Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I'm from Iowa, that means I have to love Pork!

Many people grow up thinking Pork Chops are such a yummy treat, not me. I was never someone that got excited about Pork Chops, I still don't. However, I have been a pork addict when it comes in the form of shredded meat :) I'm truly hooked on the Simple Carnitas recipe I have made so many times, and more recently, Kalua Pig in a Slow Cooker recipe from Allrecipes.com. I have always HATED anything made with liquid smoke, but I had access to some Red Hawaiian Sea Salt, so I decided to go for it!


The beauty of this recipe is the prep! Only 3 ingredients and no work :) The only catch, you MUST start it the day before you wish to eat it!

Trim your Pork roast to remove some of the excess fat. Put your boneless or bone in Pork Shoulder (aka Pork Butt), in the crock pot. Using 1 1/2 TBS of the salt and 1 TBS of the liquid smoke, rub both sides of a 6 lb roast. That's it!! Turn it to low, cover and let sit for 16-20 hours. I assure you, you want to let it cook the whole time!!!!

After 20 hours...this is my pork. It is literally falling apart and develops almost a bark on the exposed edges, just like it would if you smoked it. Shred the meat removing any fat.

This is the broth that I poured out of my crock pot...almost 3 cups! Remember, I didn't add any liquids other than the liquid smoke! This does make a nice sauce if you wish to serve your pork over rice. Just refrigerate to allow the fat to solidify so you can remove it, then reheat and serve.  We love this over white rice.

It is also fantastic on a soft bun. Seriously, I have trouble stopping myself when I make this! If you're like me and think you don't like liquid smoke, this recipe could change your mind. AMAZING!!!

3 comments:

  1. thanks so much for sharing - we loved the pork at the luau in Hawaii! I read some of the reviews on AR - do you know what the difference is between hawaiian sea salt and regular? also, I am assuming you have a very tight lid so it doesn't dry out over that long time?

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  2. Lisa- I honestly don't know about the salt differences. I ordered my salt on-line, but I know stores like Whole Foods and even some Targets carry it. With only 3 ingredients, I would say the red salt is pretty important. My crock pot lid is not tight at all, but pork butt is pretty fatty and as you can see, it produced a ton of liquid. If you pulled it at 10 hours, it may be dry, by 20 hours it was so moist and tender! The long cooking time is key in this recipe.

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