Who knew homemade pulled pork could be this easy?

Author: Dave

Admittedly, this was really easy for me. I did nothing but taste and make suggestions. My greatest challenge was not over-eating (which I failed). Kirsten did all the work ... but, she can attest that an awesome restaurant-quality pulled pork is not a time-consuming task.

First, you need yourself a pork shoulder roast, also known as a pork's butt roast. (It's from the shoulder, and I don't know who gave it the "butt" name, but they didn't do the meat any favor.) Kirsten used a 3-pound roast. The night before, she rubbed it down with cumin and chili powder, let it marinate in the spices in the fridge overnight, and seared the roast in a pan with olive oil the next morning. Then, she put the shoulder roast in a pan with can of diced tomatoes, shallots, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and a couple dashes of liquid smoke, covered the pan with tinfoil, and roasted this wonderful-smelling concoction in the oven at 275 degrees for 5 hours. The roast literally cooks in its own juices, and gets so tender you pull it apart with a fork. Adjust your roast size as you wish, but just know that when it's tender enough to be pulled apart, it's done.

Now, Kirsten didn't just stop there. She made her own BBQ sauce, mixing together chipotle sauce (from a local Mexican grocery story), store-bought raspberry chipotle sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, some vinegar, dijon mustard, garlic powder, liquid smoke, salt and pepper. This wasn't a recipe of any kind. This was Kirsten's usual experimentation -- a little of this, a little of that, until it tastes just right. The raspberry chipotle sauce originally made the concoction too sweet. Kirsten added the mustard to help cut the sweetness with some extra vinegar and spice. I tasted the BBQ sauce cold, and I was hopeful. Once cooked, this was an awesome mixture. Try making your own, and just remember that you want to cut sweet with spicy & savory, and vice-versa. If you're scared, buy your favorite brand-name sauce and have it available in case you're not happy with your own creation.

Let the pork roast cool a while so it sucks in those juices, then pull the pork apart and take out any visible fat. Then, add the BBQ sauce to the pulled pork in a separate pan, and you're ready to warm the BBQ pork in the oven as you prepare your sides. (I got another taste at this point ... and on my suggestion, Kirsten sprinkled some extra salt on the pork. I feel that salt really pulls out the taste of pork. Normally, we're stingy on the salt.)

The rest of the BBQ sauce was mixed with some extra chipotle sauce and simmered in a small pot. This sauce was available to add onto the pork when served for some extra heat and taste.

Serve on the bun of your choice (Kir used a toasted kaiser bun brushed with garlic butter), or serve on its own (as shown in the photo). Yes, I tried it both ways.

Kirsten also served one of our favorite slaws. You can find this at grocery stores -- a bag of prepared slaw fixings with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and some cabbage. It's a crispy, super-healthy alternative to regular cabbage slaw. As usual, Kirsten takes it up a notch by adding chopped onion (for an extra bite) and soaking the prepared vegetable mix in vinegar and spices -- cajun seasoning, salt, pepper and a good grill seasoning. An hour or hour-and-a-half later, add the mayonnaise and a splash of milk and mix it in with the slaw/seasoning mixture until creamy.

We also ate some of our favorite potato chips for a crunchy, starchy, easy side.

Obviously, you'll want to prepare this meal when you're home most of the day to tend to the oven, but the amount of time babysitting the meal is pretty minimal. Kirsten left and shopped for a few hours while the pork roasted. Shoulder roast is also one of the more affordable pieces of meat you'll find at the grocery store. Our 3-pound roast made about 8 full servings. (I enjoyed myself a gut-splitting two servings, and two more coming my way via lunch this week. Some envious co-workers will get to smell this wonderful stuff twice this week.)

Before we ate, I had teased Kirsten that I would grade her work as if grading a restaurant ... and here's the verdict: A perfect 5 spoons. (The Girl, 8, also gave a perfect score.) I always talk about how it's hard to find great BBQ when we go out. Turns out, you can put together a great pulled pork BBQ meal at home.

RECIPE: Kirsten's Show-Stopping Thanksgiving Stuffing

Author: Dave

Perhaps the most delicious thing I've ever eaten is my wife Kirsten's stuffing. I mean, who can argue with bacon, sausage, celery, onion, green peppers, jalapenos, apples, bread, a variety of seasoning and other goodies all cooked up and mushed together, then baked, and prepared as a "side" dish? Sorry, Turkey. My wife steals your Day every year.

