8.7.09

Housewarming Cooking: The Fan Favorite

Today continues my in-depth series about my party food. The pictures of all will be forthcoming once I’ve finished, so stay tuned.

As I alluded to yesterday, the tower of chicken skewers was certainly the chef's favorite at our housewarming party, but the spread went much much further. In fact, the overwhelming FAN favorite was NOT the chicken, it was probably the easiest recipe I made: slow-cooked BBQ pork sandwiches. I got the recipe by tweaking a recipe that I found in a slow cooker cook book. And as my guests raved about the pork, I couldn't stop telling them how easy it was to make.

I started with my crock pot and added a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, a glug of olive oil, and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper at the bottom and mixed it together. This vinaigrette-esque base was my own tweak and it definitely added a tanginess and depth to the overall flavor.

With the slow cooker on low, I then added two pork tenderloins (four pounds) and rolled them around in the base briefly. Then I added three teaspoons of garlic powder and lightly rubbed it on the meat before adding two bottles of barbecue sauce and one and a half bags of frozen, chopped onions that I thawed briefly in the sink. I picked one bottle of smoky barbecue sauce and one bottle of spicy to get a nice interesting flavor. Finally I used my clean hands to gently mix the ingredients among the pork. I put the lid on and left it on low for nearly 8 hours.

When it was ready, I removed the two tenderloins onto my cutting board with a fork, but they wouldn't even come out in single loins anymore. They were so tender that I was literally able to shred them on my board with two forks in only a few seconds. The meat was beautifully moist, well cooked and smelled divine. I transported the shredded meat back to the slow cooker to mix back in with the sauce and onions so it was all completely coated. This got it all sticky and gooey and dripping and tangy and spicy and sweet and hearty and so aromatic and savory – all the things that make most of us swoon over good barbecue. I didn't know I had it in me.

I served the pork on the food table still in the crock pot, on the “keep warm” setting. I laid out some mini buns, sliced, so people could easily make barbecue pork sliders. And they did: many times over, raving along the way. And they took extras home: probably the biggest compliment a chef can get.

1 comment:

rich said...

It definitely was my favorite. And after reading your post, now I know how to cook it. But maybe it would be easier if you just cooked it and invited me over!