Beer Braised Carnitas

I got a little super nerd excited when I noticed that this post was number 144.  Why?  Because that is 12 squared.  Not that 12 has any real meaning for my either, I just think 144 is a pretty cool number.  Yeah, I am a dork.  One of my favorite books is Fermat's Enigma.  The college essay I wrote that got me into Notre Dame?  Completely 100% based on my love of math.  I am still absolutely certain that that is the reason I got accepted.  I just really like math.  Hopefully that wasn't too much of a weird insight into how my somewhat nerdy brain is wired, that's just what popped into my head as I opened up this post, so I decided to share... Anyways, on to why you are really here, the carnitas!

There are occasionally times when I feel like I let my last name down.  I am Mexican.  Alright, I am a quarter Mexican.  But even so, I always feel a twinge of guilt when I reach for a jar of salsa, especially when I have my great-grandma Tilly's recipe sitting in the homemade cookbook on the counter.  Which is, I will admit (oh, the guilt!), ridiculously easy to make.  When I am feeling particularly shameful about my cultural negligence  I usually make Ben take me to the local taquerio where I can find a little solace in ordering a proper Mexican taco (corn tortillas, none of this cheese, sour cream, lettuce nonsense, simply topped as it should be with diced white onion, cilantro and a hearty squeeze of lime).

Other days, things are little more drastic, and I can go no longer with besmerching my good Mexican last name.  Call me a drama queen if you will, but good things usually come from these drastic measures.  Good things like corn tortillas.  And, most recently, these carnitas.  These heaven sent, lightly spicy, fall apart melt away goodness, carnitas.  Now, this is something my one quarter Mexican self can be proud of, just please ignore the fact that I did use store bought corn tortillas...

Beer Braised Carnitas
Adapted, in words only from Feb. 2013's Bon Appetit

There are 2 things you should take away from this recipe.  One is that carnitas, of any type, are usually  straight forward and easy.  There are only 5 ingredients!  Here's the gist: you take some pork, cut it up and boil it all day long until it melts apart.  Then you brown it in the very same pot after all the liquid evaporates.  For 20 minutes of prep work and a few hours on the stove, you get a pot of gorgeous, red, flavorful meat.  Two?  This is jaw-droppingly delicious.  Big Green Cookbook approved.

2 dried New Mexico chiles
4 lbs. skinless, boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch hunks
12 oz lager (I used Modelo Especial)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tsp. kosher salt

In large dutch oven, over medium heat, toast the chilies on both sides, until they have puffed up and darkened, about 2 minutes.  Remove from pot and let cool.  Once chilies are cool enough to handle, cut in half long ways and discard the stem and seeds (the more seeds you leave in, the more spice you'll find your dish has).  Return to dutch oven and add all the remaining ingredients, plus 1 cup of water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Cover the pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until pork falls apart at the touch of a fork.  This took me about an hour and a half.

Once the pork is fork tender, remove the lid of the pot and raise the heat slightly, bringing the liquid to a slow boil.  Stirring occasionally, continue to boil until the liquid evaporates completely, about 25 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, continue to allow pork to brown (it will naturally start shredding apart).  Stir continuously and scrape up the browned bits of goodness from the bottom for another 10-15 minutes.

Finally, add about 1 cup of water to the dutch oven.  Bring to a boil and scrape up any remaining browned bits of goodness from the bottom.  Serve with corn tortillas and a smile!

For instructions on making ahead of time (up to 3 days!), see BA's website.

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions

Sometimes I dread the day that I have to be an actual grownup 100% of the time.  One day in the hazy future, I am going to have to be somewhat more responsible.  And by responsible I don't mean having only a small scope of ice cream after a dinner of cereal.  I mean responsible like cooking a balanced dinner each night, eating a range of fruits and veggies, and not impulse buying ice cream in the first place.

People, we are not getting younger.  Responsibility time is just around the corner unfortunately.  Yours truly is about to turn a quarter of a century in less than a month.  Yes, I know, I know, maybe 25 isn't that old, but to me it's a scary number, round multiple of 5.  (PS - Mom, your youngest is about to turn 25! Ah!)  My days of sitting on the couch after a long day, eating cereal and watching 80's TV reruns are numbered.  I'm going to have to finish growing up eventually.  I'm going to have to make more things like pork chops roasted with apples and onions.  Oh the hardships....

