slow-cooker

Apple Cider and Beer Braised Pot Roast

October 7, 2009 by Rebecca 9 Comments

It’s finally Fall. I wait all year for this; pumpkins, scarlet maple leaves, blustery wind, butternut squash, grey clouds with bits of brilliant blue peeking through, hay bales, mega-bags of miniature chocolate bars (the best size for stashing in my apron pockets to cover ‘mommy-emergencies’), weather that justifies hours-long baking sessions, wool sock and scarf temperatures… And braising. I’m a braising maniac this time of year. If there is another way of cooking meats that is more suited to this time of year I can’t think of it. Moist, low temperature, long cooking times warm your heart, stomach and your kitchen. Then there are the fringe benefits of braised foods; the outstanding aromas that fill not just the kitchen but the whole house and spill outside surrounding the home. It has made me teary on occasion.*

*I cry over food that makes me happy. Do you think that’s a problem?

When I stumble back to the house chilled and tired after preparing the garden for the winter, raking leaves, hiking with the kids, or pumpkin and apple picking there are few things that make me feel more like God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world than the mouth-watering smell of my favorite Fall pot roast braised in apple cider and ale. Good food should warm you three times; when you prepare it, when you smell it and when you eat it.

Let’s just talk about the smell for a moment, shall we? The theme is heady scents of sweet apple cider, malty beer, beef and onions tied together with grace notes of ginger, British-style hot mustard, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and the smallest touch of curry powder. The combination is drool-inducing and perhaps hypnotic.*

*Well, I was hypnotized anyway. How else would you explain my absolute inability to do any other work while smelling this roast cook? I just stood in the kitchen like a doofus and grinned for eight hours while watching the wind blow the leaves off the trees. It smelled so stinkin’ good. It was such a perfect moment. If you can call eight hours a moment.

There is more to recommend this roast other than the fact that it makes me weep with its smells and makes my head swim by virtue of the fact that it tastes so good. Really. It takes all of five minutes to get this roast going in the slow-cooker. You don’t pre-brown the meat and this step alone saves you time by eliminating the messiest, trickiest step of most roasts. And having tested the recipe both ways, I am compelled to say that this particular roast doesn’t suffer in the least from skipping the ubiquitous browning step. So. Before you head off for the day to work, or church, or apple pick, toss one of these together and be rewarded by a spectacular dinner when you get home. Or just put it together and stand in your kitchen watching the seasons change. Either way, you just might weep with joy, too.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Whilst on the subject of photos, let me warn you. The quality of these images is all over the place. The weather was, as I mentioned, inclement. Wind whipped, clouds covered and then uncovered the sun, and I just didn’t care enough to spend time fixing it. The point I’m belabouring is that the food transcends the photos taken of it. Just make the roast. Trust me.

I would also like to point out one other thing before we start with the recipe. Look at that beer can.

I snorted with laughter in public when I saw it. I bought it. I’m not too proud to admit I bought it because it was ridiculous. The beer inside, however, was anything but ridiculous. I have never, ever had canned beer that good. It was worth the price tag and it came with bonus laughter; my kind of food.

Apple Cider and Beer Braised Pot Roast

Ingredients:

2-1/2 to 3-1/2 pound Top or Bottom Round beef roast

1 large onion, peeled and sliced into thick rounds

1 packet dry beefy onion soup mix (Any brand will do. Most come in boxes with two envelopes. Just use one!)

2 cups fresh apple cider

1 (12 ounce) can good beer (Do not skimp here. Use a good beer that you like; porter, stout, or ale. I prefer ale in this dish.)

1-1/2 Tablespoons British-style hot mustard (I use Coleman’s mustard)

1-1/2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon dried ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon mild curry powder

Place the thick rounds of onion over the base of the crock of your slow cooker.

Trim as much surface fat from the roast as you can. Place roast on top of the onion rounds. Smear the top of the roast with the hot mustard and sprinkle the dry onion soup mix, curry powder and dried ginger over the top.

Drizzle the apple cider, beer and Worcestershire sauce over and around the roast.

Add the garlic to the liquid surrounding the roast. It ain’t perty at this point, folks, but stick with it. It’s like an ugly duckling about to turn into a swan. But beefier.

Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until a piece of the roast is easily pulled apart with a fork.

Transfer the roast to a cutting board.

