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Pulled Pork
Jul. 18th, 2022 01:08 pmBreakfast and a drive to Whole Paycheck.
Since it was Friday there was no good time to make the drive. All roads are clogged with tourists and seniors and people just trying to get to work. So I left at 11, and it took about 40 minutes to drive 18 miles.
Got two pork tenderloins, an onion, some local coffee ($$), premade sushi for us for dinner, chicken broth, and a coleslaw cabbage blend. And brioche buns because I don't want to make my own after all, I need that time for my data entry job this week.
Back home I ate lunch and finally buckled down to do some work.
Three hours later Jameson and I were both whining because we hadn't moved all day.
He was handling an unusual amount of issues with his students, and I was trying to finish a step that was taking way longer than expected.
We finally wrapped up around the same time, he spent some time watching mindless TV and I watched TikTok.
We ate the sushi. He left for rehearsal, I went for a walk.
A loop around our neighborhood is almost exactly 2.5 miles.
It was nice and quiet, still with a clear sky, sticky and humid.
I thought about lots of things, but mostly about how to cook pork tenderloin without drying it out, and wondering when Jameson might hear back about his job opportunity and whether I'll hear about Tootsie at all. It's now officially mid-July, so there are two months before that's supposed to start. A long time, but also NOT a long time.
Back home I made the coleslaw (I always find that making it ahead = better flavor), had a nice shower, and more TikTok and general lazing around.
I did a Bad Thing and bought two slimes from a TikTok shop.
One is a "glue slime" with crunchy bits, the other is a "clear slime" that features color shifting elements.
(VIEW HERE)
Both are scented. Slimes have become a huge thing with younger generations, I'm sure because they're damn satisfying to play with (can attest, Play-Doh and Floam generation here). And as usual with things-I-don't-need on TikTok, I'm amazed by the artistry that goes into crafts and wares for sale there. I don't expect them to arrive in great condition because it's so incredibly hot here, or last long because they are homemade after all. But maybe we'll get a few minutes of seratonin out of them.
----------------------------------------
Saturday, up at 9 to have breakfast and get started on the pulled pork.
The recipe calls for a 3.5lb bone-in shoulder or butt. But that is a lot of fat, and there's a whole section of the recipe where you have to spend time letting the fat cool and scraping it off and draining it out and blah blah blah. I'd rather just use (and pay for) a leaner cut of meat. So, two 1.5lb tenderloins, rubbed in paprika, salt, and pepper per the recipe and mustard powder and ginger per me.
Once rubbed I seared them in a pan. Recipe called for cooking spray, I used canola oil because higher smoke point.
The first tenderloin caused a lot of smoke so I wiped the pan out to avoid burnt and bitter spices.
After the second tenderloin I poured chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, molasses, and chipotle pepper flakes into the hot pan to deglaze it. Then I added 1/2 cup of the peach preserves from Rohrbach's, with a little real peach mixed in. The preserves tasted awesome, sweet and peachy. The real peach was a bit tart, but that's kind of the point.
When the sauce was blended I poured it over the tenderloins.
Added fresh chopped onion and garlic on top.
The recipe says to cook the bone-in pork butt on low for 6-7 hours.
I planned for four hours because I don't want the leaner tenderloins to dry out. We will see what happens.
Meanwhile Jameson and I ate lunch, then both worked: he did his school stuff and some programming for gigs, and I went back to my data entry project (which I stopped early because I got frustrated, their software is NOT ergonomic).
After two hours I flipped the tenderloins over and basted them.
Went to Publix for watermelon as we wanted a side for the pulled pork, but not something heavy.
At the four hour mark I checked the tenderloins. The meat fell apart when I touched it; didn't even need the forks. Awesome!
I strained out the onions and garlic, which were soft and flavorful.
Poured the sauce into a skillet with some corn starch, added the bourbon, and heated it until it thickened.
It was spicier than expected so I panicked a little, dumped 1/4 cup of it out and replaced it with chicken broth and ketchup to try and tone it down. It still turned out well but next time I'll reduce the pepper flakes so I don't have to do that again.
I shredded the pork and put it back in the crock pot with a little chicken broth to keep it warm.
You're supposed to toss the pork in the sauce but I wanted to have more control over the spice level for Jameson's sake, so kept the sauce to the side until we were ready to eat.
Toasted the brioche buns, then layered on pulled pork, onions and garlic, the peach bourbon sauce, and slaw.
Oh my gosh, it was so good! Jameson raved over it and had seconds.
The pork was very tender, not dry at all. I'm so glad it's possible to make this with a healthier cut of pork, I freaking hate fatty pork roasts.
The seasoning was perfect, both sweet and spicy.