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions
Cooking Light, September 2012

This wasn't a stand out dish.  It was good, but not amazing.  In other words, was eaten up completely, but not quite big green cookbook worthy.  Tuesday night dinner worthy though, you know, if you run out of cereal and ice cream.

2 1/2 tsp. olive oil, divided
1 1/2 c. frozen pearl onions, thawed, pat dry
2 c. Gala apple wedges
3 tsp. butter, divided
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-oz) bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (about 1/2 in. thick)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/2 tsp. flour
1 tsp. cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Heat large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp. olive oil to pan and heat.  Add onions to pan and brown for 3-4 minutes, stirring only once or twice to let the onions get some pretty brown on them. Add apples to pan and put in oven. Roast at 400° until apples are fork tender, about 10 minutes.  Toss immediately with 2 tsp. butter, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Transfer mixture to plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm.

Heat remaining oil in pan over medium-high heat. Season pork chops lightly with salt and pepper.  Cook pork 3 minutes per side, flipping only once to get a nice brown.  Remove pork from pan and tent with foil to keep warm. Whisk together broth and flour until there are no more lumps.  Pour into hot pan and bring to a boil, scrapping up any lose bits into the broth.  Boil until mixture is reduced to about 1/4 cup.  Add vinegar and remaining tsp. of butter, serve over pork and applies.

Sweet and Spiced Country Spareribs

Low and slow.  That is how you get here: to fall into pieces at a touch kind of ribs.  Low and slow.  Trust me here.  Don't ask silly questions like "cooking ribs in the oven for six hours?", or "who has that kind of time?", or even more bewildering "who actually plans dinner that far ahead??"

Because the answer is now you.  Follow me here, you cook ribs for 6 hours, in your oven, and you figure it out so you're not eating at 11 o'clock at night.  It's so simple, I promise you.  Because I did it.  And we ate dinner at 7.  Not 11.  Amazing, right?  Here's how it goes down.

In the morning, after sleeping in at least till 10, mix together the spice rub.  Slather and rub it very thickly on ribs.  Wrap in foil.  Ignore for an hour while you eat breakfast and watch TV.  If you feel like it, at some point before noon, preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  If you don't, no biggie.  It only has to get up to 200.  Remember, LOW.

At noon-ish, stick the ribs (which are in foil) in the oven on a wire rack.  Position your oven thermometer so you can actually see it when the oven door is closed.  Close the door, keep it closed.  Check occasionally to make sure your oven is staying around 200 degrees and isn't trying to creep up on you.  Go to the pool party hosted by your apartment complex and drink free pina coladas and beer from a keg hidden in the bushes.  Don't worry that you left the oven on and you're not in the house.  It's only 200 degrees and you're just across the way.  Besides, it's free booze.  You  don't want to be cooped up in your apartment all day, suffering from the smell of pure deliciousness, while the ribs cook for 6 lloonngg hours.  Remember, SLOW.

And these will be on your plate and down your gullet by 7 pm.  There are three key points to remember here: sleeping in, free pina coladas and an 200 degree oven that won't heat up your apartment even if you do keep it on for half the day.  Oh, and low and slow.  Cause it's totally, completely, mouth-wateringly worth it.  Now stop with the silly questions.

Sweet and Spiced Country Spareribs
Adapted from my crush, the Smitten Kitchen

1.  These are delicious.  According to Ben, they sort of smell like Christmas morning (thank you cloves!).  They taste hot and spicy (two different things).  They may cook for 6 hours, but there's about 20 minutes of actual work involved.  30 minutes, tops.  These are in the BGCB.

2.  Deb calls out for spareribs.  Which I thought I had in my freezer, when really I had country spareribs.  Is there a difference?  Apparently, because mine looked different.  Who knew?  The country worked splendidly, the normal spareribs looked like they did Deb proud.  I think you're safe either way here.

