Making Tuesday Tasty-Pulled Pork

A pulled pork recipe that contains pork tenderloin instead of pork butt or shoulder. It's leaner and comes out juicy due to simmering in the sauce and shredding with a fork.

Ingredients
3 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 pork tenderloin, about 1 pound, cut into 4 pieces
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
3 cups (6 ounces) broccoli slaw
6 whole wheat hamburger rolls, split
In a large Dutch oven heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened and lightly browned, 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne and cook until toasted, 1 minute more. Stir in the broth, ketchup, 1/3 cup vinegar, and molasses. Bring to a simmer and add the pork. Simmer, covered, until the pork is just cooked through and tender, about 20 minutes

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil with the remaining 1 tablespoon of vinegar and the mustard. Add the broccoli slaw and toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Remove the pork to a cutting board and let stand for 5 minutes. Increase the heat on the remaining sauce in the pot to medium-high and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Shred the pork with two forks into large chunks and add back into the thickened sauce. Toss well to coat. Let stand 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, to let the pork absorb the sauce. Serve on a bun with the slaw on the sandwich or on the side.

*Thank you foodnetwork.com for your recipe*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Carnitas

I found a wonderful recipe for Carnitas. I love carnitas, the tenderness of the pork and juiciness. I love that the flavors are subtle enough to let the meat not be overpowered. If you haven't had carnitas, you're missing out!

Ingredients

4 pounds fatty pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 cups water
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 orange, cut into 2 pieces
1/4 cup pork lard or vegetable oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican, crumbled
2 teaspoons fine salt, or 4 teaspoons kosher salt

preparation

Put all the ingredients in a wide 6-to 7-quart heavy pot (don't worry if the pork is not completely covered) and bring the water to a boil, skimming the surface as necessary. Lower the heat and simmer vigorously, stirring occasionally, until the pork is fork-tender and the liquid has completely evaporated, 1½ to 2 hours. Discard the orange pieces and bay leaves. If the liquid hasn't evaporated after 2 hours, transfer the pork pieces to a bowl and let the liquid continue to bubble away, stirring often, until it has.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Transfer the pork and fat to an ovenproof dish, if necessary, and brown the pork, uncovered, in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. There's no need to stir.
Carnitas keeps in the refrigerator for up to three days.


Recipe courtesy of Roberto Santibanez-Truly Mexican Photo courtesy of epicurious.com

Making Tuesday Tasty-Pork Loin Italian Style

Well, I don't know how "authentically" Italian this is but, it's tasty and I make a version of it anyways. I mostly wing it when it comes to seasoning, etc. so I'm gonna try and get close to what the measurements are.

4 to 6 center cut pork loin

fresh or dried basil

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

1/4 to 1/2 C flour

1 egg

Meat mallet or hammer(if you use a household hammer make sure to place your meat in a Ziploc style bag, leaving about 1/8 in opening for air to escape. Then gently but firmly pound the meat flat to your desired thickness.

I washed and pat dried the pork loin and put it on a cutting board. I pounded the meat flat to a desired thickness of about 1/8 in or so. In a bowl, I cracked and mixed the egg up, put it to the side. On another plate, I put the flour down and spread it out a bit setting it next to the egg mixture. I heated a large skillet to Med/Med high heat(depends on how hot your stove gets) with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. I seasoned the meat liberally with ALL of the seasonings including the basil. If you use fresh basil, mince finely. When I've used fresh basil in my dishes it gets bitter if you heat too high, so I used dried.

Dredge the seasoned meat in egg, let the excess drip off. Then lay in the flour, dusting both sides, shake excess off and place in the skillet. Continue process until you run out of room. Cook until browned on each side (ended up being about 6 to 9 mins on each side). Place on serving dish or paper towel to drain for a few minutes and then serve. If you temp your meat, you want it to be 160 to 170 degrees internally.

*sorry guys I didn't take a pic of finished product*