Pork Recipes for Days You Can't Use Your Smoker

Short-cut Carnitas

The lovely and gracious Pete’s Mate found a product that makes it comically simple to make top-shelf carnitas. Trust us, this is good enough for special occasions. Take advantage of the genius of Rick Bayless and have something great with almost no effort. Plus it is cheap, too!

· 2-3 lb boneless pork, either country style ribs or shoulder

· 1 package Frontera carnitas slow cook sauce

· 2 T oil

Cut pork into large chunks. Trim and discard any big chunks of fat. Heat oil in a skillet and brown chunks on all sides. 

Place browned chunks in a crock pot, add sauce and cook on low until tender, about 8 hours. Remove chunks from crock pot, shred, return to crock pot and toss in sauce. You may want to drain some fat from the sauce in the crock pot but make sure not to discard any non-fat juice.

Serve on tortillas or small buns, with typical accompaniments. Cilantro is great here.

The lovely and gracious Pete's Mate improves everything that she touches. With slightly more work, these carnitas can become truly spectacular. For that, take a few minutes and make two custom garnishes. 

First, make pickled onions. Slice a red onion really thin and place slices in a glass bowl. Douse the onion slices with boiling water, then drain after 10 seconds. Cover the slices with lime juice, add a pinch of salt and refrigerate until use. 

These little fellas add a great pink color to the carnitas and add acidity that is perfect with the rich pork. 

Crema

· 8 ounces sour cream

· 4 ounces whipping cream

· dash of salt 

In glass bowl, mix sour cream, whipping cream and salt. Cover and leave at room temperature for three hours. Stir and refrigerate.

This is a great topping for all types of savory dishes, especially Mexican-influence food like short-cut carnitas. It is smoother and creamier than sour cream. Try it and see what you like it on.

Smothered Pork Chops in Gravy - or chicken or pheasant, see below

• 4 thick cut pork chops

• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper, fresh cracked,

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 tabelspoons olive oil

• 3 tablespoons butter, divided

• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms (any type)

• 1 cup yellow onions, diced

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 -12 ounce can evaporated milk

• 1/2 cup chicken stock

• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)

• parsley to garnish (optional)

Remove the pork from your refrigerator for 15-30 minutes before cooking so that it is at room temperature when you start. In a small dish, combine salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir together and use half of the mixture to season both sides of your pork chops.

In a heavy-bottomed pan (or cast iron) heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter until shimmering. Sear pork chops for 4 minutes per-side or until golden brown. Remove the pork from the pan add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, mushrooms, and onions to the pan. Let cook until mushrooms are have started to turn golden brown and the onions are translucent and fully tender, about 7-10 minutes.

Add in flour and the remaining seasoning. Stir and let cook for 1-2 minutes or until the raw flour smell is gone. Whisk in the evaporated milk, chicken stock, and fresh thyme.

Add the pork chops back to the pan and bring sauce to a simmer. Simmer pork for 5 minutes on each side or until internal temp is 145. Remove the pan from the heat and let the pork rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve the mushroom sauce over the pork chops.

Notes:  Feel free to use thinner chops if that's what you have.  If your chops are 1" or less, reduce cooking time by a third or so.  

This also works great for chicken breasts.  Cook them like thin pork chops.  Your old pal Pete made this with pheasant breasts and it was really good.

This recipe was adapted from one i found on one of my favorite web sites- wineandhotdish.com.  Give that site a look for some great family food ideas.

Skillet-glazed Pork Chops

· 2 boneless pork chops, if ¾” to 1” thick they should be 6-9 ounces each

· Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

· 1 T vegetable oil

· 3T pure maple syrup (the real stuff)

· 2 T cider vinegar

· 1 ½ t Dijon mustard

· ½ t minced fresh thyme or 1/8 t dried thyme

Read the label to determine if the pork chops have been injected or enhanced with a salt or saline solution. If so, skip the brine step and go right to prep. If not, brine pork chops by dissolving 1 ½ T kosher salt and 1 ½ T sugar in 3 cups of water, then placing pork chop in salt/sugar solution for 30-45 minutes, refrigerated. 

To prep chops, remove them from package or from brine solution and pat dry with paper towels. 

Season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper and let them come to room temperature. Using a sharp knife, trim excess fat and then make two vertical slits on the outside of each chop, cutting through external fat and any silver skin. This will prevent chops from contracting while cooking.

In a 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place chops in skillet and cook until well browned on the first side, 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and turn chops to other side. Cook for 5-10 minutes until an internal thermometer registers 145 degrees. Remove chops from skillet and set on a cutting board tented loosely with foil.

While chops are cooking, whisk maple syrup, vinegar, mustard and thyme together in a small bowl. Once chops are removed from pan, add the mixture to the juices in the pan and bring to simmer over medium heat, scraping bottom of pan to include any browned bits. When thick and syrupy (2-4 minutes), return chops to pan and simmer for 2 minutes, turning frequently until coated with glaze. 

