This is the first official food post. This was a first time recipe of mine that I adapted from a Caribbean jerk rub for ribeyes. I'm going to tell you a couple of things in advance first plan in advance what time you want to eat cause it is easy to hold this longer but you don't want to rush it early, second I used a boneless pork butt also known as a pork shoulder. this one was about 6 lbs but it would work for one any where 5 to 8 lbs if yours isn't boneless plan for about an extra hour give or take a little. I suggest going to Costco because it is $1.45 /lb and it comes sealed with two 6-8 pounders in the pack so you can use one to do this recipe and then freeze the other one to do a more traditional bbq pulled pork that your used to That's what I have planned for the extra one sitting in my freezer, I'll post it when I do it. OK now bear with me I generalize most things with my recipes but take a deep breath it will all be OK and if it isn't ok feel free to give me a call it makes me feel special. ( now I have to tell a side story from my mission that just came to mind.) So I had the opportunity to cook for several families on my mission cause it was a great way to get into their homes not to mention what better service for your members than to come cook their family a nice dinner and share a message with them. So on one occasion I cooked for a councilor in the relief society presidency and her family in Payson, AZ. I made them peach bbq chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, some veggies, and fried carmeled apples over ice cream for dessert. these happen to be some of my classic dishes and also some of the first recipes I made that were really mine. So any way the dinner went well and the next day my companion and I are at our apartment for planning morning and the phone rings and my companion answers then gets a strange look on his face and hands me the phone. Now this may not seem weird but nobody really calls and asks to talk to a specific one of us cause it doesn't really matter which one of us you talk to. Well it turns out it is one of the other members of the relief society presidency calling because they happened to have a presidency meeting that next day and the lady began to rant about my meal and pulled out the little bit of leftovers out of her fridge heated it up and gave each lady a bite or two of what was left and in turn I then had this call to get the recipe! this story still makes me laugh so trust me feel free to call. now on to the recipe.
keep in mind Capital T table spoon little t teaspoon I'll try and make sure and keep that straight.
1) take your pork but out and pat it dry and trim some of the large chunks of fat off but don't be too particular it won't matter much in the end.
2) take a gallon freezer bag and combine apple juice or cider ( I prefer cider), honey, molasses, brown sugar, and soy sauce shake to combine. (just make sure to get the honey and molasses to distribute.)
3) now add onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, ginger (fresh or dried), cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (if they are whole cloves then break them up a little), and red pepper flakes or cayenne.
(now as for proportions of those things I'll give you some general guidelines. you want the total amount to be enough to cover the whole roast in the bag. but if you come up short just add a little more apple juice to fill. so the apple juice is your base so it will be the most. as far as the honey and molasses probably like a 1/4 of a cup. then maybe about that or a little more of brown sugar. some where around a couple of table spoons of soy sauce. about a 1/2T of onion powder, 1T garlic powder, 3T salt, 1T black pepper, 2t ginger, 1t cinnamon, 1t nutmeg, 1t cloves, 2t red pepper.) the big thing with the spices is that the , cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves should be about equal parts to balance cause they are strong flavors but it might take a little more than a teaspoon each just do what looks about right.
4) you also need an acid of some kind the best one would probably be a 1/4 cup of lime juice but if you don't have that then add 1/4 c apple cider vinegar.
5) put your roast in the bag and put it in the fridge over night if you forgot to plan in advance it is ok if it sits at least 5-6 hrs in the fridge. if you did do it overnight flip the bag in the morning. A tip for this put the bag in a cake pan just in case it leaks and put this towards so that if something tragic happens it won't get all over any other food in your fridge.
6) now for the cooking this is easy preheat the oven to 300- 325 depending on how your oven cooks. take the bag out and dump the whole thing marinade and all in a big roasting pot rough chop one yellow onion add it and throw it in the oven for 6hrs. with the lid on and if you don't have a lid cover with tin foil. ( side note the liquid should go about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the roast if adjust by either adding more cider or pouring some marinade out. now you really don't need to look at this for 6 hrs but if you are like me and have to peek go ahead set the timer for 3 hrs and then take a look now that your satisfied put the lid back on and set the timer for the other 3 hrs. now the reason why I said figure out when you want to eat is because you need to pull this out and let it sit for a half hour just trust me it will make it better. if you are ahead of schedule drop the temp to 250 deg and leave it in till about 30-40 minutes before you are ready to eat but no matter what at the end take the pot out of the oven and remove your roast from the liquid and put it in a separate bowl and cover it with tin foil. don't shred it till after that half hour I know it will try and fall apart on you on the way to the bowl that's ok just use a big spoon and keep it in as big of pieces as possible. now this is the time that if you would like a really strong flavor like the Caribbeans than take and mix up a small batch of your dry ingredients from your marinade and sprinkle over the top before you shred it but it is totally optional I actually didn't because not everyone likes it as strong as I do then. take two forks and shred away feel free to ladle a couple of scoops of your braising liquid back onto your shredded pork.
now for the black beans: just take two cans of black beans drain and rinse them. put them in a pan over medium low heat and add 2T water or apple juice, 1T soy sauce, 1t garlic powder or two cloves of fresh garlic. salt and pepper to taste. simmer for ten or fifteen minutes the longer you go the more they are like refried beans
I cheat on the rice because me and rice just don't get along for some reason. but take about a tablespoon of butter and melt it in a pan and add half a yellow onion and saute till they start to turn soft and translucent. now follow your basic minute rice instructions on the box but instead of water use your braising liquid trust me on this one. then salt and pepper to taste before serving.
I forgot to mention I made biscuits as well I just used Paula Dean's recipe you can get it on food network.com they turned out good accept she didn't list a temp and I needed to do it a little hotter to get them to brown but I included a picture of my bread bowl I mentioned in my first post.
