Thai-style Pulled Pork

Sobey's had Pork Shoulder on this week, with a little tag that read "Great for pulled pork!".  And I thought "That sounds like a good idea..."

 But what recipe to use?  I didn't really want to go all traditional barbeque with it, so after a great deal of searching (both through the web and my fridge), I decided to base it all on a nearly-untouched bottle of Thai Kitchen Roasted Red Pepper Chile.  I'd made full on Thai Curry with it before, and it tasted far too much like chipotle for me to want to use again.  Since then, I'd used it to make spicy mayo for sweet potatoes, but ultimately it sat unloved in the door of my fridge.  Alas!  No more!

Here's a go at...

Heather’s Thai-style Pulled Pork

Dry Rub:

2 tsp salt

3 kaffir lime leaves, stems removed

1 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp brown or palm sugar

2 tbsp white sugar

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp smoked paprika (pimenton)

First, grind the lime leaves fine with the help of the salt in a mortar and pestle.  Add the other ingredients and blend well.

Dry off your pork shoulder, and then 'apply liberally' all over.  Rub that rub in good.  Then, wrap it up good (I just used aluminum foil, but plastic lovers love their cling wrap) and let it sit in the fridge for as long as you can wait (4-5 hours is okay, overnight's great, overnight and a day's what it ended up for me).


Here's where I borrow greatly from Foodie's Arsenal.  Set your oven to 220F.  Fill up a roasting pan with about an inch or two of water (whatever level works without you spilling it all over the place when you pick it up).  Put a grill rack over the pan so it's balancing not-too-precariously over it.  I stole my grill rack from the toaster oven, but a cooling rack or a full on bbq rack would do, if it fits.  You're gonna put the pork on the rack, and then stick the whole darn thing in the oven.  The water helps keep moisture going in the oven without sacrificing the yummy crunch a good oven-roasted pork pull creates.

This is where we get to the cheating.  Ideally, you want to use a meat thermometer and check the meat every so often.  The trick, as I understand it, is to get the meat up to 190 as slowly as possible.  190 is where all the connective stuff (collagen) starts a meltin' away.  But not too much longer, because then it just gets dry.  But the whole process can take up to 12 hours.

So yeah - the cheating.  I've put a 4lb shoulder of pork in, with the assumption it's going to take about 12 hours.  This means that when I get up in the morning, we should be at go-time.  


Assuming that the pork turns out deliciously, the trick then is to let it swim in the sauce (but not too much sauce, since the pork is tasty as is).  I am going to make my sauce out of:

Wet Sauce:

2 cloves of garlic, smashed and mashed


2 tbsp rice vinegar (mine is seasoned, but to each their own)
1 bottle Thai Roasted Red Pepper Curry (it has yummy tamarind in it)
1/4 cup honey (unrelated, mine is from Zambia!)
salt to taste

Mash up the garlic to make a smooth paste.  A little salt will help you in this. Once well blended, add all the other ingredients.  Add more salt to taste if it needs it, with the idea that it's a sweet sauce and shouldn't be to salty.  If it needs more sweet, add more honey.  If it needs more zip, add more vinegar.  And make sure you wait a second after tasting it - the roasted chili paste gives the sauce a LOT of depth, so let it unravel in your mouth before making any sudden decisions. 

Once perfected, mix in with your pork.  You really don't want to overdress the pork, so don't worry if you think it isn't enough.  Let it wallow in its flavour awesomeness - in the fridge, though.  It can be reheated gently (NOT the microwave) when ready to eat.  If you think it's too dry before reheating, add a wee bit of water to let steam it all together.


NOTE - This amount of sauce wasn't NEARLY enough for all the pork.  So I set aside a couple cups of the shredded pork and sauced that, then left the rest undressed to 'do with as I will'.  Many people prefer having sauce on the side with their pulled pork anyhow, so this works out.

Another salad... but this one has figs!

We are celebrating my mother's birthday late this year, and I have the distinct honour of hosting the dinner at my apartment.  I think this is technically the first time my mother will have been over for dinner!  How exciting.

Anyhow, I couldn't help go a little 'nuts' and decided to concoct a tasty salad to go with our Roast Beef (see recipe here).  I give you:

Grilled Figs & Pistachios - A love story salad

Dressing ingredients:

1/2 tbsp honey
pinch of saffron
1 tbsp apricot jam
3 tbsp rice vinegar (can also use champagne or white wine vinegar)
light salad (sunflower/grapeseed/etc) oil to measure

To make the dressing

Combine everything but the oil and blend until all is dissolved and mixed.  Add 2-3 times as much oil as there is everything else (this is the usual measure for a vinagrette).  Shake/blend until awesome.  If made beforehand, the flavours will marry better if left out of the fridge for a few hours.  Don't worry - nothing will go bad!  Serve at room temperature, as sugars taste sweeter when they aren't cold.

Salad ingredients:

6-8 figs (depending on size, guests, etc.)
1/2-2/3 cup pistachios, crushed to very coarse pieces  (shelled first, of course!)
1/4 cup pancetta bits (can substitute bacon bits)
arugula
2 shallots, shredded
olive oil

To prepare the salad

Shell the pistachios.  Put aside.  (Crush just before you add to salad, and the flavour will be fresher.)
Cut pancetta or bacon (or any other cured ham type) into little confetti bits - about 1/2 cm cubed.  Fry lightly without adding any oil (they will provide their own) until crispy and brown.  Let them cool on paper towel to absorb the extra grease.  Put aside.
Shred the shallots just before serving.  Like the pistachios, they'll bite better when freshly cut.
Finally, remove the stem ends and halve the figs.  Heat up a grill to medium-high heat.  Cover the figs liberally with olive oil, and when the pan is hot press them on the grill face first.  Allow to grill/caramelize for 2-4 minutes until lovely brown gold with pretty stripes.  Let cool enough to make the halves quarters, then add to the salad with all other ingredients.  Dress with the vinagrette.  Serve and enjoy!

Blood Orange Salad

Hi all,

Salads, salads and more salads.  I believe I mentioned before that whenever my family has an impromptu dinner, I get asked to bring salad.  This is mostly because my husband and I are quite picky about our salads, and so if we make it, we know we'll like it.

This happened last week, and after asking the spouse what he wanted to eat, he said "do that one with the blood oranges".  Needless to say, I hadn't any clue which one he was talking about, so I set to finding a good arugula and blood orange recipe.  None of the ones I found appealed to me, so I threw all caution to the wind and made up my own recipe.  Here it is:

Arugula & Blood Orange Salad with Mint Vinaigrette

 

Salad Ingredients

spiced almonds (see below)
parsley, without stems and coarsely chopped
arugula
3-4 blood oranges, peeled and pieced
half a fennel, sliced paper-thin (either use a mandolin, or super-sharp knife/shaver)
manchego cheese, shaved (easier to do when quite cold)

Spiced Almonds

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons pimenton/smoked paprika
1 cup almonds slivered

To spice the almonds, warm up the oil on a frying pan to medium-high.  Once hot, toss the almonds until slightly toasted and completely covered in the oil.  Then sprinkle the pimenton over so the almonds are uniformly covered.  (This may not need all 2 tbsp. of the pimenton)  Let cool before adding to salad.

Mint Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
pinch of salt
1/4 cup olive oil

I usually make my dressings by putting them in a tight-seal tupperware and then shaking the hell out of them.  If you're all fancy and gadget-philic, you can use a hand blender to get these ingredients smooth and supermixed.  Either way, the dressing tastes best if you let it sit blended for a little while, to let the flavours marry.

Drizzle the vinaigrette over the assembled salad, and toss with gusto.  You're done!