Xan and Grandma: Pork!

Grandma says it has been raining a lot in Thailand, but the water will be gone by the time we get there.  She also sends along some pictures of her pork ribs!  Sadly, they will also be gone by the time we get there.

  

Made with Dad's BBQ sauce.

Source: Makro!

And here is her Kanglian:

A healthier option!  This cancels out pork, right?

I mean, look at all those vegetables!

As it happens, we have been eating up some delicious pork ourselves.  Pork shoulder, specifically.  Mark Bittman's Roast Pork Shoulder, Puerto Rican Style, from How to Cook Everything.

This turned out to be a very yellow and brown meal. Or as we say in the crossword business, ochre!  We have pork, bread, corn with pan drippings, and microwaved honeycrisp apples of deliciousness!

Mmm...

Three little pigs!

That's plate #1.  It was so delicious that I pigged out (!) and ate a double meal.

*

Mark Bittman's Roast Pork Shoulder, Puerto Rican Style
(paraphrased and modified by Xan)

Ingredients

• One 4-7 lb pork shoulder, trimmed of excess but not all fat

Marinade:

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 TBS dried oregano
• 1 TBS table salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 TBS peanut or other oil
• 2 TBS white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, or other vinegar

Steps

1. If you have a food processor or hand blender, blend together all the marinade ingredients.  Otherwise, just finely chop the onion and garlic, and mix everything together.
2. Place the pork and marinade in a gallon ziploc bag or other container.  Coat the pork all over with the marinade and place in the fridge for 1-24 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Remove pork from the marinade and roast for 2-3 hours until done.  The internal temperature should be 150-160, and the meat should be fairly tender.
4. Rest for at least 15 minutes, slice and serve.

Notes:

• This is not pulled pork.  We are not cooking it for hours and hours so it won't get to that falling-apart level.  When I do a 4 lb shoulder, it takes about 2.5 hours to get to 155, and it's still sliceable, as you can see from the pictures.
• I crisped the roast up in a skillet right before serving, which is why it is so browned.  Alternatively, if it is not browned to your liking, you could always let the meat rest for a bit, crank the oven up to 450, and put the roast back in for a few minutes.
• In any case, what you should really take from this recipe is the delicious marinade.  You can apply it to the pork and cook it any way you like.  
• I actually poured the entire contents of the marinade over the pork before sticking it in the oven.  The marinade has a paste-like consistency (at least if you use a food processor or hand blender), so it will stay on top.  This obviously hinders browning so if you have troubles with that, don't do it -- maybe pat your roast dry with paper towels instead!  But since I was going to use the skillet afterwards, it wasn't a problem.  The marinade paste forms a really nice, substantive crust.

Oink oink!