What's for Dinner?

[chrisinhouston]

Today I am totally experimenting with dinner for tonight. My wife has been craving some pork, like the kind that is shredded and can go in tacos- I think they call them carnitas. There was some boneless pork shoulder on sale today so I bought some.

Since my kitchen is a work zone for remodeling I decided to try a slow cooker/crockpot that my mother in law didn't want anymore since she just cooks for herself now. This is my first attempt at crock pot food. I always used to just use my Le Crusset cast iron pots but today I have the stove disconnected!

So I spiced up the cut up strips of pork (major fat removed) with salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. Browned it and dumped it into the cooker with some sliced up onion and cloves of garlic. Then for a liquid I added what was left from this morning's coffee, about 3 cups. I had pretty good success with coffee and meat when I used to try campfire Dutch Oven food. I also added a bottle of Dos XX amber beer, the last bit I even deglazed the pan for the browning with and it did smell very good. Stirred in a good sized teaspoon of cumin and paprika, 2 of my favorite spices.

Going to let it cook for 6-8 hours, pull the meat and shred it up. I'll post how it turns out.

[limey]

Originally Posted by chrisinhouston

Today I am totally experimenting with dinner for tonight. My wife has been craving some pork, like the kind that is shredded and can go in tacos- I think they call them carnitas. There was some boneless pork shoulder on sale today so I bought some.

Since my kitchen is a work zone for remodeling I decided to try a slow cooker/crockpot that my mother in law didn't want anymore since she just cooks for herself now. This is my first attempt at crock pot food. I always used to just use my Le Crusset cast iron pots but today I have the stove disconnected!

So I spiced up the cut up strips of pork (major fat removed) with salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. Browned it and dumped it into the cooker with some sliced up onion and cloves of garlic. Then for a liquid I added what was left from this morning's coffee, about 3 cups. I had pretty good success with coffee and meat when I used to try campfire Dutch Oven food. I also added a bottle of Dos XX amber beer, the last bit I even deglazed the pan for the browning with and it did smell very good. Stirred in a good sized teaspoon of cumin and paprika, 2 of my favorite spices.

Going to let it cook for 6-8 hours, pull the meat and shred it up. I'll post how it turns out.

Sounds brilliant. I quite often use a slow cooker and there's just two of us. I'd certainly keep using it just for me - one day you cook with the slow cooker, eat a portion and freeze several ... nothing beats home-made TV dinners IMHO!