I watched the process this year, taking photos along the way, to share here.

Ingredients:

Bacon - 1 lb.

Italian sausage - 3 links (1 hot, 2 mild)

Celery - 1 bunch

Apples - 2 gala, 1 Granny Smith

Green pepper - 1

Jalapeno peppers - 2 small

Onions - 3 large

Croutons - 1-1/2 packages of stuffing croutons

Bread - 1 round loaf of bakery rosemary-olive oil bread

Butter (or margarine) - 2-1/2 sticks

Chicken broth - about 4 cups (varies) to moisten

Cream of chicken soup - 1 can

Seasonings: Cinnamon, nutmeg and seasoned salt, salt, pepper, parsley, poultry seasoning, sage, crushed red pepper

Feeds: Small Army (seriously, 10-12)

Trivia question: What's better than the smell of cooking bacon? Answer: Bacon cooking with its good friend Italian sausage. This delightful aroma gets things off to a rousing start on our Journey to the Center of Thanksgiving Dressing. Kirsten cuts up the bacon and takes the Italian sausage out of its casing, then mixes them in a large pan over medium-high heat. Want to try this stuffing recipe your next Thanksgiving? Mix the bacony and sausagey goodness around every once in a while until its nicely browned. Remove from the pan and drain.

Chop, chop -- that's what you'll be doing for a while to the produce. You'll need small pieces so that they'll mix nicely throughout the dish. Both The Girl (8) and The Boy (4) joined us during this process. The Boy's an absolute natural, mowing through the apples (with oversight and some help). The Girl's more easily distracted, and therefore not as efficient. (We prepare the produce so they only have to dice. And, we give them duller knives, so it's a little harder for them, requiring some patience. That's OK. A few more minutes in the kitchen beats several hours in the ER, and it's worth it to get the kids involved in preparing your food.)

Now it's time for some new, tempting smells. Place the chopped produce in the same pan that cooked the meat (that meaty goodness flavor keeps on giving). Just like the meat, use medium-high heat. About halfway through, they get doused with cinnamon, nutmeg and seasoned salt. (Season to taste, yo.)

While the produce is cooking down, two bigger kitchen bowls make an appearance on the counter: Half the croutons and half the bread go in each. With thumb and forefinger, tear the bread into small pieces, (dramatic pause) as if your lives depend on it. Don't let the croutons and bread stare at each other across the dance floor like boys and girls at a 5th grade dance party ... mingle, people. Mix the bread throughout the croutons.

Meat, produce ... produce, meat. Yup, meat gets back into the action, joining the cooked-down produce in the same pan ... and meat's packin' butter. Use the remaining stick and a half of butter. The fat from that meat and butter is going to moisten that bread. When the butter melts and mixes throughout, pour the entire cooked concoction into the bread bowls in equal parts.

Ever know someone who always arrives fashionably late to your party? That's Chicken Stock. He comes to loosen up Bread and help bind the ingredients. This is where a feel for cooking comes in handy. Kirsten pours the chicken stock in the bread/meat/produce mixture, seasons to taste (with salt, pepper, parsley, poultry seasoning and sage) and starts a-mushin' with her hands. I am there, waiting for the magic words -- "chicken stock me" -- as she continues deep massage-stroking the dressing until declaring that it's time for some cream of chicken soup. (Where did that come from? Far be it for me to argue. I fetch a can and spoon into the mixture for more mushing.)

Finally satisfied that all the ingredients have meshed together successfully, Kirsten puts our newly formed stuffing in a tray covered with tinfoil for refrigeration. This dish was prepared a full four days in advance ... awaiting glorious resurrection on Thanksgiving Day. Bake the stuffing with tinfoil until it's warmed through ... Kirsten baked it at 300 degrees for 1-1/2 hours and then turned down the oven to 250 for another hour (as she prepared other food). She took off the tinfoil and returned it to the oven for another 45 minutes to crisp up the top. With no eggs in the creation, you don't have to worry about the stuffing being cooked as much as warmed. Your cooking time may vary ... our oven was opened several times to cook other Thanksgiving goodies.

Let us know if you try this recipe ... and don't hesitate to post questions. Kirsten says you can make your own modifications as you like ... hotter sausage, no hot sausage, no jalapenos, more jalapenos, different types of apple, different type of bread, ... whatever you wish. Our stuffing came out scrumptious, and had a nice rosemary hint to every bite.

(Poor Turkey. Don't sulk. You were darn good, too.)