Helpful note: As counterintuitive as it may seem, meats that are braised have a frightening tendency to dry out at warp speed. (See the top of roast in the picture below for proof.) To combat this tendency I always toss my braised roasts in their pan juices prior to serving. As often as not, I serve them in their pan juices as well.

Slice or shred the the roast into large pieces and return to the cooking liquids in the crock. Toss gently to coat and serve. My favorite accompaniments are broiled polenta squares (or Italian grits as my kids call them) topped with grated Romano or Fontina cheese, roasted cauliflower, a tossed salad, and hot crusty bread covered in butter. It is equally wonderful with mashed or roasted potatoes and glazed carrots. Sure, this dinner is fifteen shades of brown, but who cares? It’s Fall! Brown is savoury! Brown is delicious! Brown is good! Embrace the brown!

Filed Under: Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker Tagged With: beer and meat, cooking with apple cider, crockpot, roast, slow-cooker

Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork: Part II, Day 3

March 26, 2009 by Rebecca 8 Comments

For a brand new, printable version of this recipe that has all the steps included, click here!

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful. 100%!” As promised yesterday, I am back to show you how to shred that gorgeous slow-cooked Cuban Pork shoulder that should have chilled in your fridge overnight. Of course, I didn’t forget the sauce or black beans, either, but I’ll post the recipe for spicy black beans later today. I’m behind schedule. Why you ask?

Monsieur Le Evil Genius experienced a set-back in his quest for world domination yesterday when his car broke down 1 hour and 25 minutes into his 1 hour and 30 minute commute. Mercifully, he was within sight of his office’s parking lot and he worked with a man who had a winch. (Not THAT kind of wench you gutter-brains… I’m talking about the mechanical sort of winch that attaches to the front of a big ol’ truck. A wench is…Never mind.) He got the car to the parking lot, examined it and declared it unable to move until he could procure a fuel pump. Being the cheapskates that we are, you could also insert the sub-clause “and replace it himself”. ‘Cause we’ll be darned if we’ll pay someone to replace the fuel pump when Evil Genius can do it himself. That’s just how we’re wired folks. Compounding the inconvenience is the fact that our family vehicle, also known as “The Purple People-Eater” is up on ramps in the barn waiting for him to fix it. And that all boils down to the fact that he had to crash in the city at his sister’s house last night.

This left me to attempt the night-time routine with our five little honyaks all by myself. And it also left me without my usual evening companionship. But perhaps the worst of all was that it left me to the remote control. I am unaccustomed to unimpeded access to the remote control and I took advantage of it by watching scads of ridiculous reality television. I planted my rear on the couch and watched “American Idol”, “Heroin Nation” (talk about depressing and disturbing), “Make Me a Supermodel” (A whole different kind of depressing and disturbing), and “The Chopping Block” (neither depressing nor disturbing, but would someone please tell Marco Pierre White to wear socks. All those shots of his bare ankle bones made me cold. I had to put on a sweater.) This convinces me it is a good thing that the remote control is usually attached to the hand of one of the possessors of XY chromosomes in this house. My reality t.v. bender also left me behind schedule on laundry and blogging. But back on the horse…

Let’s get some pork going here. It does not depress me, disturb me or make me need to wear a sweater. It makes me happy. And it makes me forget, just for a moment, that both of my vehicles are out of commission and the dog, while enormous, is not big enough for me to saddle up and ride into town.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Cuban Pork and Sauce: Day 3

Ingredients:

Slow-cooked pork shoulder, thoroughly chilled
Cooking juices from slow-cooked pork shoulder
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard powder
2 drops liquid smoke, optional

Use a spoon to remove the congealed fat from around the pork shoulder.

And THIS is why we let it rest overnight in the fridge. Look at all that fat!

Just run your spoon around the edge and the cold fat should come away as easy as can be.

Discard the fat.

Ick. Thankfully I'm not on some Napoleonic Era Man-of-War where I have to save this stuff. Away with it!

Transfer pork shoulder to a large cutting board, preferably one with a groove to catch juices. Otherwise, keep the paper towels handy!

Let sit while attending to the pan juices.

Pour the cooking juices that surrounded the pork through a fine mesh strainer positioned over a saucepan.

Remove and discard any solids left in the strainer.

Add the lime juice, white wine vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, dried mustard powder and liquid smoke to the cooking juices. Whisk until evenly combined.

