Tag: pork
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
I recently bought some nice pork tenderloins from my friends at Wildfork Foods and wanted to turn one of them into char siu. Then I thought, why not smoke it?! It usually my answer to all of life’s problems. Smoke it. Smoking pork tenderloin is a lot different then smoking other cuts of pork. Because the are very lean and not large, there is the risk of them being over cooked. The key is to preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Get your wood chips smoking for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin and drop the heat to 185 degrees. This will allow a longer smoking time to absorb smoke without drying out. After the first hour, turn the heat back up to 250 degrees. Apply a layer of glaze every 15 minutes for the next 30 minutes. A 24oz pork tenderloin will take 90 minutes in total. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 large pork tenderloin
- 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 red bean curd cubes plus 1 tbsp of juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3/4 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3/4 tsp sesame oil
Glaze
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp marinade liquid
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory
- 1/2 cherry wood
Instructions
- Mix the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork tenderloin in a storage bag for 3 days.
- Let the pork tenderloin rest on a rack overnight before smoking. Save the marinade.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Add in your wood chips. Let smoke for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin. Decrease the temp to 185 degrees. Smoke for 1 hour.
- While the tenderloin is smoking, heat up the honey and reserved marinade in a small saucepan until the honey has dissolved.
- Brush the tenderloin with the glaze. Increase the temp to 250. Smoke for 15 minutes. Apply another layer of glaze and smoke for 15 more minutes.
- Let the tenderloin rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
This pulled pork is next level. Pork shoulder gets rubbed with cumin, paprika, and achiote, then simmered in a slow cooker with onion, garlic, green onions, and dark beer. I used a nice locally brewed porter from my friends at the Urban Growler in Saint Paul. The pork will take about 6 hours in your slow cooker. Once the pork is finished, transfer everything from the slow to a large saucepan. Since there is all of this pork/beer broth left, we are going to cook it all off; not wasting a bit of flavor. Once all of the liquid has evaporated, your pork is ready. I stuffed some of the pork into arepas with avocado, pickled onion, and cilantro.
Equipment
- slow cooker
- tortillas press
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground achiote
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 small onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 5 green onions chopped
- 1 1/2 cups dark beer
- 4 lbs pork shoulder
Arepas
- 1 cup masarepa flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 pinch salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings
- pickled onion
- avocado mashed
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
Pulled Pork
- Make a bed of onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. Layer with green onions and garlic. Pour in the beer.
- Mix together all of the spices.
- Rub the pork shoulder with the spice rub.
- Place in the slow cooker and cover.
- Slow cook for 6 hours until the pork falls apart.
- Place all of the contents in the slow cooker in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- Cook down until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Arepas
- Mix together the masarepa flour, salt, and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix in more warm water ass needed to form a dough.
- Split into balls.
- Place a dough ball on a plastic wrapped tortilla press.
- Press until it is between 1/4” – 1/2” thick.
- Pour 1/4” deep of cooking oil in a sauté pan and heat over medium high heat. Add in an arepa. Turn down the heat to medium.
- Cook for 6 minutes a side until golden brown and crispy.
Uruguayan Chivito
Uruguayan Chivito
The chivito is the national sandwich of Uruguay. This whopper of a sandwich has beef tenderloin, ham, cheese, avocado, pickled red onion, basil, and mayonnaise on a toasted bun.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 brioche rolls
- 6 oz beef tenderloin thinly sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 slices ham
- 2 slices mozzarella cheese or Swiss
- 1/2 avocado thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup basil
- pickled red onions
- mayonnaise
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Toast the buns for a couple of minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Seadon the tenderloin with salt and pepper. Add to the sauté pan. Sear for a minute on the first side.
- Flip the tenderloin. Create 2 piles with the beef. Top each pile with a slice of cheese. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the ham to the pan and cook for a minute.
Sandwich Assembly
- Spread mayonnaise on both sides of the buns.
- Place the avocado slices on the bottom half; pickled red onions on the top.
- Place the beef/cheese pile on top of the avocado.
- Top the beef with a handful of basil. Place the ham on the red onions.
