Not all my recipes work out perfectly...

[tuftears]

This week's experiment was 'Orange Roast Pork'. The recipe sounded simple enough... Where did I go wrong?

In the supermarket, that's where! 'There's only one kind of roast pork, right?' I thought, naively. Nope. There was pork loin (the kind I'm used to), pork shoulder arm, pork shoulder "picnic", and a few more cuts besides. So I tried the pork shoulder arm one out, but already I was a bit wary - there was a bone in it, and I'm not used to roasts with bones in.

First big surprise: "hey, this isn't a paper towel they put in to cushion the roast, it's skin!"

Yep, pork shoulder roasts have skin. That wasn't really so much of a problme, but I opted to brown the roast before I put it into the crockpot in order to make the skin a bit crackly. (note to self for future: I didn't crisp the skin enough)

So I saute'd the onions, dumped that into the crock pot, put the roast in (which I had marinaded overnight) and poured the marinade on top, then tossed in some carrots I had diced up and left it to cook for six hours. Instead of the plain orange concentrate, sugar, salt and pepper additive, I used ground ginger, crushed garlic, soy sauce, honey, and crushed red peppers to make a spicier marinade. Seemed promising enough.

Six hours, I think, is where I erred. It became juicy and tender, all right -- too tender. It was practically falling apart!

Still reasonably tasty but it's more suited to shredded pork sandwiches than as a roast that's substantial enough to cut into slices. I'll try this recipe again in the future, but with a pork loin instead. If it works out, that should be properly tender, but firm enough to cut.

Comments

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

Mm...that still sounds good though! Served on a crusty bread like the kind you can usually pick up at the grocery store and bake yourself. :9

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Could be! I don't have much experience with shredded pork sandwiches. What do you usually put on one besides the pork?

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

For a pulled pork sammich usually it's just the pork, in whatever sauce it's been prepared in, on a roll. Preferably a nice crusty roll or some bread dense enough to withstand the moisture of the sauce. If the sauce is mild enough you could add veggies, I suppose. I've only had BBQ style pulled pork which overpowers anything else added.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The roast recipe resulted in a thin soup as far as 'sauce' goes, so you'd have to turn that into a gravy! And for veggies, you'd have to get a salad or side dish.

I tend to prefer, for home cooking, 'one dish' meals, or at most, two with the second being simple. };)

[foxmagic.livejournal.com]

Your journal entries sound delicious. :-9

If I were still out there I would *so* pay the grocery bill in return for a tasty dinner!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Heh! I'm no gourmet cook serving up multiple-course feasts, these are simple family dishes/dinners. What about you, do you cook?

[foxmagic.livejournal.com]

Well, hey! Family dishes are sometimes the best stuff out there, and I consider you family! So there. :)

I don't cook much... I'm capable of it, but I haven't in a long while. Jill has more patience for it than I do, and she's plenty skillful at it. :-9

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

^_^ If you were just visiting out here then I'd probably suggest a restaurant - better tasting and less work, more time for visiting! But if you lived out here, then yeah, home cooking might be in order.

So any favorite recipes of Jill's?

[foxmagic.livejournal.com]

She cooks up all manner of wonderful breads. :-9 Some with a bread machine, some without!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yum! What about for meals though?

[foxmagic.livejournal.com]

We often cooperate! I'll grill some meat on our George Foreman grill, and she'll cook up egg noodles with teriyaki sauce, or bake some potato slices in cheese with a parmesan crust, or wrap chicken in tinfoil with vegetables and toss it in the oven, or cook Italian sausage with spaghetti on the side... we don't follow very complex recipes very often, but maybe it's time for us to break out the cookbooks again. :)

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yum. Sounds like you two make a good team. ^_^ Don't put yourself down, those are about the skill level of the recipes I've been doing!