Cheap Eats: Braised Pork Shoulder

My dad was the king of getting a good deal.  He was an Extreme Couponer before there were Extreme Couponers.  As a teenager, driving practice meant driving my dad to 3 different grocery stores so he could be sure to get the best deal.  I thought it was so ridiculous and insisted that we must spend more money on time and gas then he saved on food.  Boy was I wrong.

As I started my own family I discovered just how valuable those thrifty shopping lessons were.  I was shopping on a college students paycheck eating .99 cent chicken drumsticks every night and making soup with the bones the next day.  But we didn’t starve those first few years together and we certainly never ate Top Ramen for dinner.

One of my dad’s favorite ways to save money was to buy a large portion of a cheap cut of meat.  Something on sale, of course.  Pork Shoulder or Beef Roasts were always a big hit.  Their cheap, often priced between $1.50-$2 a pound on sale and it’s almost entirely useable.  One 6 lb pork shoulder will feed my little family of three for a week.  Including several lunches.

Pork Shoulder is one of those long cooking meats.  Its full of connective tissue which can give you a very tough roast, if cooked quickly, or a fork-tender fall off the bone hunk of love if cooked slowwwwwly.  There also needs to be a layer of fat on the top to help baste the meat as it cooks so don’t even think about cutting that off and throwing it away!  The fat adds loads of flavor and moisture to the meat.

To make this roast all you need are some spices, water or stock, a large heavy dutch oven with lid and about 3.5 hours of lazy and relaxing cook time.

Shredded Pork Shoulder

• 1 pork shoulder roast
• your favorite spice rub.  This time I used thyme, salt, red pepper flakes, and oregano.  But another favorite is rosemary, garlic and thyme.  You could also make a paste with oil and dried, ground and roasted Ancho or Guajillo chilies.
• about 1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock
• a large dutch oven with lid
• olive oil

1.  Remove roast from the wrapper and massage entire roast liberally with your spice rub or paste.  Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour, but overnight is better.

2.  When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Heat the dutch oven on med-high heat with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil.  When hot, add the roast and sear each side by turning the roast every 4-5 minutes until all the sides are crispy and brown.  When done turn roast so the fatty side facing up.

3.  Fill pot with stock or water so that the liquid reaches almost halfway up the sides of the roast.  Cover with the lid and place on the center rack in the oven.  Forget about it for 2 hours.

4.  After 2 hours take roast out of the oven and check for doneness.  A small roast may be done by this point, but a larger 6 lb roast will need another hour or more.  Carefully baste the roast with the juices at the bottom of the pot, cover and roast in the oven for another 1.5 hours or until the meat easily pulls away from the bone with a fork.

5.  Remove the roast from the oven and shred with two forks, placing the meat in a separate bowl.  Add a cup or so of the juices from the pot to the bowl and mix together with the meat.  Discard any bone, if it had one, and the remaining fat and juices (unless you want to make gravy, but that’s another post).

Enjoy your shredded pork in all sorts of dishes.  This week we used ours for pork sandwiches, omelets, tacos, in our breakfast sandwiches, and even on pizza!  When we finally got sick of pork roast I threw the rest in the freezer for another week when I don’t feel like cooking.

Valentine’s Day Recap

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!  Tom and I had a great night.  I made T-bone steaks, golden mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus for dinner with homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

While cooking I had one of those, “we gotta blog this” moments that I have to tell you all about.  I hope you find it as funny as I did.

I rarely cook steak.  It’s pretty expensive so I only cook it on special occasions.  It’s also because steak is just not that good for you (but don’t tell Tom that is one of the reasons okay!)  I decided to broil the steaks, which besides almost ruining my favorite cookie sheet, made lots of smoke from the fat burning off.  Every time I opened the oven clouds of smoke would pour out.  The steaks looked great though so I went with it.  By the third time of opening the door the fire alarms started screaming.  Brae started screaming and dancing around the room excitedly while Tom opened the doors and windows then grabbed the gigantic 2.5 ft x 1.5 ft Valentines day card he bought me and began fanning the fire alarm with it.  Brae thought this was a great idea and drug a chair and her giant card over to the alarm too.  Within a minute the alarm turned off and a thin layer of smoke was slowly flowing out the doors and into the night.

That is until I opened the oven again.  When the alarms started screaming Tom yelled, “Man your battle stations!” and bounced around the room fanning the alarm like a wild monkey.  Brae giggled delightedly, leaped on the chair and started vigorously fanning the alarm from her perch.  All this was happening as I peaked my head around the corner and caught a glimpse of this whole hysterical scene.  I am still wondering if the neighbors heard our crazy commotion.

The steaks turned out great, my favorite pan is not ruined, and the rest of the night was fun and fire free.  I hope yours was too.

