Pulled Pork & Choco Covered Strawberries
Hi! Bienvenido! Welcome! Buenos días! Hola! These are all things said by the crazy parrots living on the island of Guanaja. I apologize for the smallll break I took, but I was on a family vacation and was unable to cook myself. Soon, I will have some recipes from the island I stayed on. Local island grub, YUM!
But for now, I will be writing about dinner for ANOCHE! I have been wanting to make pulled pork sandwiches, because I haven't made em in a while and, I meeeeean, I could eat pulled pork weekly. Pulled pork also is a good thing to have leftovers of, because you can make tacos the next day with the pork or even add it to a pasta! After trying to figure out a side to have, my friend Katie mentioned corn bread. Done and DONE.
I also had these MASSIVE strawberries that I bought at the store the other day, and because they were so big, I decided they would be great for dipping in chocolate. A completely delicious, and incredibly unhealthy meal! Success. Whatever, it's Sunday. AND each of these items are so easy to make. Pulled pork is full of flavor, but doesn't require a ton of labor, which is good for beginner cooks who want to make a meat dish. OK, I have been trying to avoid admitting this, but I have a confession. I did not make the cornbread from scratch (BLAST!!!! Insert ashamed face here) I actually bought a Marie Calendar's pre-made mix. Maybe I'll make some homemade corn bread soon, but I'd rather make things that are a little bit harder from scratch. So I don't feel like I'm cheating that much... I'll just keep telling myself that.
You can find the original Pulled Pork BBQ Tyler Florence Food Network recipe here.
There is something so special about inviting your friends over, allowing them to help you with the meal. It is so fantastic that my friends are so supportive of my cooking, and want to taste the delicious treats I always want to try. It can get expensive hosting friends over for dinner, so even asking each friend to bring one item from the ingredients list can be a cool way to cut costs. I can't think of anything better than getting compliments from my friends and family, the people that I love most in my life. It's a great feeling knowing that I am doing giving something to my friends, and in turn they are giving me something as well; confidence!
Pulled Pork
Ingredients:
Dry rub:
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder (I used garlic salt)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons coarse sea salt (which I omitted because I used garlic salt)
1 5-7 pound pork shoulder, or Boston butt (I used a 3.5 lb pork shoulder, because that was the biggest I could find. I usually tend to stay away from meat at big grocery stores, and prefer to go to a Whole Foods, where there are actually butchers that cut the meat for you. This is simply because I don't want to support main meat companies that treat their animals badly, like Hormel, Tyson, and Cargill. But who knows, I don't really know where Whole Foods buys theirs from).
Cider Vinegar BBQ Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup brown mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeño (which I added for some heat)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pan drippings from the pork
Hamburger buns
1 recipe Cole Slaw, recipe following
Directions for Pork:
1. Mix paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Put the pork in a roasting pan, and roast for about 6 hours. An instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the pork should register 170 degrees, but you want to roast until the pork is falling apart.
3. While the pork is roasting, make BBQ sauce. Combine vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirtting, for 10 minutes until sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat and let it sit until you're ready for it.
I also had these MASSIVE strawberries that I bought at the store the other day, and because they were so big, I decided they would be great for dipping in chocolate. A completely delicious, and incredibly unhealthy meal! Success. Whatever, it's Sunday. AND each of these items are so easy to make. Pulled pork is full of flavor, but doesn't require a ton of labor, which is good for beginner cooks who want to make a meat dish. OK, I have been trying to avoid admitting this, but I have a confession. I did not make the cornbread from scratch (BLAST!!!! Insert ashamed face here) I actually bought a Marie Calendar's pre-made mix. Maybe I'll make some homemade corn bread soon, but I'd rather make things that are a little bit harder from scratch. So I don't feel like I'm cheating that much... I'll just keep telling myself that.
You can find the original Pulled Pork BBQ Tyler Florence Food Network recipe here.
There is something so special about inviting your friends over, allowing them to help you with the meal. It is so fantastic that my friends are so supportive of my cooking, and want to taste the delicious treats I always want to try. It can get expensive hosting friends over for dinner, so even asking each friend to bring one item from the ingredients list can be a cool way to cut costs. I can't think of anything better than getting compliments from my friends and family, the people that I love most in my life. It's a great feeling knowing that I am doing giving something to my friends, and in turn they are giving me something as well; confidence!
Pulled Pork
Ingredients:
Dry rub:
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder (I used garlic salt)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons coarse sea salt (which I omitted because I used garlic salt)
1 5-7 pound pork shoulder, or Boston butt (I used a 3.5 lb pork shoulder, because that was the biggest I could find. I usually tend to stay away from meat at big grocery stores, and prefer to go to a Whole Foods, where there are actually butchers that cut the meat for you. This is simply because I don't want to support main meat companies that treat their animals badly, like Hormel, Tyson, and Cargill. But who knows, I don't really know where Whole Foods buys theirs from).
