Saturday, January 25, 2014

Pulled Pork

One of my favorite meals is pulled pork. I learned how to make this by watching my ex make it. He liked to just throw things into the slow cooker, I don't even know what, and leave it at that for a few hours. I don't remember it ever turning out poorly. He also taught me how to pick the right pork: you choose a pork loin with a good amount of fat on it, because while it is cooking that will give it really good flavor. He also preferred to pick the premarinated pork loin (my favorite is lemon and garlic) because they're tasty. 

If you want to skip my thoughts, there is a quick and dirty set of ingredients and instructions at the bottom. 

I don't have pictures for every step because I just don't. If you can't figure out what the ingredients look like, that's not my problem. Oh burn. Anyway, the first thing I do is fill my slow cooker up with enough water to cover the pork and then some (til it looks good) and then I put it on low. I don't add any flavorers yet because I have no reason for that either. 
This time I used peppercorn pork loin. I have no idea what peppercorn is, it just looked good and it had "pepper" in the name. I love pepper. Also, the store was out of lemon and garlic. I should add here that is completely unnecessary to get a premarinated one, you can marinate it yourself or you can not marinate it at all. After all, you're eventually going to smother it in bbq sauce, so it doesn't really matter that much, right? Anyway, I let it slow cook for about two hours (arbitrary time limit, this is how long I was studying before I remembered I was cooking). Then I added green onions and garlic. I wish I had added these ingredients earlier because only the pepper and onion really soaked in. I recommend that if you do this, add it at least an hour earlier in the process, if not at the beginning.

Green onions. Man, those are delicious. I only used the bottom halfish because someone told me once that if I don't cook the top greens enough it's poisonous. I never looked that up, but it might be true. Anyway, I knew in this case that it wouldn't be cooking very long so I decided not to risk stomachache. As for garlic, I'm going to tell you to put as much in as you like. I used half of a head (is that what they are called?) for it because I looooooooooove garlic and I have serious doubts that there can ever be too much garlic. 
This is what it looked like when I added those:


Also added in there is oregano, pepper, and cinnamon. I added a lot of pepper because I love pepper. I really think the end product is delicious, but it turns out you don't need to add a lot of pepper to peppercorn marinade. Lesson for you guys.  I mixed it up a bit and then cooked it for maybe two more hours because my slow cooker cooks fast even on low. I pulled it out and cut it open to make sure it was not pink on the inside, and this is what it came out looking like: 

Gross, huh? 

The next step is to let it cook down enough to allow you to strip it. I pull it by hand instead of cutting it up because I like getting my hands dirty. Except for with raw meat. It's so slimy and nasty and gross feeling! I hate hate hate touching raw chicken, it is absolutely worse than having a spider crawl on you or having the texture of oyster in your mouth. *shudders* 

Pulling it! Do it with the grain, of course because it's easier. Put the pieces in a bowl and then SMOTHER IT IN BBQ SAUCE!!!! Pick whichever sauce you think will compliment the taste or whichever you like best, it really doesn't matter I don't think. I typically don't warm the sauce up first because I don't know how much I will use. Instead, I dump it in, mix it, and then microwave it. Then I serve it to myself on slices of bread because I prefer my nut and oat filled bread to any bun ever put into existence. It is literally good with everything. 

This is what it looks like when I finish with it:


I show the bbq sauce I used because I am really satisfied with the taste. It's a little bit sweet and really tempers the other flavors I put in. And it's thick, which is something I love in bbq sauce. 

Here are the ingredients:

Pork Loin of whatever size you want
Water, probably about 8 cups. Or more. 
Spices/herbs to taste (oregano and pepper are my preferences)
    I should add here that I put in a pinch or two of cinnamon to see what it was like. It didn't       soak in.
Onion (green onion is my favorite), I used four green onions
Garlic to taste, I used half a head but you can also use minced garlic or garlic powder
BBQ sauce, at least half of a bottle
Buns/Bready product

Put your slow cooker on low or high depending on how fast you want it cooked, add water and pork loin. You can add the garlic, onion, and spices at this time or after it has cooked for a couple of hours. Let cook until done (4 hours is enough for me), then remove from slow cooker and allow to cool. Strip the pork and place strips in a bowl. Add bbq sauce and microwave for about two minutes or until warm. Serve on your choice of bread or bun and enjoy!  
This recipe can take up to 8 hours, although mine took 4.5. 


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