Pulled Pork Rollups

After cooking the Easy Roasted Pork Shoulder, I was left with a very large bowl of shredded pork, which I distributed, into multiple bags that I sealed and froze.  Now that these bags of pork are in the freezer, what do I do with them?  With the help of my wife and a friend, we recently came up with one answer to that question.

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned how my wife and I traveled to Corvallis Oregon to stay with a friend.  For dinner that night, we volunteered to bring a bag of the thawed shredded pork for dinner.  When we arrived we decided to and make pork rollups (soft tacos).

Ingredients:
   2-cups pulled pork
   1-package tortilla shells (we used six-inch gluten-free rice tortillas)
   1-cup prepared guacamole
   1-cup salsa
   1-cup sour cream
   1-cup grated cheese (Tillamook extra sharp cheddar is excellent)
   8-miniature sweet peppers, sliced
   4-cups lettuce
   3-green onions, sliced

We started by washing all the vegetables, and then tearing the lettuce into smaller pieces and slicing the onions and peppers.  Next, we grated the cheese and heated the pork in the microwave.

The next step is easy, lay one of the tortilla shells on a plate (optionally warm the tortilla), and layer the ingredients on the tortilla.  Once the desired mix of ingredients are added, the tortilla can be rolled for eating by hand or left flat for more refined eating with a fork.  The biggest problem that I encounter when preparing my rollups is that I use too much of each ingredient, which makes it difficult to roll the tortilla and keep all the contents inside.  I guess the answer would be to use a larger diameter tortilla, but then I would just add additional ingredients inside and be back where I started.

We enjoyed our dinner with the pulled pork rollups.  It is refreshing to have the crunch of the peppers to contrast with the other soft ingredients and add some body to the meal.  The nice thing about this meal is each diner can make their own rollup with their own set of ingredients.  This is also a summer great meal (when it is 90+ degrees outside), the rollups can be made without using the stove or oven.  I thought it was a great time to try a new recipe with the frozen pork.  One package of shredded pork used, and three frozen packages to go.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Pulled Pork Sandwiches With Coleslaw

Happy Independence Day everyone!  My wife and I decided to claim our independence from making a large meal for dinner and instead to use some of the shredded pork shoulder in our refrigerator for dinner.  I looked at the article in the paper for Pulled Pork Sandwiches With Coleslaw and saw that we needed to pick up a head of green cabbage and some small hamburger (or slider) buns at the store while we were out running a few errands.

I prepared for the dinner by finely slicing a little more than half the head of cabbage.  I put the sliced cabbage in our salad spinner, gave it a rinse and then a spin dry.  I looked at the coleslaw recipe that was printed in the paper and I thought it would not have very much flavor, as it was just one tablespoon each of red vinegar with olive oil, a little salt, and pepper.  I decided to make a small batch of coleslaw with that recipe, but asked my wife to make a more traditional coleslaw dressing.

She found a few recipes, but in the end created her own dressing recipe: Cheryl’s Coleslaw

Ingredients:
   1/2 cup Miracle Whip
   1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
   1/2 teaspoon salt
   1/4 teaspoon pepper
   1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
   2 tablespoons milk
   1/4 teaspoon celery seed

To prepare this recipe, she whisked all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and stirred it into the shredded cabbage with some carrot strips (made with a peeler). 

We heated some of the pulled pork that I cooked a couple of day before with just a small amount of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue sauce.  We place the small buns on our plate, added a serving of the pork and then added some of the coleslaw on top, then topped with the other half of the bun.

I tried both versions of the coleslaw on the pork and my wife’s was definitely better than the recipe in I made from the paper.  The crispness of the cabbage gave some body and definition to the soft bun and pork.  The spices in the Miracle Whip, vinegar, and mustard were a great combination to add with the barbecue sauce.

We have enough buns, coleslaw, and pork remaining to have for lunch tomorrow, I can’t wait!

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Easy Roasted Pork Shoulder

Recently we attended a relative’s open house to see their finished home remodel. This was a potluck meal and I made artichoke nibbles to share. The hosts had prepared shredded pork shoulder and heated it for serving in a crock-pot. There were small slider buns available to make shredded pork sandwiches, which we all enjoyed.

I thought having the shredded pork was fortuitous, as I had just seen the Easy Roasted Pork Shoulder recipe in our daily paper the Oregonian’s weekly food insert. Fortunately, I saved that page, as I can no longer find a reference online. At Costco our super-mega-mart, I purchased one of the smaller bags of pork shoulder, took it home, and put it in the refrigerator.

This recipe is very easy as there are just 4 ingredients, pork shoulder, salt, pepper and 1 /2 cup of water. I spread newspaper on top of the countertop to catch any stray pork juice. I cut the bag containing the pork from the top and removed what I found was two pieces of pork inside and placed them in a roasting pan that I had coated with cooking spray. Cutting the bag from the top kept all the extra liquid inside and I only got one drop of stuff on the newspaper. Easy cleanup without contaminating the kitchen with raw pork juice.

Following the recipe, I placed the pork with the fat side up in the pan and using a sharp knife, I scored the fat in a diamond pattern trying to be careful not to cut into the meat. I sprinkled the top liberally with salt and pepper and added the water to the pan.

I heated the newly cleaned oven to 450 degrees and put the roasting pan with the pork on a lower rack to cook uncovered for 45 minutes. I noticed when I walked near the kitchen that there was a wonderful smell of cooking pork, but not a greasy smell. Once the time was up, I removed the roasting pan, turned the oven to 350 degrees, and covered the roasting pan with aluminum foil and placed the pork back in the oven for 4 hours to bake until the meat was tender.

After the four hours were up, I moved the roasting pan to the top of the stove and removed the foil. When I tested it with a fork, the meat just flaked apart. I removed as much of the fat from the meat as I could. I found that to keep the pieces of pork to a reasonable size, I cut the two pork pieces in half across the grain. I started removing pieces of the pork with a fork and transferring it to a large metal bowl. There I used two forks to shred the pork into bite-sized pieces. It took me about half an hour, but that was ok as I was enjoying listening to a book on tape: This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You On T.V. by Bob Schieffer. Though right then he was discussing Bill Clinton and the Starr report – Ugh.

We had hot shredded pork for dinner, I mixed mine with a little Sweet Baby Ray’s barbeque sauce, and my wife had hers plain. This is an easy recipe to make and it tastes great. The article in the paper had a few recipes for using the shredded pork: Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw, Pork Shoulder Ragu, and Pulled Pork Tacos. We still have a very large bowl of shredded pork and I may try some of these recipes.

The recipe in the paper said the pork can be stored for three days in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer. We will eat some in the next few days, and I will vacuum seal the remainder into two quart sized bags and freeze it until needed.

If you like shredded pork, this is a great and inexpensive way to make your own.

If you would like the recipes from the paper, email me and I will send you a copy.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell