Deep Fried...Something

Pulled Pork

After a few trial runs with easier/shorter cooking foods, I decided I was ready to take the big leap into the world of BBQ and throw a pork butt/shoulder on my new grill.  I've never made pulled pork before, but I've read an awful lot about it and I've certainly eaten it and enjoyed it before.  As with any barbecued food, the key components are the rub, the sauce, and the cooking method.  I grabbed the rub and sauce recipes directly from amazingribs.com, and then cooked it low and slow at 230 degrees for almost 14 hours.  The results were spectacular.  The bone came out like butter at the end of the cooking, the pork had an amazing bark (outer crust of spices) and smoke ring, and shredding the meat was one of the easiest things I've ever done.  Everything about this is a keeper, and will be made again!

Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

• 1 pork shoulder, 5-8 pounds
• ½ cup Memphis Dust rub (see link for recipe)
• 1 cup Kansas City Barbecue Sauce (see link for recipe)
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• coleslaw
• Kaiser rolls

Directions:

1. Trim most of the external fat off the pork shoulder.  Rinse and thoroughly dry the meat.
2. Lightly coat the entire surface with vegetable oil.
3. Sprinkle rub all over the meat, then let sit for at least 1 hour.
4. Turn on grill/smoker and set temperature between 225º and 250ºF.  Once temperature has stabilized, place shoulder on grill and cover.
5. Cook for approximately 2 hours per pound, until internal temperature reaches approximately 200ºF.  Test doneness using the fork test: insert fork into meat and rotate 90 degrees.  If meat is done, the fork will turn with very little resistance.
   
6. Remove from grill and shred meat.
   
7. Serve with sauce and coleslaw!

Notes:
There are many different kinds of sauces, and most of them would be great with this.  You don't need a lot of sauce, as the meat has a ton of flavor (as long as you don't eat too much of the bark while you're shredding it).

I used lump charcoal and chunks of applewood to cook this, might throw in a little bit of hickory along with the apple next time.

Pressure Cooker Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

When I heard that the people behind America's Test Kitchen were publishing a cookbook specifically for pressure cooking, I got pretty excited.  I have yet to have one of their recipes fail, and I love reading the notes on how they came up with the recipes and the science behind them. I finally broke down and bought Pressure Cooker Perfection: 100 Foolproof Recipes that will Change the Way You Cook. I'll be making a few recipes from it in the coming weeks, but my first one was these baby back ribs.  I never would have thought to make ribs in the pressure cooker, because the sauce can't get caramelized the way you expect with ribs, but using a two-part cooking method cuts the total time down from 4+ hours for traditional ribs to about 1.5 hours total, and the ribs are every bit as delicious.  The hardest part of this recipe was turning the ribs over during the broiling step, because they were so tender that they kept falling off the bones.  Not a bad problem to have, all things considered.  I can't wait to make more from this cookbook!

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons paprika
• 2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 (1½- to 2-pound) racks baby back rubs, cut into 2-rib sections
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup ketchup
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Directions:

1. Combine paprika, sugar, chili powder, 1 taspoon salt, 2 teaspoons pepper, and cayenne, then rub mixture evenly over ribs.
2. Heat oil in pressure cooker pot over medium heat until shimmering.  Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in ketchup, water, molasses, vinegar, and mustard.  Measure out and reserve 1 cup of sauce.  Arrange ribs upright in pot with meaty sides facing outward, then pour reserved sauce over ribs.
3. Lock pressure cooker lid in place and bring to high pressure over medium-high heat.  As soon as pot reaches high pressure, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes, adjusting heat as needed to maintain high pressure.
4. Remove pot from heat and allow pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes.  Quick release nay remaining pressure, then carefully remove lid, allowing steam to escape away from you.
5. Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler.  Place wire rack inside aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet ad spray with vegetable oil spray.  Transfer ribs, meaty side up, to prepared baking sheet.  Using large spoon, skim excess fat from surface of sauce.  Bring sauce to simmer and cook until thickened and measures 2 cups, about 10 minutes.  Brush ribs with some of suace, then broil until browned and sticky, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping and brusing with additional sauce every few minutes.  Serve ribs with remaining sauce.

Notes:
The smallest racks I could find were about 3 pounds each.  They still all fit, but barely, and I ran out of the dry rub before I could fully coat the last section. 

I checked the ribs during the broiling part every 2 minutes, and ended up broiling them for about 8-10 minutes. 

I also added a generous splash of Tabasco chipotle sauce to the bbq sauce after the pressure cooking step, and have no regrets.

Pressure Cooker Pork Tenderloin

I tried a version of this recipe a few weeks ago with a blade roast, and while it was good, it wasn't the right cut of pork and I knew it could be better.  Today was the perfect day to try it again, as we spent a few hours picking apples and broccoli at a local farm so I had fresher ingredients than I've ever used before.  I know the broccoli is just a side here (and it was just quickly steamed in a microwave steamer bag), but this was the best broccoli I've ever had in my life.  I cut it probably 3 hours before I served it, doesn't get much fresher than that!  Overall, this is another really simple pressure cooker dish, and I'll definitely be making it again.

Pressure Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 1 whole pork tenderloin, cut in half
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 sweet apple and 1 tart apple, chopped
• 3 cups apple juice
• 1-2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch

Directions:

1. In the pressure cooker pot, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
2. Season the tenderloin on all sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
3. Brown the tenderloin on all sides, then remove from pot.
4. Add apple juice to pot and turn heat to high.
5. Place steamer basket in pot and put browned tenderloin, apple, and onion in the pot.  Cover, seal, and bring to high pressure (15 psi).
6. Cook for 45 minutes, then release pressure.  Remove lid and remove basket from pot.
7. Mix corn starch with cold water, then stir into sauce.  Cook over medium-high heat until sauce thickens, then serve!

Notes:
I might increase the apple juice to 4 cups next time, this sauce was amazing.  I'm not saying Sarah licked her plate clean, but I'm also not saying she didn't.
For the apples, I used one Granny Smith and one Fuji.
The apples and onions almost dissolve when they're cooked under pressure.  Here's what it looked like when I took the basket out of the pressure cooker:

Sous Vide Pork Chops

I haven't really been a fan of pork chops historically speaking.  They're usually either too dry (yuck) or undercooked (even more yuck), so I haven't bothered trying to make them in quite some time.  I was reading my favorite sous vide web page though and saw the recipe for pork chops.  Given how juicy everything else had been, and the fact that you don't have to worry about undercooking when you cook sous vide, I decided to give them another try.  The resulting pork chops were so good, and so juicy, that I might be back on the pork chop bandwagon.  Because these are brined before cooking, they needed very little seasoning.

Sous Vide Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• Pork chops (I used center cut)
• ¼ cup salt
• 2½ Tablespoons sugar
• 1 quart water
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
  

Directions:

1. In a large ziploc bag, combine the water, salt and sugar.  Mix until dissolved.
2. Add pork chops and brine in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
3. Remove pork chops from brine and pat dry.  Place in individual vacuum bags.
4. Cook in sous vide machine at 135F for 12 hours.
5. Heat oil in heavy pan over high heat until just before smoking.  Place pork chops in pan and sear, about 45 seconds on each side.
6. Remove from pan and serve!

Notes:
I brined my pork chops for about 12 hours.  They were still good, but I think 1-2 hours would be plenty.  I served these splashed with just a little bit of this pomegranate tangerine vinegar  Also, in case there's any doubt about how juicy these are, here's a cropped close-up from the above picture: