots, all over meat. Insert 1/2 garlic clove into each slot.
Rub dry mixture all over pork. Tightly cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Remove pork shoulder from refrigerator and let sit for 1 hour – to bring up to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit.
Remove plastic wrap from meat and cover pan with foil.
Place into center of oven and roast for 4 hours. After 4 hours, remove foil and cook for additional 90 minutes.
Remove from oven. Let meat sit for 15 minutes, so that juices stay in meat. Remove pork shoulder to a platter and pull apart.
Molasses Pork Loin
Craig and I don’t have kids, but we do have a dog that is, in every way, like a child. Rizzo is temperamental, a picky eater, doesn’t like to share and occasionally demands to have things done her way. When we first got her, we thought it would be kind of fun to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as Doggie Mommy and Doggie Daddy Day. Of course our family and friends thought we were nuts, but that’s really nothing new.
Over the past few years, we really haven’t celebrated the days, but I thought we’d start up again. It was also a good excuse to fire up the grill for a little bbq.
I used pork loin for this, but you could almost use any pork cut. You could also use this on chicken. I put the pork loin into a plastic, zip top bag, added the marinade and let it marinate overnight. If you don’t have the time to let it sit overnight, at least allow the meat to marinate for 1 hour. Plus, using the zip top bag and the grill means easy cleanup.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Molasses
- 1/2 Cup Orange Juice Concentrate, Thawed
- 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/8 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Pound Pork Loin
Directions
Put first 6 ingredients into a zip top bag and mix them up. Add pork loin to marinade, remove as much air as possible from the bag, seal the bag, and shake to combine. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably overnight. Turn bag periodically to make sure that all surfaces of the meat get marinated.
Heat grill to a medium heat. Remove pork chops from marinade. Grill pork 3-4 minutes per side, internal temperature should be 145 degrees Farenheit. Remove pork loin from grill and allow meat to rest 5-7 minutes so that all of the juices can be re-absorbed into the meat. Keep an eye on the meat and the flames on your grill. The molasses and the orange juice have a lot of sugar in them which can cause the meat to burn.
