Pulled Pork

Here's my Pulled Pork recipie, there are many store bought rubs  available, but this is how I make my own rub. It is rich full bodied, and at the end of its cooking time it is covered in a sticky caramelised coating.

Rub ingredients 

1 1/2 cups brown sugar 

1 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoons smokey paprika 

1 tablespoons onion powder

1-2 teaspoons chill or cayenne pepper if you like a bit of spice 

Salt pepper

Apple juice.

Method

I used a deboned shoulder about 2 kg

Take the netting off flatten out the meat and remove the top rind ( you can use this if you want some crackle for presentation,  just put it under the griller and cook)

This is what the the Pork looks like after you have removed the skin.

Ok mix all the rub ingredients together except apple juice, then smear it all over the Pork making sure you massage it into the meat, cover and let it marinate for 4-5 hours but the longer the better, but when I made this one I only rested it for 2 and still was delicious.

Preheat oven to 140c pour apple juice into the bottom of the approx about 2 cups, cover tightly with foil and place in oven. Bake for approx 5 hours depending on your oven,  taking out of the oven every hour to baste with the juices, you will get a lot of liquid in the pan, if you find there is a lot and creeping up just drain a little out and place in a saucepan and reduce this is great to pour over the Pork when cooked. In the last hour of cooking take the foil off and continually baste this is when the coating becomes sticky and caramelised yummy .

When you are happy with your Pork (just test with fork for tenderness) take out of oven and rest for 15mins then grab 2 forks and start pulling the Pork apart 

Omg I can't tell you how good this smells and tastes, it's st this point if you had any reserved sauce you can pour it over the pulled meat to add more flavour and juiceness. I serve it on soft bread rolls topped with coleslaw, it's  absolutely a crowd pleaser and one of my family's favourite and great for large gatherings. 

Below are some of the store brought rub options, but I like making my own as it doesn't have all the additives, but reading the ingredients on the back you could add some of their spice blends.

So that's my Pulled Pork recipe, its so bloody delicious that after writing this blog post I'm going to make it today. I do hope you get a chance to make this for your family because they will love like mine do. 

Enjoy Maz xx 

Lasagna

I thought it was well and truly overdue I shared with you my lasagna recipe with you all,  it a rich full bodyed lasagna, and the sauce is better if you can make and let it simmer for all day.

Ingredients 

4 tablespoons olive oil

1kg beef mince

1 onion diced

1tablespoon minced garlic 

4 tablespoons Italian herb  mix (dried herb mix)

4 tablespoons tomatoe paste

1 tin tomato purée 

1tin crushed tomatoes

1 cup Red wine

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Lasagna sheets ( I like a lot of layers so I don't use heaps of sauce between, maybe 2 1/2 big serving spoon size fulls each layer so I use just 1 1/2 boxes of sheets). 

Bechamel Sauce

60g butter

1/3 cup plain flour 

4 1/2 cups milk 

1 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

Add oil to saucepan and soften onions then add garlic, don't burn then mince and brown, once cooked add tomato paste, dried herbs, brown sugar, (cayenne pepper if you like optional) salt and pepper and combine throughly. Then add tomato purée crushed tomatoes and red wine stir and simmer on a very low heat,  the longer the better for approximately 6 hours, you will have a much richer fuller flavoured sauce. Always taste your food while cooking, so you can adjust your seasonings. (Like my Italian seasonings, I used different brand in this batch, and it didn't have enough oregano for my taste so I just added a little more oregano). 

cheese sauce 

Warm milk in microwave, melt butter in saucepan then add flour, combine until all the flour is taken up, slowly add the milk whisking continually so you don't have any lumps and sauce thickens, add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, you might like to adjust the cheese if you like it really cheesy just add more. Transfer to large jug ( easy way when assembling the lasagna) Always taste you food whilst cooking.

Assembly

In a rectangle baking dish, spoon a little of the sauce on the bottom this just stops the pasta sticking to the bottom. Then place a layer of lasagna sheets, then top with lasagna sauce then pour a thin layer of cheese sauce, repeats the sequence pasta sheets lasagna sauce cheese, making sure you last layer is lasagne sauce cheese sauce then add good handful of grated cheese and sprinkling of dried chives. 

Bake in a moderate oven 160c until golden brown, serve with garden salad and garlic bread. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and hopefully it will become a family favourite in your house as it is in ours 

Enjoy Maz xxx