Serving Up {Pork}: Balsamic Pulled Pork

I am a bit of a sucker for shredded meat done in the slow cooker.
I love the ease of it.
I love the quantity of it.
I love the flavor of it.
So you can bet when I see a recipe in pinterest-land for pulled pork....flavored with a balsamic vinegar bbq sauce...done in the crockpot that I am going to be trying it out.  I have a bunch of slow cooker pulled pork recipes but this one has it's own unique flavor, and a tasty one at that.

I initially served this on buns, as the recipe called for, complete with coleslaw (but without pickles) and it was great.  The leftover was used as filling in tortilla wraps (yum) and also consumed as a pizza topping (also yum).  If there had been any remaining I think it could have also been great on a salad.  Try it out and let me know what you do with it.  I know I will be making it again and am always looking for delicious variations.

One Year Ago: Moist Zucchini Brownies
Two Years Ago: Ranch Vegetable Dip
                         Strawberry Lemonade Quencher

BALSAMIC PULLED PORK     
(recipe from Better Homes & Gardens)
printable version

2 1/2 - 3 pound boneless pork shoulder roast
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
3/4 cup chopped green pepper (1 medium)
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. Dijon-style mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt

Trim any visible fat from meat. If necessary, cut meat to fit into a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker. In the cooker, combine onion and sweet pepper. Add meat; sprinkle with thyme and rosemary. Pour broth over meat.  Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 9 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

For barbecue sauce, in a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, black pepper, and salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Transfer meat to a cutting board. Using two forks, pull meat apart into shreds, discarding fat. Strain vegetable mixture, discarding liquid. Return shredded meat and strained vegetables to cooker. Stir in barbecue sauce. If using high-heat setting, turn to low-heat setting Cover and cook for 1 hour.

To serve, spoon meat mixture onto bun bottoms. Top with coleslaw and pickles. Add bun tops.

Serving Up {Pork}: Shredded Sweet Pork

This week I am on vacation to visit my family in Utah.  You can bet large sums of money that at some point while there I will be eating a gigantic Pork Barbacoa burrito from Cafe Rio and will finish the entire thing in one sitting.  Because it's just that good!

Now I know that I am not the only person completely obsessed with Cafe Rio's Pork Barbacoa because there are a TON of copycat recipes out there in the blogosphere.  Most of the recipes for the pork involve cooking the pork in soda.  I'm not a big soda fan (okay, I am totally and completely against it) and so I was happy to find this copycat recipe that didn't call for the can of soda.  The result was still sweet and delicious pork which is the most important ingredient when making a Cafe Rio Sweet Pork salad or burrito.  Stay tuned over the course of the week for the rice and dressing recipes.  By this weekend, you too will be enjoying deliciousness to blow your mind!

SHREDDED SWEET PORK    

(recipe from The Sister's Cafe)

printable version

3 lb pork roast
1 c brown sugar
1 c Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tb dried minced onions

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot on low all day (aboutt 8 hours).
One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it. Dump out all cooking juices and place shredded pork back into crockpot and add…

1 c brown sugar
1 c red enchilada sauce

Turn off the crock pot and replace the crock pot lid until ready to serve.

Serving Up {Pork}: Kalua Pork

Three years ago I was in charge of a family reunion in Las Vegas for my husbands family.  The second evening we turned our church gymnasium into a Hawaiian Luau complete with music, decorations and food.  The menu for the evening included spam musabi, macaroni salad, sticky rice and this recipe for Kalua Pork.

Cooking for 42 people gets tricky.  The fact that half of those 42 people were little bodies adds an additional amount of tricky into the equation.  I'll be honest, I tend to over prepare and over cook and the result is generally lots of leftovers.  Not the case with this recipe.  I cooked three 7-8 pound pork roasts and after the first round of people filling their plates I was horrified at the amount that was still remaining on the serving table.  I guess the meat required an actual tasting because before long most people were returning for seconds and not long after that I was asked if there was any more pork.  It had ALL been eaten!  All 20+ pounds.  Since that reunion I have had a number of family members ask for the recipe.  I love serving this recipe to a large group because it comes together so easily, requires so few ingredients and is always a hit with everyone.

KALUA PORK     
printable version

5 lb. pork roast
2 Tbs. course Hawaiian salt (if using a finer salt, reduce the salt to 1 Tbs)
¼ cup liquid smoke
¼ cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 onion

Trim excess visible fat from the pork roast.  Sprinkle the salt over the roast and rub the salt into the pork.  Place the pork roast into a roasting bag. Peel and cut the onion in half; place into roasting bag with pork.
Mix together the liquid smoke, soy sauce and water; pour into the bag and seal as per directions for roasting bag. Place bag into a roasting pan and bake for 4-5 hours at 325 degrees.
When fully cooked the meat will pull away to shred easily.  Pour remaining gravy from bag over the shredded pork and allow the moisture to absorb into the meat.
Serve over sticky rice.