Halving the pepper and thus not having to water down the sauce next time will make it even better.
And the slaw was awesome too. Not too creamy, with a little bite from the onions and vinegar, complemented the meat perfectly.
The recipe is HERE and I highly recommend it for a very easy summer dinner!
----------------------------------------
Sunday, Jameson had rehearsal all day (he's running sound for a local production, don't think I mentioned that).
He left around 10am just as I was finishing breakfast.
I spent a little time freaking out over tomorrow's hearings because they're both video hearings and no one has sent me the invite (AGAIN), and the first hearing is at 8:30am, meaning I'll have to be there an hour ahead (unpaid) to ensure I have what I need. Not only that, I might need tech support to set me up in a room again (more unpaid time). It's definitely a 5am wake-up tomorrow. Sigh.
So I sent a few emails begging for the basic information that I'll need to do my job, which I don't understand why I need to do.
And I called tech support and left a message that I hope someone will get early on Monday morning.
And I printed my little itinerary for tomorrow, and laid out my clothes, and packed a light lunch.
That's about all I can do about that.
Then I decided, why not hit the gym before lunch.
It's been forever since I went, and I wanted to procrastinate on my data entry work because I've just found out I'll have to redo a lot of it (not because of anything I did wrong but because their application is so incredibly full of bugs. Honestly I wish the problem were me, that way I could at least fix it!).
The gym was moderately full. I took it easy, being out of shape and all.
15 minutes on the elliptical (70 calories-ish), then 15-20 minutes of lifting weights and resistance.
It felt pretty good, though I felt like a wuss compared to most others in the gym.
But something is always better than nothing.
I want to do one more set like that again this week before doubling it to 30 minutes of elliptical and 30 lifting.
We'll see what happens.
Back home, a load of laundry and lunch (homemade wheat bread, egg whites, peas, pistachios, half an ultrafiltered milk).
I grudgingly worked on the data entry stuff for an hour or two.
Somewhere in there Jameson came home and had a quick meeting to attend online.
When he was done we had leftover pulled pork and chatted about our day.
----------------------------------------
Tomorrow, Monday, I'll have my two hearings (hopefully) and then if any rooms are available I'll try to get my profile set up in them.
Then some small errands and more data entry work, as Jameson will have rehearsal again.
The rest of my week is pretty busy, with courtroom work almost every day and a trip to the orthodontist to see about my ugly buck teeth.
Since it was Friday there was no good time to make the drive. All roads are clogged with tourists and seniors and people just trying to get to work. So I left at 11, and it took about 40 minutes to drive 18 miles.
Got two pork tenderloins, an onion, some local coffee ($$), premade sushi for us for dinner, chicken broth, and a coleslaw cabbage blend. And brioche buns because I don't want to make my own after all, I need that time for my data entry job this week.
Back home I ate lunch and finally buckled down to do some work.
Three hours later Jameson and I were both whining because we hadn't moved all day.
He was handling an unusual amount of issues with his students, and I was trying to finish a step that was taking way longer than expected.
We finally wrapped up around the same time, he spent some time watching mindless TV and I watched TikTok.
We ate the sushi. He left for rehearsal, I went for a walk.
A loop around our neighborhood is almost exactly 2.5 miles.
It was nice and quiet, still with a clear sky, sticky and humid.
I thought about lots of things, but mostly about how to cook pork tenderloin without drying it out, and wondering when Jameson might hear back about his job opportunity and whether I'll hear about Tootsie at all. It's now officially mid-July, so there are two months before that's supposed to start. A long time, but also NOT a long time.
Back home I made the coleslaw (I always find that making it ahead = better flavor), had a nice shower, and more TikTok and general lazing around.
I did a Bad Thing and bought two slimes from a TikTok shop.
One is a "glue slime" with crunchy bits, the other is a "clear slime" that features color shifting elements.
(VIEW HERE)
Both are scented. Slimes have become a huge thing with younger generations, I'm sure because they're damn satisfying to play with (can attest, Play-Doh and Floam generation here). And as usual with things-I-don't-need on TikTok, I'm amazed by the artistry that goes into crafts and wares for sale there. I don't expect them to arrive in great condition because it's so incredibly hot here, or last long because they are homemade after all. But maybe we'll get a few minutes of seratonin out of them.
----------------------------------------
Saturday, up at 9 to have breakfast and get started on the pulled pork.
The recipe calls for a 3.5lb bone-in shoulder or butt. But that is a lot of fat, and there's a whole section of the recipe where you have to spend time letting the fat cool and scraping it off and draining it out and blah blah blah. I'd rather just use (and pay for) a leaner cut of meat. So, two 1.5lb tenderloins, rubbed in paprika, salt, and pepper per the recipe and mustard powder and ginger per me.