Egg and Sausage Breakfast Sandwich To-Go

His alarm blazes Sweet Home Alabama every morning at 5:30 am.

He is so quick to turn it off that I rarely wake to hear it.  45 minutes later his old blue and silver GMC truck rumbles to life.  The dog, hearing the engine, pulls himself up from his place by the fire and trots out the door.  His short coat hardly keeps him warm in the frigid morning air and he quickly hops in the back of the truck.  As his master scrapes the ice off the windshield he wriggles into the center of a pile of old blankets and falls back to sleep.  His master climbs in and the truck rambles off into the mist.

A few weeks ago I found out that after he left home Tom was stopping at the golden arches on his way to work and picking up two sausage and egg croissants, EVERY DAY!  My first thoughts were

1. Their food tastes awful and they never get the order right, ever.
2. The sausage and egg croissants he is eating everyday are going to give him a heart attack.
3. Those things are like $2.50 each!  If he is getting two a day, six times a week that is $30 in sandwiches alone, not to mention the coffee…

I had to figure out a way to fix this.  There is no way we can afford $120 in sausage croissants every month.  I found out there is a microwave available at his work so I fashioned my own Breakfast Muffins.  Each muffin is individually wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil then frozen.

Egg and Sausage Breakfast Sandwich To-Go

• 6 English Muffins = $2.00, or .33 cents each
• 1 package of ground breakfast sausage, without casings = $3.00 for 1 lb, or .50 cents for each patty
• 6 slices of cheese, anything works but I like a good melting cheese, this time I used Bacon Cheddar slices = $4.00 for 12 slices, or .33 cents each slice,
• 6 eggs (I use organic eggs from the supermarket) $4.50 a dozen or .38 cents each egg
• a glug of milk (about a couple tablespoons, but I never measure) = cost is a couple pennies.
• A muffin tin

Total Cost= $1.54 per sandwich and that is with quality eggs, sausage and cheese.  You could lower that cost to $1.37 per sandwich by slicing your own cheddar cheese and using non organic eggs.  Personally I would pay the extra .17 cents for better quality food, but I know many people, including myself a couple years ago, who can’t spare .17 cents a day.

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Begin toasting the English muffins in batches, using a toaster or toaster oven.  When they are done allow to cool.

2.  While the muffins are toasting form the sausage into 6 patties and heat a large skillet on medium heat.  When the pan is hot, place as many of the sausage patties on the bottom of the pan as you can while making sure they do not touch.  Cook the patties for about 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.  Place a slice of cheese on each patty to melt.  Allow to cool completely.

2.  While the sausage cooks, crack 6 eggs in a bowl and add a couple tablespoons of milk.  Whisk together until well mixed.  Using a ladle divide evenly into 6 well greased muffin cups.  Bake for about (10 minutes?) then remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  Remove from tin.

3.  Assemble the sandwiches in the following order: half an English muffin on the bottom, then the sausage and cheese and finally the egg and the other half of the muffin on top.  Wrap each sandwich tightly in plastic wrap then again in aluminum foil.  Store sandwiches in the freezer in a zip top freezer bag.

Reheat the sandwiches in a microwave or toaster oven until piping hot.  All microwaves vary considerably so its hard for me to give you an exact time for reheating.  3-5 minutes should do it, but use your best judgement.

Total time to make 6 sandwiches: about 30 minutes

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

I am not a breakfast person.

Since I was a teen, most of my mornings involve a cup of tea and a queasy couple of hours trying to keep it all down.  I know, its terrible!  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but try telling that to my chronically upset stomach!

Over the years I’ve developed ways of tricking my stomach into eating earlier.  My favorite is to have “dessert” for breakfast.  I don’t mean a bowl of ice cream or a slice of chocolate cake.  I’m talking more like these blueberry muffins made with Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Muffins have to be one of my favorite treats to bake.  So versatile!  You can make them sweet or savory just by changing up a few ingredients.  I like to make a double batch and I wrap the extras individually in plastic wrap for easy to-go breakfasts, lunches and snacks.  No one complains with muffins at least not in this house.

The other day I found a tower of fresh blueberries on sale at the grocery store.  I know, blueberries are totally out of season and these were from Chili so they were in no way local, but they were organic and 2 pints for $4.00.  It’s January!  How could I resist fresh blueberries at that price, even out of season.  Anyway, as soon as I saw them I began envisioning the perfect blueberry muffin.  Since I am no expert baker I took to the internet to find a good starter recipe.  My requirements for a breakfast muffin usually include extra protein and less saturated fats and sugar.  I quickly came across Kamran’s Perfect Blueberry Muffins post and agreed that they looked quite perfect.  With just a couple minor changes I had a new breakfast muffin.  I hope you enjoy them as well!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Recipe originally from Cook’s Illustrated and Smitten Kitchen.  Found via The Sophisticated Gourmet.

• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp fresh grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen organic blueberries (wash and dry fresh berries, keep frozen berries frozen)

1.  Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a muffin tin with 12 liners or butter the tin.  In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat well.  Add the yogurt and lemon zest.  Stir to combine completely.

2.  In a med bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.  Pour half the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir until well mixed.  Pour in the rest of the dry mix and stir until it’s about half mixed in, then add the blueberries.  Fold the berries and remaining flour into the batter until it just comes together without crushing the berries.  Don’t overmix. The mixture will be thick.

3.  Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for about 23-30 minutes.  When the time is up check the centers with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean then they are done.  If not cook for 2-4 more minutes and then check another muffin.

Enjoy!

(Click on recipe card to save and print.  It is designed to be printed on 5×7 photo paper and stuck in a card file, on the fridge or given to a friend.)

Steve’s Creamy Pinto Beans

After my dad passed away in 2005 my mind was full of all the things I would miss.  His laugh, his advice, his silly nicknames.  It wasn’t until about a year later when I realized I also never learned how he made his famous pinto beans and I LOVE his pinto beans.  They were always super creamy and very flavorful with a hint of spice.  Dad was also always looking for ways to save money.  During the holidays he would use the bone from ham dinner and would make a big batch of beans specifically for freezing about 100 bean and cheese burritos for lunch at work.  If he didn’t have a ham bone he would substitute ham hocks.

For the past couple years I have racked my brain for hints to his recipe.  At first I couldn’t remember anything except that he used ham hocks or bones.  Ham hock was one of his silly nicknames for me and I never knew what a ham hock was until he made a pot of beans one day and added three ham hocks to the pot.  For some reason that stuck with me.

After talking with my mom and doing a little bit of research & experimentation I came up with a recipe I am happy with.  It’s probably not exactly like his, but comes close enough.

Steve’s Creamy Pinto Beans

• 2 lbs dried pinto beans
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons of ham or bacon fat
• 2-3 cups of leftover cooked ham roast, big chunks are fine
• 1 leftover ham shank bone or 3-4 ham hocks
• 1 dried Guajillo chili, stemmed, seeded and ground (or a couple canned jalapenoes)
• 12 cups of cold unsalted water, divided
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. The night before put 2 pounds of pinto beans in a large stockpot full of water. Let them soak overnight.

2.  When you are ready to cook the beans drain them and set aside in a large bowl.  Chop up 1 onion and 6 cloves of garlic.  Heat the large stockpot on medium heat and melt about 2 tablespoons of ham or bacon fat in the bottom.  Add the onion and garlic to the pot and stir.  Let it cook for a minute.  Turn the heat up to med-high and wait about a minute for the pan to heat up then add 2-3 cups of roughly chopped leftover ham shank roast plus the bone from the roast (I froze my Christmas ham bone and used it for this recipe).  Let this brown on all sides by letting it brown a bit on the bottom before stirring the meat or turning the bone.  Browning is great, burning is bad.  Let this cook for about 10 minutes.  Turn the temp down a little if it seems to be browning too fast.

3.  While the ham bone browns, remove the stem and seeds from 1 dried Guajillo chili.  Grind the chili in a food processor until coarsely ground.  Dump into bottom of cooking pot with the onions.  Stir and allow chili to roast for 1 minute.  Alternatively you could chop up a couple canned jalapeno chilies.  That is what my dad used.

4.  Deglaze the pot by adding 1 cup of water and stirring with a wooden spoon while gently scraping all the yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  When the bottom is clear of brown bits add 11 more cups of unsalted cold water and 1 tablespoon of butter.  Add the beans and stir.

5.  Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.  After it reaches a boil turn the heat down to low and simmer until the beans are mushy, about 2 hours.  Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom so nothing burns.

6.  When the beans are cooked remove the ham bone, scrape off any extra chunks of ham and add them back to the pot.  Mash the cooked beans and ham with a potato masher until creamy.  If you would like to you can add some oil, butter or lard to the finished beans for additional creaminess.  If the beans are thin then let them simmer on low, stirring occasionally, until they are the desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper when they are done.

We add lots of cheese to our beans and use them in burritos, quesadillas, bean dip or just a big cozy bowlful by itself.  They freeze very well in freezer bags or as individually wrapped and frozen bean and cheese burritos.

Top Posts of 2011

2011 was a great year for us!  I harvested another 100 pounds of vegetables from my tiny city backyard, raised some cute chickens, moved to a beautiful town and met several new friends!  Its been a good year indeed.  2012 is going to be interesting, that’s for sure!  More to come about our plans for this year.  For now, onto other things.

