Crockpot Pulled Pork

This recipe ratio turned out tasting very good. There were a few changes to how I did this. The first being the lack of apple juice (one cup). I substituted one cup of unsweetened apple butter (made from winesap apples) plus one cup of water. Also, I didn't toss the cooking liquid from the crockpot, instead I reserved it to a pot and simmered it until it had the consistency of barbecue sauce again. This yielded 2.5 cups of sauce. The cut of pork that was used is called "country pork rib", and you can get this in a large multipack from Costco. It's the same cut style of pork that I use for my kimchi pork soup. The only onions in this batch is what is in the BBQ sauce.

Total prep/cooking time: 8 hours
Yields: 1 quart pulled pork (for 2 lbs of meat)

TheFoodening Blog - pulled pork

Ingredients

2-3 lbs boneless country pork rib

1 c unsweetened apple juice, or 1 c unsweetened apple butter plus 1 c water

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 c BBQ sauce (I used Trader Joe's Kansas City BBQ sauce)

Directions

In the crockpot, place pork on the bottom. Cover with cloves, apple butter, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and barbecue sauce. Add the water to the bottom (don't wash off the stuff on top of the pork).

Set the crockpot to high for 2 hours. Then, set the crockpot to low for 4 hours. After the 6 hour mark, drain the crockpot of its liquid to a separate pot, leaving a half inch of liquid at the bottom of the crockpot. Cook pork for an additional hour. Turn off heat and use two forks to shred the pork.

In the separate pot with the cooking liquid, simmer the liquid on low heat until it has more than reduced by half of its liquid volume. It should be somewhat runnier than the barbecue sauce that went into it but thick enough that it isn't watery.

Take a half cup of the reduced sauce and pour it over the shredded pork. Stir to combine. 

If you made the hamburger buns from the previous post, split those in half and place a good amount of pulled pork on the bottom bun and cover it with the top bun. Enjoy!

TheFoodening Blog - pulled pork on a homemade bun

Note: If you don't have a crockpot or slow cooker, you can also use a dutch oven and bake the pork until tender for 4 hours at 325 F. 

(Mock) Rosemary Sourdough Bread

Is it possible to circumvent the slow feeding cycle of a sourdough starter? This recipe method attempts a possibility by substituting some of the water in the dough with plain yogurt to give it a sour taste. Don't know if it'll actually work. So far, the dough hasn't risen nor doubled in bulk in the usual amount of time allotted to the first rise. 

To make a true sourdough bread with a sourdough starter today, I could either buy a premade starter or make one from scratch several days in advance. While milled, unbleached flour is still inexpensive (< $5 for 10#), it seems like a waste to toss half the starter after the first day. Each time the starter is fed, half is thrown out. I suppose you could also just start other starters and that would require more math and patience than I have time for this particular experiment.

I am baking this using a Dutch oven pot in an oven. This baking method seems to work well with getting a moist inside with a hard, crispy crust (without having to spray the bread with water during is baking cycle). The ingredient ratio comes from a few sources. This is my third attempt at a Dutch oven-baked bread; the first two simply did not taste salty enough. I have added a sprinkling of additional kosher salt to the part of the recipe where you roll the dough in flour before baking. In the previous loaf of rosemary bread, I couldn't taste the rosemary, so this one has a full 1/4 cup of fresh whole and chopped rosemary.

Ingredients

1 tbsp active dry yeast + 1/2 c warm water
2-4 c all-purpose unbleached flour, separated
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 c fresh rosemary leaves, mostly whole and partially chopped
2 c plain whole milk yogurt

Directions

1. Prep the yeast. Add yeast to 1/2 c warm water (110 degrees F) and let bloom for 10 minutes before adding to the flour.

2. Prep the dough. Combine 2 c flour, salt, honey, and yeast-water in a bowl and mix until well combined. Knead using a stand mixer for 8-10 minutes, or by hand, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic; incorporate up to two more cups of flour so that the dough is less runny.

3. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Turn the dough once so that all the sides of the dough become oiled. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap. Let rise for 1.5-2 hours, until doubled in bulk.

4. Sprinkle some flour and some kosher salt onto a large plate. Empty the dough out onto the plate and gently roll around until the dough is lightly covered with flour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Let Dutch oven pot warm up as the oven heat up.

5. Remove pot from oven and place dough inside. Using a sharp knife or edge of a spatula, make decorative marks across the dough. Replace lid on Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes covered. Then remove lid and bake for an additional 12 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Dutch Oven No-Knead Bread

If ever there was a bread dough that had a minimal amount of effort, this one is up there. The dough is a little bit harder to work with because it is very sticky. But, after an hour in the oven, I have this beautiful, rustic-looking boule. A minute in the microwave is enough to heat 1.5 cups of water to just under 110 degrees F in a Pyrex glass measuring cup. I started the dough at night and baked the bread in the morning. Makes a 1 lb 10 oz loaf.

Ingredients

3 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp Vital-wheat gluten
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 c warm water

Directions

1. In a 5-quart mixing bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, wheat gluten and salt. Gradually pour in water and stir to combine. Be sure to get all the flour incorporated, but don't overmix. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap or put a plate on top of the opening. Let sit for 12 hours, or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place cast iron pot (the dutch oven) with its lid into the oven and let the pot heat up for 20-30 minutes.

3. On a heavily floured surface (~ 1/4 c flour), turn out risen dough onto some flour and shape into a rounded mass, like a boule. Carefully add the dough to the hot pot and replace the lid. Bake for 30 minutes covered, then for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.

4. Carefully remove bread from pot and let cool on a wire rack. The bread should make a hollow sound when tapped.