About nine hours ago, I browned four pork tenderloins that had been sprinkled with a mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin, then put them in a slow-cooker atop a pile of sliced onion. After an hour on high, I dropped the slow cooker to “low” and they’ve been cooking low and slow ever since.
We already had dinner (Cuban-style black beans and ham with cornbread), and I’m not even a little bit hungry, but the meaty, savory smell permeating the house is making my mouth water just the same.
By tomorrow, it’s going to be unbearably tempting.
This is one of my favorites, and your making me hungry and I can’t even smell it.
I use a pork shoulder that I cut up into slabs and then coat with a paste made from chopped garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, chili powder, crumbled bay leaf and then lime juice, orange juice and vinegar. I cook it on a bed of onions in the slow cooker too, and it is to die for.
Yours prep sounds much quicker, and I may have to try that next time. Between breaking down the pork shoulder into pieces and making the paste, there’s a good 30-40 minutes of prep that makes this a less common meal than it should be for how good it tastes.
Oh, that looks tasty. While we’re sharing recipes, this is one of my favorites, a simple roast crusted in fennel, salt, and black pepper (oddly, black pepper is missing from the ingredients list but mentioned in the instructions. I use about equal parts fennel and black pepper, coarsely ground). This is then served with a simple balsamic-spiked gravy and roasted onions.
The only trick is not to overcook it. The recipe tells you to bring it up to 155, which is medium-well-ish. I like mine a little less done and take it out at about 145-ish, which finishes at 150-155F with the carryover cooking. Some people freak out at pinkish pork. If that’s you, then bring it up to the 155-160 range. Some people like it even less done and take it out at 135-140F. Remember to let it rest for 10 minutes before serving for the juices to redistribute and for the internal cooking to finish.
I turned off the slow cooker after 24 hours and pulled the meat into chunks, cutting the long fibers into manageable lengths with kitchen shears. The onions were cooked down and tobacco-brown; I strained them out of the liquid (all of which came from the meat and the onions, I didn’t add any), put them in their own container, and then poured the juices over the meat and tossed to coat. It’s in the fridge now, minus a couple ounces that went to quality control. licks chops
I’m going to serve it for dinner tonight with baked sweet potatoes and sauteed yellow squash & zucchini.