Whisk! Whisk like your life depends on it. Or not.

Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Take note of the level of liquid. You're going to be reducing this by about 3/4 of it's volume.

Allow to boil (while working on shredding the pork) until reduced to about 1/4 of the starting volume.

Almost there...

THAT is what you're going for. We're in business now.

Set aside until pork is fully shredded.

Pull the bone out of the pork and discard.

Scrape as much fat as you can from the outside of the pork shoulder.

Yes. I am wearing rubber gloves. I am thoroughly grossed out by cold, squishy cooked animal fat. I am imperfect.

Throw away the fat or give it to your spoiled and lazy dogs. Pull large chunks of the shoulder apart. It should naturally come apart at places where there is additional fat you can remove.

Take as much of the fat out as you can without wasting meat.

Using your hands -or two forks- shred the meat into small pieces.

When you’ve shredded all the meat, you can leave it as is or chop through it quickly with a knife to ensure that you have small bite-sized pieces. It depends on what you’ll do with the pork. I usually run through it with the knife since I have so many little mouths eating it.

When pork is fully shredded (and chopped, if desired) transfer to a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with sides.

Pour the reduced pan juices over the pork and toss.

Tightly cover the pan with foil. If you plan on serving it immediately, put into a preheated 350ºF oven and heat for 25 minutes, or until hot all the way through. If you are preparing this ahead of time you can either place the pan directly into the freezer or into the fridge.

To reheat from chilled:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

To heat from frozen:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF for 45 minutes, or until heated through.

We serve this on hot flour tortillas with FMC Mango Salsa (coming tomorrow!) and spicy black beans (coming later today!).

On deck for later today: Spicy Black Beans

In the hole for Friday: FMC Mango Salsa

Filed Under: Component Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: budget meals, pork, slow-cooker

Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork: Part I

March 24, 2009 by Rebecca 14 Comments

For a brand new, printable version of this recipe that has all the steps included, click here!

Part II of this recipe can be found by clicking this link!

I love to grocery shop. I love to examine labels, produce, proteins and liquids. I get giddy trying to decide which mangos and avocados to choose. I carefully flip through piles of cilantro bunches looking to find the bundle likeliest to survive a week or so in my fridge. I pick through the ‘Manager’s Special’ carts like a prospector. And, boy, can I hit a sale. *

*All of this presumes, of course, that the boys are home with their Dad, an Evil Genius- but one heckuva Dad, and not clinging to my thighs begging for Lucky Charms (they can have those when hell freezes over) or leaning precariously off the back of the cart or accidentally goosing unsuspecting shoppers who magically appeared on the third tile in a rousing game of ‘leap over every third tile or suffer the consequences!’ If they’re with me I run through the store like a woman haunted by cute little demons who conspire to make her forget everything she needs to feed her family that week. But if they’re not with me? Well then…

Ah, the sales. I am a firm believer in bulk buying items that my family uses regularly. Emphasis intended. We bulk buy olive oil, canola oil, potatoes, onions, flour, yeast, carrots, coffee (that’s so the Evil Genius is less evil and more genius), tea (so I can maintain some semblance of sanity), dried beans, oats and peanut butter, among other things. (Like toilet paper. I mean really. Seven people and two toilets? We buy toilet paper in bulk.) We have quite a lot of good frozen meat in our chill chest but every now and then a deal comes along that’s too good to leave alone. Last week, Monsieur Le Evil Genius was at the grocery store doing my bidding. (Actually he was there with a list for me since we had sick kids and I was housebound myself with the crud.) He has stumbled upon a sale so good that he felt compelled to stock the heck up: pork shoulder for $0.69 per pound. Oh yes. The Evil Genius’s not-so-inner cheapskate was singing for joy. He came home with three of them. That would be roughly 30 pounds of pork shoulder for those who haven’t experienced the stuff. I stuffed two pork shoulders into our crowded freezer and rubbed my greedy little hands together. A 9-pound pork shoulder means only one thing to me. Slow-cooked shredded pork.

There are a billion things you can do to pork that are delicious. But let me tell you, what I did with that pork shoulder last week is my all-time favorite. I’m going to walk you through making the phantasmagorical Cuban Pork and the two most wonderful side dishes in the world: FMC Mango Salsa and Spicy Black Beans*. Oh. Let’s just talk about this pork for a minute. The pork, courtesy of it’s long braise in the slow-cooker, is juicy and so mind-meltingly tender and flavorful that you’ll be sorely tempted to eat until you hurt.