Plate chops and cover with any remaining sauce. Serve and enjoy.

This recipe is adapted from the Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. Your Old Pal Pete and the lovely and gracious Mrs. Pete are now empty-nesters and have been sampling regularly from that great cookbook. It is easy to expand for a larger crowd.  You will need a bigger pan but shouldn’t need a calculator.

This is another recipe that can make you look smarter than you really are. The sauce is so simple but has interesting flavor and if you get the chops cooked right you will look like a pro.

Honey Lime Pork Loin

· 2 lb pork loin roast, trimmed to 1/8” external fat

· kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

· 2 T olive oil

Marinade:

· ½ cup honey

· 2 ½ T soy sauce

· 1 T Worchestershertershire sauce

· 3 garlic cloves, minced

· 1 lime, zested and juiced

· ½ t red pepper flakes

· ¼ t ground ginger

· 2 T corn starch

· fresh cilantro for garnish

Season pork loin generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, sear pork on all sides (including the ends) until well browned all over.

Combine honey, soy sauce, worst sauce, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, red pepper flakes and ground ginger in non-reactive bowl, whisk together.

Transfer pork loin to slow cooker, then pour marinade over pork. Cover slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Once pork is done, pour liquid into sauce pan over medium heat. In separate small bowl, whisk corn starch into 3 T warm water to create a slurry. Add slurry to liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low for 5-10 minutes until thickened.

Pour over pork and serve immediately, with lime wedges and cilantro as a garnish.

This is really good and very easy, requiring no more than 15 minutes of prep time and not much clean up. 

Cooking on high works best but if it fits your schedule, you can cook on low for 6-8 hours. That may make the pork a bit dry but it will still have excellent flavor.

Slow-roasted pork sandwiches with red cabbage, jalapenos and mustard

We call this "rainy day pulled pork" because it is cooked in the oven instead of on a grill or smoker. If your smoker is stuck in a snowbank like mine in the photo, this will satisfy the carnivore in you without risking hypothermia. Even though this is not barbecue, I promise, this is great stuff.

This is adapted from a recipe published by Tom Colocchio, a renowned chef and one of the judges on Top Chef. He may be a grouchy bald guy with extreme politics but he has plenty of cooking bona fides. I was interested in this recipe, a kind of non-smoked pulled pork that can be done in the oven and has an interesting flavor profile. 

Compared to the published recipe, my version is waaayyy lower in salt (on Top Chef he comments almost every week that somebody should have used more salt so he might have a little issue there). 

These great sandwiches are easy and really make you look like a genius. The jalapeno is optional but give it a try. This recipe has a great mix of tangy (acid), meaty, salty and other spices like you would expect from a renowned chef. Plus the meaty and crunchy textures add to the experience. A little heat adds something too.

The original recipe called for boneless pork shoulder, which would work great. I used boneless back ribs from Sam’s Club (see photo), same as in the "Ribs without bones" recipe. They are leaner than shoulder so you have to be careful about getting too dry but they really are a great product. I have not seen boneless back ribs anywhere except Sam’s and I love them for all kinds of recipes, barbecue or otherwise. They cost about the same as pork chops but have both light and dark meat and a little more fat, so they are more flavorful. They also have a flat, rectangular shape that makes smoking and serving them easy. Note – for another buck and a half a pound they will put the bones back in them. Just kidding, these are different from ribs but are from the intersection of the loin and rib, where some great stuff lives.

· Approximately 4 lb of boneless back ribs or boneless pork shoulder

· 2 T caraway seeds

· 6 whole cloves

· 1 star anise

· 1 T black peppercorns

· 2 T kosher salt

· 3 cups shredded or thinly sliced red cabbage

· 3 T extra-virgin olive oil

· 1 ½ T red wine vinegar

· Freshly ground pepper

· 6-8 ciabatta rolls or similar

· Dijon mustard (get the good stuff, it will make a difference)

· 1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced – optional but give it a try.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine spices and grind until they have the coarseness of salt, combine with salt and mix thoroughly. Rub the spice mixture on the pork until covered and discard any extra. 

Place the meat in a roasting pan, cover tightly and cook in the oven for about four hours. Meat should be fork-tender. 

Transfer the meat to a plate, cover loosely with foil and let rest a few minutes. Turn the oven to 350.

Combine cabbage oil and vinegar in a bowl, toss and pepper heavily. 

Slice the rolls in half and spread mustard on one or both halves, based on your love for mustard (Tom and I recommend one half, you can do both if you like). Shred/pull the meat with a couple of forks and place on both halves of the rolls. 

Place the bread in the oven until slightly toasted and the meat is warm. Remove from the oven, add cabbage and a few jalapeno slices. Close the sandwiches and serve.

Note: This recipe will remind you that you ought to buy fresh, whole spices and a spare coffee grinder to grind your own while you are cooking. Freshly ground is best!

Note2: Try this spice and salt mix as a rub on your pulled pork recipe. Different than normal barbecue but good!

"Can't Beat Pete's Meat!"