As Barbell Cooks we strive to make awesome meals but every once in awhile, eventually, we fuck it up, no matter our skill level. Many years of self-employment has shown me that failure is inevitable, and the greatest teacher at the same time. So it’s all good, just part of the continual learning process.
Here follows the account of Isildur: STOP WILL… ok, I’m putting my geek card away.
Here follows a short story about how I recently screwed up a meal, and then saved the leftovers.
A few days ago I acquired a Half Picnic Pork Roast at a really good price. This is a cut that comes from the hog’s front shoulder and usually has the leg bones intact. What I was imagining was a tender and succulent roasted joint of pork, but that isn’t what I ended up with.
My plan was to use the roasting method detailed in the River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. After salting and resting, the method simply hits the roast with a high heat for a short amount of time – called a sizzle – and then drops the heat for a Low and Slow roast to produce a very tender joint of pork. Here is where I ran into trouble: I was short on time. I rushed it. It wasn’t low enough, or slow enough.
I ended up with a piece of Daddy Leather, er, I mean.., SHOE leather. Christ, I gotta keep those two straight. It looked and smelled great, but once I began to carve on it I knew I had really screwed it up. It was REALLY tough. Lady Barbell and I chalked it up as a way to strengthen our jaw muscles – every failure has a silver lining.
But now what to do? It had lots of usable meat left on the joint, and I couldn’t throw it away. The economist, and the gastronome in me just couldn’t let this go. I knew immediately that a slow braise would save it, but braising with water would dilute the flavor and make it boring.
As luck would have it though, there was a happy coinkydink on the horizon: The weatherman said our garden might freeze that night so I planned to harvest a bunch of tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers still hanging on the vines.
Red enchilada sauce anyone?
Leftover pork roast always, ALWAYS works for Enchiladas. I had some corn tortillas sitting in the fridge already, and some queso fresco and jack cheeses as well. I decided to whip up a simple sauce, Rick Bayless style, and braise the pork in that for several hours.
Rick’s sauce normally uses some stock, but I figured since the roast still had its bones, flavor and collagen would come from that. Once I had broiled the vegetables I added a touch of ground cumin, coriander, and oregano to the mix and let it slowly braise for about 3 hours.
Calling the result “Fall-apart tender” would have been an understatement. The pork was shredded, wrapped with cheese, and the braising sauce went over the top. An hour of baking later and we had a very tender, high protein, low glycemic index meal.
What a save.
