In my quest to jazz up our meal routine, I got into trying out different pork dishes for a few months. I have never been much of a pork eater, aside from my mother’s pork chops and rice recipe. However, when I discovered how cheap this protein can be when purchased in bulk, I decided it would be worth trying out a few cooking methods and seeing if it became popular enough with our family to become part of the usual menu.
Dinner time saver: pulled pork three ways
Take your run of the mill, mid-sized pork roast from you freezer.
- Thaw
- Rinse
- Pat dry
- Sear on high heat for 30 seconds on each side.
- Place in large Pyrex or roasting pan
- Rub down with a bit of butter, about a tablespoon for just a sheen.
Mix together one tablespoon of each:
- Dried rosemary
- Garlic granules/powdered garlic
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dried thyme
- Plus three tablespoons of dried minced onions
Rub herb and spice mix over the top of all three roasts.
Add three tablespoons water and one tablespoon Worcestershire to the pan you used for browning and deglaze. Add that liquid to your roasting pan.
Optional: Also add three tablespoons vinegar. Preferably apple cider vinegar or malt vinegar.
Cover your roaster and pop in your oven for two hours at 400°F.
Your roasts should be almost to the easy to pull apart point. Remove them from the oven and let them sit for 20 minutes uncovered. Their internal heat will finish cooking them. Leave them alone during this time! Opening themtoo early will dry out the meat.
Now grab two large forks and begin shredding. I shred up all three right in the baking pan and let the meat soak up the leftover liquid.
Once it is shredded, divide into thirds.
One third goes in our fridge as is for a tame pulled pork to add to salads. (Or whatever you like!)
On the next third I add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce to the meat. We keep this in the fridge for on sandwiches, wraps, or just to have with navy beans and coleslaw. My kids like it in a pita. My husbands usually grabs a few bites for breakfast.
The last third gets a hearty dose of garlic, chili powder, and cumin for tacos. Chili seasoned pulled pork in a hard corn shell with tomatoes and lettuce is pretty awesome.
Since all the meat prep is done, I have three dinners this week that only require about five minutes of work chopping vegetables. It is easy, cheap, and convenient. At only $1.99 per pound at Costco, pork roasts were my choice for grocery budgeting purposes, but obviously you could use beef. (You would want to increase your cooking time though.) You could do the same with chicken thighs as well. (Breast gets too dry.)
*After trying this out a few times, it turns out my family likes the regular seasoned pulled pork better than when it has barbeque sauce or taco seasoning. which I guess is a win for me since I can just keep it all as a single batch.
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