Thanks to a nifty end of the year report that WordPress so graciously provided me I know that these were my most popular posts of 2011.

#1.  Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – Yea, this is America, of course the chocolate chip cookie is the most popular.

#2.  Asparagus and Gruyère Tart – Oh so cheesy and yummy.  Asparagus season is in just a couple of months!

#3.  Red Lentil Dal – Wonderful for a stuffy head and nose.

#4.  Strawberry Cake – Perfect for summer parties… or to hoard for yourself.

#5.  No Bake Chocolate Tart – Written in 2010 but came up #5 for most popular in 2011.  I have to say its one of my favorite posts to date.  The tart is great too.

I have to add some of my own favorites to the list.  How about…

- Eggs and Zucchini – this post made it onto Glamour.com!  Crazy right!

- Plum Jam – Hands down, my favorite jam.

- Camp Chicken and Corn + Camp Menus – I love camping.  I love camp cooking even more.  Add a bunch of rain for a real adventure.

- Oven Fries – I love these oven fries.  I make them almost every week.

- Pull Apart Cinnamon Bread – I have been craving this.  So perfect for winter.  Not so perfect for my after the holidays figure.

This year I have two blog goals.  One is to share more of the great lunch and dinner recipes I make on a regular basis.  I have loads of recipes that I make repeatedly from memory.  I want to get those written down for my family to have.  My dad often cooked from memory and its taken me 4 years to figure out a close match to his pinto bean recipe, which, by the way, I will be blogging about in the next week or so.

My second goal goes back to my original motive for starting this blog, which was to figure out and/or collect my favorite family recipes, like my Dad’s pinto beans, and blog them for us all to enjoy.  I would love to have enough for a little book of family recipes by the end of the year.  We will see!

Polvorones and A Poet’s Cure for Writers Block

Writers Block sucks.

I took these pictures last Fall and then uploaded them to a new post.

And that is where they sat for the next several months.  Every time I would sit down to write a post to go with these photos my mind would turn up nothing.  I figured something would come to me during December’s Cookie Month, but no.

Just before the New Year my step-dad called to tell me that he is publishing a book of poetry this coming Spring.  My first thought was “Well, it’s about time!”  Dave has been writing poetry my whole life.  His poems are thought-provoking and emotional with a with a touch of playfulness and/or irony.  They make you think, to search your inner depths and question previously held ideals.  Often they thrust you back into your most closely held memories of home, hope, love and loss.

I told Dave of my recent troubles with writer’s block and he told me he had just the thing for me.  He read me one of his poems called Hesitation.  After hearing it I asked him if I could share it with all the writers out in blog land and he agreed!  So without further adieu, this is Hesitation by D.R Ostman.  I hope it chases away your writers block like it has helped chase away mine.

Hesitation

With hesitation, I touch the pen to page.

Confusion abounds as to what to say,

Who, What, Where,

shall I write about today?

Words and subjects all knotted up; like a child’s tangled kite that wont fly.

Focus, focus, instead questions, much like a cup half-full, with confused expectations.

Where do I start and where do I end.

I knew before I started, it was all in my head.

Why won’t it just roll down from my head and magically overtake my fingers

to say what I mean to say, in pigment on page;

something that may be lost forever, if I can’t write, what I want to say;

A treasure lost forever, in the dark and distant caverns,

of my unsure and hesitating mind!

D.R Ostman

One request from the author.  Please do not take this poem and repost it anywhere else without sending me an email and talking to me about it first.  If you do I will request you remove it immediately because of its pending publication.  If you like the poem, we would love it if you could direct your friends back to this site to read it.  I will let you know more about Dave’s book as I get it.  Thank you for respecting the author’s wishes!

Polvorones Mexicanos or Mexican Shortbread Cookies

by Rick Bayless in his great cookbook Mexican Everyday

The recipe is the same as the original except I use a hand mixer instead of a food processor like Rick does.

• 4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened slightly
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Optional toppings – 1/4 – 1/3 cup of any of the following:  finely chopped chocolate, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, candy sprinkles.  You could also just bake them plain and then sprinkle with cinnamon or other spices.

1.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and blend with a hand mixer, stand mixer or food processor until crumbly.

2.  Dump the crumbly dough onto your work surface and shape into a ball.  Place the ball between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten the ball into a disk.  Roll out to 1/4 inch with a rolling-pin while it’s between the plastic wrap.  Transfer to a cutting board or cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack in the middle.  Cut dough into squares or triangles and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle tops with chosen toppings and gently press in.

4.  Bake 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned.  Turn the baking sheet halfway through cooking.  Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  This is also a good time to sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar.

Store in a tightly sealed container.