3.  In case you didn't notice, tomorrow is Sunday.  Sunday is a good day for ribs.  Just saying...

Spice Rub:
1 c. dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

4-5 lbs. spare ribs
2 tsp. smoked paprika (I used Hungarian)
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

In small bowl, mix up the spice rub.  Lay out spareribs on enough foil to create a sealed packet (if needed, slice ribs into more manageable sizes.  I made 2 packets).  Slather on (seriously, nice and thick here) the spice rub all over the ribs.  Rub it in.  Coat it completely.  Fold up foil into packet around ribs.  Let sit 30 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  On rimmed baking sheet, place a wire rack.  Place ribs on top.  Cook in 200 degree oven for 4 hours.  If possible, drop temperature to 175 degrees, and finishing cooking 2 more hours, until it is easily fork tender.  Carefully open packets and set ribs aside to rest.

Pour accumulated juices into medium sauce pan.  Boil until reduce by half.  Add paprika and vinegar and cook until desired consistency is reached.  Deb says you can now put the ribs under a broiler to get a crisp grilled like finish.  We couldn't make it that long.  Generously spoon sauce over ribs.  Devour, making sure to have lots of paper towels nearby...

Apple Cider Pulled Pork

In the most uncharacteristically Northern Illinois way, it has been warm here the last few days.  My heart wants so badly to believe that the warmth is here to stay, but unfortunately my brain knows better.  My brain knows that it is only a matter of time before Mother Nature plays what must be known as the cruelest April Fools' Day joke there is... Spring is coming!  Go for long walks, sit in the sun!  What, 2 feet of snow?  Gotcha!  April Fools!

I promise, living in the Midwest has only made me a little bit bitter.  And even if I do know better, I can't help but daydream on this beautiful 70 degree day of the better things to come: spring, warmth, sunlight past 6 pm in the evening, fresh corn and tomatoes, cooking in a tank top and trying your best to minimize the amount of time your oven spends heating up your apartment just so your AC can cool it right down again, and lots, lots and lots, of pulled pork sandwiches.

Ben and I are both big fans of the pulled pork.  We were spoiled quite a bit with me living in South Carolina for awhile and any trip to the south isn't quite complete until we've had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich.  So when I told Ben all week long that I was making pulled pork for our Wednesday dinner together, his mind saw shredded pork smothered in some sort of BBQ.  And even though I gave him this instead, he was still quite happy.

Ben thought immediately that it was BGCB material, however I have my suspicions he's just trying to fill the thing out.  I think it has potential.  It's different and good, but the tang I was expecting from the apple cider wasn't there as much as I had hoped.  I used Simply Apple and Hornsby's Hard Cider, so I might play around with my ciders.  There was also A LOT of onions.  The initial recipe called for 4.  Being the kind, considerate girlfriend that I am, I cut it down to 3 (Ben is still convinced he doesn't like onions but only when he can see them...) and sliced them up the night before.  When I was assembling the next morning (did I mention this was a slow cooker meal!?  Perfect for those warm days...), it just looked like way too much.  I used a little more than half the onions I sliced up the night before.  And there was still a lot of onion.  The taste doesn't over power or anything, there was just onion every where you looked.  In the end the verdict was quite good:  I had a happy boyfriend and a full stomach myself.  I just need to tinker a bit more...

Bloggerversary....  Hey!  In case you didn't notice, someone's bloggerversary is coming up... (I've been debating about celebrating it the way I do my birthday... all week long!)  I've ordered myself a nice little bloggerversary gift just for the occasion.  Excited?  Me too.  I'll break it out on the big day!! (March 31st, just in case you were planning on sending gifts...)

Apple Cider Pulled Pork
adapted from Food 52

1 bottle hard apple cider
1-2 c. 100% apple cider
1 c. ketchup
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. siracha
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 lbs. pork shoulder

To make sauce, measure out hard cider and add enough apple cider to measure 3 cups of liquid.  Whisk in ketchup, brown sugar, paprika, cumin, garlic powder and siracha.

Place half of the onions in 4.5 qt or larger crock pot.  Place pork shoulder on top (if you have time, brown pork shoulder on stove top first).  Pour sauce over top and cover with remaining sliced onions.  cover slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until pork is fall apart with forks tender.

Remove pork from crock pot and set aside.  Turn crock pot to high heat and let sauce boil, reduce and thicken, skimming any fat from surface that shows up.  Using hands or forks or both, shred pork.  I kept mine separate (to help Ben with his onion fear), but you could also mix the pork back in the sauce and onion mixture.  Scoop pork and onions onto buns and make sure to top with sauce.  Enjoy!