The Pull of Pork

There is no denying that pork is an incredible and delicious variety of meat. Not only is it delicious, but it is relatively inexpensive and you can create so many tasty meals with it. It isn't very difficult or laborious to cook up some drool-worthy, melt in your mouth meat with a cheap chunk of pork. Using a tough cut like the shoulder, also called pork butt (don't worry, there are no asses involved), or a picnic roast, you can achieve some soft, succulent meat that falls apart from the mere poke of a fork. Some might protest the method of cooking I used, claiming that the only way to make pulled pork is by smoking it, but lets get real here. It's the middle of fall, and its fucking cold in the country. Fact. So, instead of having to go outside to change the wood chips in the smoker I don't have in my city apartment, I achieved delicious meaty goodness in the comfort of my overly warm home. By simply braising the pork shoulder in beer for a few hours, I created a tender piece of tasty that pretty much fell apart from looking at it real hard. That tender.

You will need:

- 3-4 pound pork shoulder/butt/picnic roast (will make about 6-8 servings)

- Paprika

- Chili powder

- Fresh ground black pepper

- Sea Salt or kosher (haha kosher salt and pork...)

- Dry mustard powder

- Garlic powder

- Onion powder

- A few bottles of Red or Dark Ale

- Vegetable oil

- Cider vinegar

- Worcestershire sauce

- Hot sauce 

- Bread-like vessel or tortilla wraps

- Coleslaw

First, rinse that pork shoulder and pat it dry with some paper towels. Then in a bowl combine all your dry spices with a fork. Then rub that flavour all over that pork. Rub it real good.

In a rather large pot or pan over medium-high heat, pour in a respectable glug or two of vegetable oil. If you have a dutch oven (heavy pot with tight fitting lid), you can use this for the whole cooking process. Once the oil is heated, get your pork in their and give it a good browning all over. This step is key in achieving optimal deliciousness.

Once that pork is all browned up, place it in an appropriately sized, deep oven safe dish or pan. If you have the luxury of a dutch oven, then just keep it in there. Pour a beer or two in the pan, then tightly seal the top with aluminum foil, or throw the lid on the pot. Now stick that sucker in an oven pre-heated somewhere around 250-300 degrees for 4-6 hours. Check on it at the 4 hour mark, and if its tender and can be pulled apart with a fork, its done. If not, leave it in longer, you really can't over cook this.

Once that pork is tender and falling apart, remove it from the oven and set it aside. Pour the liquid in a sauce pan if you need to, and get that shit rocking over a medium heat. You want to reduce the liquids by simmering away the water in it. This will make for a more bad ass flavour. When that sauce is simmering away, add a few splashes of cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. You can even add a bit of pre-made BBQ sauce if you feel the need. While the sauce continues to simmer, get to forks and start shredding that pork by inserting the utensils and pulling them away from each other. Shred it to your desired shreddedness, then toss all the meat into that sauce you've been reducing. Keep it cooking for a few more minutes, or until you just can't wait any longer.

Serve that pork up on some nice buns, or in a wrap with some coleslaw on top, some pickles and some sort of potatoey goodness. Now you might ask yourself, gosh darn, why does this taste so delicious? Well, slow cooking does that by melting the fat and turning it into FLAVOUR! Also, pulling the pork apart exposes more surface area that will come in contact with your tongue, much like how shredded cheese is tastier than biting a chunk of the block. 

Note: In the coleslaw I added some fresh cilantro to mix things up a little bit, and it worked really well. If you like cilantro, definitely give it a try.

Psychadelic Slaw

There are plenty of foods that are associated with summer. Coleslaw is without a doubt one of them. I have unquestionably made coleslaw in the dead of winter, but truly it is a perfect side to any meal when the heat is on and the sun is up. It is crunchy, tangy and acidic, maybe even with a hint of sweetness. Typically  coleslaw balances out many flavours that are likely to come off your barbeque. I prefer an oil and vinegar base to my coleslaw dressing as it tends to hold up to warm days better than a mayonnaise dressing. Food poisoning ain't never impressed no female, and you won't get any sympathy if she's sick, too!!

This summer slaw is a personal creation and the dressing is quite simple. My inspiration behind the dressing was the vinegary slaw that you might find on a toastee or a steamee from a deli or La Belle Province in Montreal. I admittedly have a weakness for hot dogs, especially with crunchy, tangy coleslaw on them. Now for the vege part, I suggest you get creative with whatever is in your fridge, but I like to use an array of vegetables that all offer bright, contrasting colours to make your creation as sexy and visually appealing as possible. It's all about the show.

You will need:

- a head of cabbage (go for the purple stuff, or mix it up with a bit of purple and green)

- carrots

- onions of some variety (sweet, white, red, green, whatever you got or like)

- fresh flat leaf parsley

- colourful sweet peppers

- cider or rice vinegar

- vegetable oil

- caraway seeds (and ground coriander seeds add a nice flavour too)

- garlic (minced or chopped finely)

- ground mustard powder

- whole grain mustard and dijon mustard
- Sugar

To start this process off, you want to prepare the salad part first. So remove the outer leaves from your cabbage heads. Now using your sharp-ass-knife, cut the head of cabbage in half. Start slicing the cabbage as thinly as possible, and toss it in a big mudda of a bowl. If you have a food processor, cut the cabbage into big chunks and jam them down into that luxury machine with a slicing blade in it.

Using a cheese grater, shred up as much carrot as you would like. I dig the way the orange just pops off the purple so I get pretty nasty with the carrots, using about one full carrot (not that baby carrot shit) to a half head of cabbage. If you got knife skills, thinly slice your onion, or if you're lazy just grate the onion. Them amount of onion, also up to you! I like a zesty slaw so I use around a full medium sized onion per half head.

(We got lazy and grated the onion)

Cut the top and bottom of your pepper off and throw a slice right down one side vertically. Scrape out all the guts and slice that mother as thin as you can (think matchsticks), then attempt to do the same with the bottom. Compost the top, and throw the peppers in the bowl. Red peppers are my personal favourite to use, again thinking about visual appeal.

(No red peppers, but thankfully had yellow)

Now for the dressing. Mince (chop finely) the garlic and get it in the saucepan over medium heat with the vinegar, oil, sugar, a tablespoon of grainy mustard, a few generous pinches of ground mustard, caraway seeds and coriande and rock it up to a light boil. Whisk to incorporate all the ingredients. Get a spoon in there and taste a bit to make sure its not too oil/vinegary/mustardy, and adjust measurements if need be. Take some logs off the fire and let it simmer for about 3 minutes then transfer right into the bowl. 

Now for my favourite part. Toss that salad and toss it well. Don't bother with any fancy utensils, just get your hands right in there. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with some thinly sliced green onions and chopped parsley, and throw it in the fridge for a couple hours to soak all that tastiness in. If you don't have the time to let it sit, prepare this first and let it sit while you make the rest of the meal. Proceed to serve with everything. Especially Hot Dogs.

(Special thanks to Mallory for putting up with me while I tried to not boss her around the kitchen, as well as being my hand model!)