Once rubbed I seared them in a pan. Recipe called for cooking spray, I used canola oil because higher smoke point.
The first tenderloin caused a lot of smoke so I wiped the pan out to avoid burnt and bitter spices.
After the second tenderloin I poured chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, molasses, and chipotle pepper flakes into the hot pan to deglaze it. Then I added 1/2 cup of the peach preserves from Rohrbach's, with a little real peach mixed in. The preserves tasted awesome, sweet and peachy. The real peach was a bit tart, but that's kind of the point.
When the sauce was blended I poured it over the tenderloins.
Added fresh chopped onion and garlic on top.
The recipe says to cook the bone-in pork butt on low for 6-7 hours.
I planned for four hours because I don't want the leaner tenderloins to dry out. We will see what happens.
Meanwhile Jameson and I ate lunch, then both worked: he did his school stuff and some programming for gigs, and I went back to my data entry project (which I stopped early because I got frustrated, their software is NOT ergonomic).
After two hours I flipped the tenderloins over and basted them.
Went to Publix for watermelon as we wanted a side for the pulled pork, but not something heavy.
At the four hour mark I checked the tenderloins. The meat fell apart when I touched it; didn't even need the forks. Awesome!
I strained out the onions and garlic, which were soft and flavorful.
Poured the sauce into a skillet with some corn starch, added the bourbon, and heated it until it thickened.
It was spicier than expected so I panicked a little, dumped 1/4 cup of it out and replaced it with chicken broth and ketchup to try and tone it down. It still turned out well but next time I'll reduce the pepper flakes so I don't have to do that again.
I shredded the pork and put it back in the crock pot with a little chicken broth to keep it warm.
You're supposed to toss the pork in the sauce but I wanted to have more control over the spice level for Jameson's sake, so kept the sauce to the side until we were ready to eat.
Toasted the brioche buns, then layered on pulled pork, onions and garlic, the peach bourbon sauce, and slaw.
Oh my gosh, it was so good! Jameson raved over it and had seconds.
The pork was very tender, not dry at all. I'm so glad it's possible to make this with a healthier cut of pork, I freaking hate fatty pork roasts.
The seasoning was perfect, both sweet and spicy.
Halving the pepper and thus not having to water down the sauce next time will make it even better.
And the slaw was awesome too. Not too creamy, with a little bite from the onions and vinegar, complemented the meat perfectly.
The recipe is HERE and I highly recommend it for a very easy summer dinner!
----------------------------------------
Sunday, Jameson had rehearsal all day (he's running sound for a local production, don't think I mentioned that).
He left around 10am just as I was finishing breakfast.
I spent a little time freaking out over tomorrow's hearings because they're both video hearings and no one has sent me the invite (AGAIN), and the first hearing is at 8:30am, meaning I'll have to be there an hour ahead (unpaid) to ensure I have what I need. Not only that, I might need tech support to set me up in a room again (more unpaid time). It's definitely a 5am wake-up tomorrow. Sigh.
So I sent a few emails begging for the basic information that I'll need to do my job, which I don't understand why I need to do.
And I called tech support and left a message that I hope someone will get early on Monday morning.
And I printed my little itinerary for tomorrow, and laid out my clothes, and packed a light lunch.
That's about all I can do about that.
Then I decided, why not hit the gym before lunch.
It's been forever since I went, and I wanted to procrastinate on my data entry work because I've just found out I'll have to redo a lot of it (not because of anything I did wrong but because their application is so incredibly full of bugs. Honestly I wish the problem were me, that way I could at least fix it!).
The gym was moderately full. I took it easy, being out of shape and all.
15 minutes on the elliptical (70 calories-ish), then 15-20 minutes of lifting weights and resistance.
It felt pretty good, though I felt like a wuss compared to most others in the gym.
But something is always better than nothing.
I want to do one more set like that again this week before doubling it to 30 minutes of elliptical and 30 lifting.
We'll see what happens.
Back home, a load of laundry and lunch (homemade wheat bread, egg whites, peas, pistachios, half an ultrafiltered milk).
I grudgingly worked on the data entry stuff for an hour or two.
Somewhere in there Jameson came home and had a quick meeting to attend online.
When he was done we had leftover pulled pork and chatted about our day.
----------------------------------------
Tomorrow, Monday, I'll have my two hearings (hopefully) and then if any rooms are available I'll try to get my profile set up in them.
Then some small errands and more data entry work, as Jameson will have rehearsal again.
The rest of my week is pretty busy, with courtroom work almost every day and a trip to the orthodontist to see about my ugly buck teeth.
