Receta Shredded Pork with Caramelized Onions
Last Saturday I was rushing all day long.
We really wanted to spend some quality time at home this weekend since we have been gone so much. Our poor vintage smoker/cooker has been neglected and we really wanted to slow smoke some pork.
So, I knew that I was going to need to go to the farmers market and get a pork butt or shoulder, so I was up and around by 8:00. As I grabbed my shopping bags for the market, I noticed a baby shower invitation on my bulletin board that was dated Saturday, August 27!
A dilemma!
I had no gift.
The shower was 40 miles away.
I still wanted to have pork for dinner.
I also needed time to perfect my SRC post for Monday.
I pulled the ole’ crock pot from the back shelf. The vintage smoker will have to wait until next weekend, poor thing.
This recipe for shredded pork came from somewhere???? I don’t know if it was Chow, Savuer, Epicurious, or whom. I cut and pasted it into a Word document a long time ago and can’t remember. So, apologies to whomever I am not giving credit.
I changed a few things like adding sea salt and French grey salt instead of Kosher salt, changing out wine for beer (because I had a bottle of wine open), using a jalapeno instead of two habaneros (seriously??), and adding a bit of brown sugar and smoked paprika. And I adapted it to a slow cooker.
So here is my version of shredded pork for a fast and furious crock pot Saturday!
Shredded Pork with Caramelized Onions
- 1 T. fine sea salt
- 1 T. French grey sea salt
- 1 T. ground chili powder
- 1 T. smoked paprika
- 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
- 5 lb. bone-in pork roast
- 2 T. olive oil
- 4 large cloves garlic (cloves smashed and skins removed)
- 1 large jalapeno, sliced into rounds
- 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 2 T. brown sugar
- 2 c. red wine
Place the salts, chili powder, paprika, and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine.
The spice rub.
Rub on pork roast. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Hunk o' meat.
Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add pork and brown on all sides, about 15 minutes total.
This rub is most aromatic as you brown the roast.
Remove pork and place in crock pot.
I chopped the onions on my mandolin. That is one big pepper, too.
Reduce heat to medium and add onions. Cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet, until softened, about 10 minutes.
This smells great!
Add jalapeno and garlic and cook 5 minutes more. Add brown sugar and cook another 5 minutes. Add wine and scrape up all browned bits.
Add onion and wine mixture to pork in crock pot.
Ready to slow cook.
Cover and cook for 4-6 hours or until falling apart.
Using a large sieve or fine colander, strain off the liquid.
Strain solids from broth.
Let the fat from the liquid rise to the top and remove as much as possible. (Use a fat separator or refrigerate the liquid over night and remove the solid fat that rises to the top.)
Add the solids back to the pork and shred pork mixing the solids in as you go.
I like to shred on a large platter.
Add at least three cups of the liquid to the shredded pork mixture and mix to combine. Reheat if necessary. (I let mine simmer some more in the liquid before making sandwiches.)
I did make it to the farmers market and got the pork to cooking.
Then I made a mad dash to Target to grab a shower gift. I could not believe it but their entire registry website was down. I decided at this point I was not meant to make it to the shower with a gift. I will mail one later. I guess my Saturday plans became quite shredded as well!
It all ended up OK. We had an easy dinner and a much needed glass of wine!
Note: This makes a ton of meat. We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner on Saturday night. But, tonight I am reheating the leftover broth to make a gravy (by adding a slurry of flour and water) and making open faced hot shredded pork sandwiches. If there is any left tomorrow, I will make pork tacos with a radish slaw. That, my friends, should use it all up!