Cider Vinegar BBQ Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup brown mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeño (which I added for some heat)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pan drippings from the pork
Hamburger buns
1 recipe Cole Slaw, recipe following
Directions for Pork:
1. Mix paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Put the pork in a roasting pan, and roast for about 6 hours. An instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the pork should register 170 degrees, but you want to roast until the pork is falling apart.
3. While the pork is roasting, make BBQ sauce. Combine vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirtting, for 10 minutes until sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat and let it sit until you're ready for it.
4. When the pork is done, take it out of the oven and put it on a large platter. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While it's resting, de-glaze the pan over medium heat with 3/4 cup water, scraping with a spoon to pick up all the browned bits. Reduce by about half. Pour that into the saucepan with the sauce and cook 5 minutes.
5. While the pork is still warm, you want to "pull" the meat. Grab 2 forks. Using 1 to steady the meat, use the other to "pull" shreds of meat off the roast. Put the shredded pork in a bowl and pour half of the sauce over. Stir it all up well so that the pork is coated with the sauce.
6. To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom half of each hamburger bun, and top with some slaw. (The original recipe says serve with pickle spears, but I DESPISE pickles, so sorry friends, NO PICKLE FOH YOUUUU. Nicole and Emily would kill me).
Cole Slaw
Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup olive oil (the normal recipe calls for mayonnaise, but I don't really like mayonnaise so I am deciding to use olive oil as the base)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
Pinch sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Several dashes hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Combine the cabbage, carrots, and red onion in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, stir together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar.
3. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss gently to mix.
4. Season the slaw with the celery seed, hot sauce, salt, and black pepper. Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Ingredients:
1 bag of milk chocolate morsels
1 batch of ginormous strawberries
Parchment paper or wax paper
1 bag of shredded coconut
1 hungry Charlie to eat all of the chocolate from the bowl
Directions:
1. Boil water in a pot over high heat.
2. Place a metal bowl in the water, which is called double boiling, and add 5 tablespoons of butter. The recipes I looked up online ask for shortening, but I didn't have any and figured butter would work fine.
3. Add chocolate, stirring constantly, until it is a liquid-like consistency. The first batch of chocolate I tried to make was pretty thick, so I thought I could add some milk. Unfortunately, I poured before I thought, and I had fat free milk, so it basically thickened the chocolate even more and turned into a fudge like consistency. OK, so now I have some fudge. ON TO THE NEXT BATCH!
FUDGE
4. Dip strawberries in chocolate, and place on parchment paper. I sprinkled half of my strawberries with shredded coconut, but you can also melt some white chocolate and make little designs on them. Whateva your heart desires!
5. While the pork is still warm, you want to "pull" the meat. Grab 2 forks. Using 1 to steady the meat, use the other to "pull" shreds of meat off the roast. Put the shredded pork in a bowl and pour half of the sauce over. Stir it all up well so that the pork is coated with the sauce.
6. To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom half of each hamburger bun, and top with some slaw. (The original recipe says serve with pickle spears, but I DESPISE pickles, so sorry friends, NO PICKLE FOH YOUUUU. Nicole and Emily would kill me).
Cole Slaw
Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup olive oil (the normal recipe calls for mayonnaise, but I don't really like mayonnaise so I am deciding to use olive oil as the base)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
Pinch sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Several dashes hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Combine the cabbage, carrots, and red onion in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, stir together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar.
3. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss gently to mix.
4. Season the slaw with the celery seed, hot sauce, salt, and black pepper. Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Ingredients:
1 bag of milk chocolate morsels
1 batch of ginormous strawberries
Parchment paper or wax paper
1 bag of shredded coconut
1 hungry Charlie to eat all of the chocolate from the bowl
Directions:
1. Boil water in a pot over high heat.
2. Place a metal bowl in the water, which is called double boiling, and add 5 tablespoons of butter. The recipes I looked up online ask for shortening, but I didn't have any and figured butter would work fine.
3. Add chocolate, stirring constantly, until it is a liquid-like consistency. The first batch of chocolate I tried to make was pretty thick, so I thought I could add some milk. Unfortunately, I poured before I thought, and I had fat free milk, so it basically thickened the chocolate even more and turned into a fudge like consistency. OK, so now I have some fudge. ON TO THE NEXT BATCH!
FUDGE4. Dip strawberries in chocolate, and place on parchment paper. I sprinkled half of my strawberries with shredded coconut, but you can also melt some white chocolate and make little designs on them. Whateva your heart desires!
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