Don’t freak out when I tell you this recipe takes a couple days. It’s not like you’ll be slaving over a hot pan for those couple days. It’s actually incredibly simple and the hands on time is less than roasting a chicken or making spaghetti. You just have to plan ahead. And buy a big, honkin’ pork shoulder. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth it, just have a gander at this…

Cuban Pork and FMC Mango Salsa with rice on a tortilla. Not pictured? The Spicy Black Beans...

* See? The beans again! This week we’ll be doing black beans. The bean recipe will be here on Friday so you can have the weekend to prepare your feast and then eat off of it all next week. I got your back!

Yes. This recipe makes a gigantic amount of pork. Much too much for even my family to eat in one meal unless we have a good deal of company eating with us. But that’s the idea. This falls in the category that I like to call ‘component foods’. If you make this dish and freeze the leftovers in individual serving sizes, you have instant meals at your fingertips. You have the leaping-off point for so many good dishes like pulled pork sandwiches, shredded pork and pineapple pizzas, pork burritos and more. By all means, though, prepare this for a party. The work is all done ahead of time and you’ll feed your guests like royalty.

This is a strategy food that requires a little forethought. While that limits the speed with which this can be made, it also makes it the ’do-ahead’ food. You can prepare it ahead of time and refrigerate it or freeze it. I have the strategy all mapped out for you. Here’s how it works.

You cook your pork on ‘Day 1′. You let it rest overnight in the fridge -call it ‘Day 2′, and shred it on ‘Day 3′. After you’ve shredded it, it’s good for eating or freezing as is, but there are some fun things you can do to take it to the next level. For now, though, let’s talk ‘Day 1′.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Cuban Pork: Day 1

Ingredients:

1 (8-1o pound) bone-in pork shoulder, make sure it fits into your slow-cooker. Cut to fit if necessary.
1/2 cup frozen 100% orange juice concentrate
1/3 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
8 whole peeled cloves fresh garlic (or 1 Tablespoon granulated dried garlic)
1 Tablespoon (or more, to taste) ground cumin
1 Tablespoon dry oregano leaves
1 Tablespoon or more fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
if available, 2 stems (no leaves, just stems) fresh cilantro

Drizzle the olive oil in the slow-cooker bowl.

Remove the pork shoulder from packaging and rinse with cold water.

Please pretend this picture is of me removing the packaging and rinsing the roast. Thank you.

Place untrimmed pork, fat side down in the bowl.

Fat side down.

…Then flip it fat side up. This coats both sides with a wee bit of olive oil. Everything’s better with a wee bit of olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes.

Cumin

Black pepper. I loves black pepper.

Oregano. I rolled my 'r' when I said that. Try it with me. O-rrrrr-egano.

Red pepper flakes. Be still my heart. If I could find a way to make this into toothpaste I would.

Red pepper flakes. Be still my heart. If I could find a way to make this into perfume I would. The Evil Genius likes the chiles.

Use a spoon to dollop the frozen orange juice concentrate over the top of the roast.

Pour the lime juice around the edges of the roast.

Fresh is best. We all know that already. But if you have to use bottled stuff it isn't the end of the world. Use the best bottled stuff you can find.

Throw garlic cloves around the roast.

Peel your whole garlic cloves easily by pressing down on them firmly with the edge of a bench knife or a heavy pan. Voila! The skin will come away as easily as can be.

Toss on cilantro stems- if using.

Please keep your cilantro stems in the freezer in a zipper top bag. Right next to your onion tops. I KNOW I sound so cheap, but there is an incredible amount of flavor in the bits and pieces of food that most of us throw away. Form the habit of saving these and you'll be grateful you did!

Cover, and turn cooker to ‘HIGH’.

And away we go!

Allow to cook for 1 hour, turn the heat to ’LOW’ and continue cooking for another 12 hours or until meat falls apart when prodded with a fork. When the meat is tender, turn off slow cooker and place the slow cooker bowl in the fridge. (If your slow-cooker doesn’t have a removable insert, transfer the contents to a large container with a tight-fitting lid and pop that into the fridge.

See you back here on Thursday for shredding and the first of our side dishes: spicy black beans!