Part Three
Toasty Roasty. When you cook a pork roast, be sure and make it worth your while. I use the leftovers to make shredded pork which I then turn into BBQ pork sliders, pork tacos and more.
When I cook a roast, nine times out of ten I am going to use my slow cooker. This is because large roasts tend to be made of a tougher cut of meat and can greatly benefit from a low and slow approach to cooking.
No matter the cut, beef, pork, etc., I use the following method:
- Sear the meat off on the stove top. I use a tablespoon or so of good quality olive oil and sear off all sides.
- While the meat is searing, I load up my slow cooker with aromatics; spices, fresh herbs, onions, Worchester or soy sauce, etc. One shortcut is to use a couple of generous tablespoons of powdered ranch dressing mix and dry onion soup mix, works every time.
- I always try and use up some of my frozen chicken stock. It helps to make a good gravy at the end of the cooking process.
- I will also toss in potatoes, carrots and celery if it is a beef roast for a old-fashioned Sunday meal. For pork, I’ll wait until an hour prior to finish and slice up a couple of tart apples to toss into the slow cooker. Apples and pork are flavor BFFs.
- Salt and pepper all sides of the roast generously.
- Slow cook for eight-plus hours. Seriously. Low and slow. Let the roast simmer low and slow.
Once done, the roast should literally fall apart it should be that tender. The leftovers are terrific for sandwiches, pot pies burritos, meat pies…the possibilities are endless. When my partner has a hankering for BBQ? That’s when I make a large Sunday roast because the shredded meat leftovers are perfect for BBQ sliders. BBW is labor intensive, expensive and time consuming so doubling up when I make a roast works very well. Plus, suspend the shredded meat in your favorite BBQ sauce and freeze in meal-size portions. Perfect for a busy weekday meal when all you have to do is defrost, reheat and make a side or two.
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the house behind 