I’m meeting up with a friend later today for a long overdue movie date, and I’m so excited for a little girl time! We’re finally going to see The Hunger Games, and though I’ve heard some mixed reviews, I have high hopes. I literally read the entire first book in 2 days a few months ago, I couldn’t put it down. It consumed me so completely that I still haven’t touched the second and third books in the series for fear I will do nothing but sit on the couch for days tearing through them. And since I have the worst memory in the world, I’ve now forgotten half of what happened in the first book so I’ll have to go back and reread that before I can move on. Later this summer we’re road tripping to Canada and I’m thinking all of that time in the car will provide the perfect opportunity to find out what happens to Katniss and Peeta…
Anyway, I guess you probably want to know about this pork π
Pulled pork is one of those meals Shane and I both love equally, and would probably be happy eating 4 or 5 nights a week. I generally only make it in the winter, buying a huge pork shoulder and letting it cook all day in the slow cooker. It’s a no fuss meal that makes tons of leftovers which happen to freeze perfectly, what’s not to like? It had never occurred to me to cook a smaller pork shoulder – one that would only feed us for a meal (or maybe two at most). I know that sounds silly, but most recipes call for a large piece of meat, and the ones at the store are always so big – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pork shoulder smaller than 4 or 5 pounds. Recently I came across this recipe for chipotle pork in an issue of Cooking Light though, and my eyes were opened.
The recipe calls for just 1 1/4 lb of pork shoulder, which of course I couldn’t find, so I bought a larger one and cut it in 3 pieces, sticking the extra 2 in the freezer for another day. The pork is marinated in a combination of sweet, spicy and smoky flavors, then quickly browned on the stove top and cooked for a few hours until it’s so tender it falls apart; it could not be easier. You could probably even throw it in your slow cooker if you didn’t feel like having the oven on for hours, especially as the weather heats up. The pork turned out really flavorful and juicy; Shane was content to eat it on its own. I found some queso blanco and lettuce in the fridge that desperately needed to be used so I added those to the mix and made some homemade tortilla chips to throw on the plate too. It wound up being a pretty fantastic combination, if I do say so myself π
Chipotle Pork
from Cooking Light, April 2012
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 large garlic cloves, peeled
3 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce
1 lime
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/4 lb boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed of excess fat
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Combine the onion, honey, cumin, cinnamon, garlic and chiles in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until well combined – the onion, garlic and chiles should be finely chopped. Peel the lime, then, working over a bowl to catch the juices, section the lime (if you’ve never sectioned a citrus fruit, there’s a video here explaining the process). Add the lime sections and juice from the bowl you were working over to the food processor. Squeeze any remaining juice from the membranes into the bowl of the food processor too. Finally, add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the mixture and process until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic bag. Add the pork, turning to coat. Seal the bag and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to a small Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Remove the pork from the bag, reserving the marinade. Season the pork all over with salt then add to the hot pan. Brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Transfer the pork to a plate. Add the chicken broth and reserved marinade to the pan. Bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the pork back to the pan along with any accumulated juices on the plate. Cover the pan and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 1/4 – 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fork tender. (I checked mine every 45 minutes or so to ensure there was still enough liquid in the pan. I never needed to add any, but if you find the liquid has cooked off, add additional to the pan.) Remove the pork from the pan and shred into bite-size pieces. Add back to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce.
I like it, looks delicious!
Pretty much Lloyd’s favorite food ever. As always, another winner from you!
Mmm…that’s what I want for dinner tonight! Yum!
Mmm…that’s what I want for dinner tonight! Yum!
Mmm…that’s what I want for dinner tonight! Yum!
This was really great, let’s have it again soon!
Could I make this in the Crockpot? Any suggestions how long to cook (I was thinking on low like 10 hours??)
I just added this to my to make list. It looks amazing and I’m on a quest to find really good mexican-style shredded pork (that is not sweet!)
This is one great dish, I am sure my hasband will love it too!
Another delicious recipe. Man I wish we lived in the same neighborhood!!
We love pulled pork too. And these flavors are definitely great ones. I love the way you presented this one too, Tracey. Just mouthwatering!
@d.liff – I definitely think you could make it in the crockpot. If you want to brown the meat first, great, but you could skip that too. I think it would probably be fall-apart tender long before 10 hours on low though. I guess crockpots vary, but with such a small piece of meat I’d probably start checking it at 4 hours or so. That’s a guess, but I can usually cook a huge (7-8 lb) pork shoulder in about 8 hours on low in my crockpot so I’d err on the side of caution and start checking early. Hope you enjoy!
I can vouch for the books taking over your life… I read the three of them in three days. =) I started going into a weekend, fortunately, plus I read fast. But I’ll need to reread them to get more of the details, since I’m sure I missed some stuff because I just wanted to know what was going to happen. =)
Looks awesome and I love homemade tortilla chips!
This sounds amazing! I have pork tenderloin to use up, that I think would go really well with this!
Enjoy the Hunger Games! I loved the books and really enjoyed the movie. I also enjoy pulled pork in just about any form. I’ve never thought to cut a big piece up and freeze some for later, either. I love chipotle chiles so maybe this would be a good way to test that out.
ahh, i hope you enjoyed hunger games — what’d you think of it? i thought it was underwhelming. i loved the books so much more. this pork is great and so versatile, i can think of a million things that i could use it with!!
@Julie – I thought it was good, but I definitely preferred the book. I guess maybe there’s just not enough time in the movie to go into the level of detail that would make it comparable to the book.
We’ve been doing the pulled pork thing lately too. This looks like a great variation!
Loved the Hunger Games series… and I was totally sucked into the books too. Think that’s all I did until I had finished reading them π
I hope you enjoyed the movie! I’ve read the series repeatedly but I never got a chance to go see the movie since it’s probably not appropriate for the kiddos. I will be the crazy beating on Target’s doors the day it comes out on DVD. π
Pulled pork is one of my favs but I get so stuck on bbq pulled pork that I never branch out. I wanna make this soon!
Oooh la la…the guys will love this one…I could put chipotles on anything and they would eat it as they love that flavor. I like how you photographed it as I would eat it like that and be very happy. Thanks for the recipe!
Can you tell I’m catching up on my Google Reader? Books are always better than movie! There is so much detail and your imagination paints a vivid picture that a movie can never portray. Despite that, I thought the movie was pretty good.
Your Chipolte Pork sounds great! The crock pot is totally under utilized in our house.