Sweet and Spicy Shredded Pork

Remember when the Food Network was not a reality TV channel, but one that actually featured cooking shows? Yeah, me too. Since the Food Network seems to not really be about cooking anymore, the big guns over there decided to make a new network called the Cooking Channel. However, my crappy cable company that shall remain nameless (it rhymes with schmomschmast) does not include it. So, naturally, anytime I’m somewhere that does have it, I watch it.

The other day I caught this show called Kelsey’s kitchen, and kind of loved it. This Kelsey is a little bubbly for my taste, but I really liked the food she made. She also talks about a lot of the technical sides of her cooking methods, which I love (if you haven’t figured that out already). The day I watched she made this lemon orzotto, which is like risotto but made with orzo, and is easier to make. I’ll let you know when I try it. After the show I headed to the website (yeah, I’m a nerd) and I looked at some of her recipes and came across one for a sweet and spicy shredded pork. I immediately knew I had to try it.

I love pork in all forms, especially the slow cooked and shredded variety. Often shredded pork is mixed with a bbq sauce of your choice, which I do enjoy, but sometimes it covers up the flavor of the pork. If you’re looking for a good porky flavored shredded pork, this is the recipe for you. It was incredibly moist with just a hint of sweetness and spice. It was delicious, and easy, and I will be making it at least once a week for the rest of my life (or until my boyfriend gets tired of eating it).

Sweet and Spicy Pulled Pork- modified from The Cooking Channel

Ingredients:

1 (5-7 lb) pork shoulder

½ cup light brown sugar

4 cloves garlic minced

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs salt

1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2 onions coarsely chopped

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup cola

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Mix together brown sugar, garlic, cumin, salt, cayenne, and nutmeg. Rub the mixture generously and evenly over the pork shoulder.

In a large roasting pan or Dutch oven, add the chopped onions, broth and cola. Place the seasoned pork in the Dutch oven. I had a little bit of excess seasoning that I just patted on to the top of the pork once it was in the cooking liquid.

Roast for 6 hours, checking the pork every couple hours for tenderness and liquid level.

When the pork is tender enough that it is falling apart, shred it with a fork. I did this directly in the Dutch oven, it shredded with very little effort. Stir to combine with the remaining juices.

I topped the sandwiches with a Jicama Apple Slaw.

Ingredients:

1 green apple, cored and julienned

½ of a medium sized jicama, peeled and julienned

½ of a medium sized  green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (or use a mandolin like I did)

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs olive oil

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

½ of 1 jalapeno seeded and julienned (optional)

Method:

Combine all the ingredients. Chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

A few notes:

The “modification” I made was the nutmeg. I love nutmeg in savory dishes, it adds just another level of spice and helps bring out an earthy almost smoky flavor in the meat.

I left the house for 5 out of the 6 hours this was cooking. While I can’t “recommend” this, my pork was juicy delicious and not at all dry.

I served this on those cute little slider buns. I prefer a smaller bun for the meat to bread ratio. We each had two.

You could top this with any type of slaw, or even bbq sauce. I liked the jicama apple slaw because it adds a bit of crunchiness and sweetness to the pork.

-Sue

Fresh Cranberry Relish

I’ll admit it; cranberries have never been my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. I have had all sorts, ranging from cooked cranberry sauce, to fresh cranberry relishes. My mom growing up made an excellent version with cranberries and oranges (and other things I don’t remember) but I always thought it was too bitter. In all fairness, my uncle Earl LOVED the stuff; he could eat it by the bowl (literally). So I think it just goes to show- it’s all a matter of taste. When I came across this recipe from I thought it might be just what I was looking for. It was true…I have become a cranberry convert. What I like about this is that it’s similar to my Mom’s with being a relish and having the orange/cranberry flavor I enjoy- but it has a couple of other things in there that sweeten it up a little bit- and a few other things that give it a really nice variety of texture.

Recipe from Thekitcn.com

Ingredients:

1 12-oz bag of fresh cranberries

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

1 large orange, sectioned and chopped into small pieces

1 apple, cored and diced (use a crisp variety such as Fuji)

½ cup canned crushed pineapple

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

Method:

My change in this recipe was my method of preparation (come on, I had to change something!)

Rinse and drain the cranberries. In a food processor pulse the cranberries and the sugar until finely chopped (about 12-15 times).

Put into a large bowl and set aside.

Add the apple, orange zest, and pecans to the food processor. Pulse a few times until everything is finely chopped and combined (about 10 times). Add to the bowl containing the cranberries.

Section the orange. To do this, slice a small disk off the top and the bottom of the orange, so it will sit on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to carve down the sides, removing the peel and the pith (white part) completely from the orange. Using a paring knife cut the orange on either side of the thin membrane that separates each section. The sections should come out easily with a little wiggle. Chop roughly and add to the relish.

Add the ½ cup of crushed pineapple and stir to combine all the ingredients. Let the relish sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours for the flavors to combine. You can make this a day in advance in keep it in the fridge, or make it far in advance and put it in the freezer (for like a year).

Thanksgiving’s almost here….is your turkey thawed?

-Sue