foodblogging (and parenthesis abuse)

It occurs to me that the casual reader may come by this blog thinking it is culinarily (please pardon the gratuitous adverbification...and the verbification...and the...oh, never mind) oriented, because of the address, and leave disappointed. (The origin of the address, and I suppose de facto title of this blog is here, BTW).

I live to please, so before you run off, here's a little something I whipped up this weekend. My wife is away in Montreal at the moment, and being a southern expat I am perpetually missing real barbeque, and the only thing that these two things have to do with each other is that they converged into:

Pulled Pork Poutine

(All measurements, including time, are approximations. This is basically glorified bar food, so lighten up!)

First, the pork:

-one 4-lb pork shoulder
-one onion, ideally a Vidalia, failing that any sweet/mild onion will do
-one jalepeno (I used a red one, mainly b/c that's what I had)
-1 cup of BBQ sauce (use what you like)
-1/2 cup of bourbon (more, if you'd like to drink some)
-one 12-oz beer (I used a porter, but...well, you get the idea)
-a dry rub mix consisting of salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, dry mustard, garlic powder, and brown sugar to taste.
-1 Tbs vegetable oil

1. Grease a slow cooker (i.e., a crockpot or comparable) with the oil.

2. Slice the onion. No need to be precise...it will liquify during the cooking process anyway. De-vein and de-seed the jalepeno, and chop. Throw it all in the bottom of the cooker, along with the sauce, bourbon, and beer.

3. Rub the seasonings all over the pork, and place the cooker. Set it to 190° F (or the lowest possible setting above that, if not available) and cover. Go about your day. You may want to periodically turn the pork, and you may need to add water to keep a sludgy caramelized mess from forming on the bottom of your cooker. (This may not be an issue if you have a better quality cooker than I do--mine tends to heat a lot and then coast, rather than maintaining a constant, even heat).

4. The pork is done when you can't turn it anymore because it just falls apart (6 hours or so). Shred it by dragging a couple of forks through it in opposite directions.

For the rest:

-1 russet baking potato per serving (as I mentioned, I'm cooking for one)
-enough corn oil to cover the ammount of potato you intend to cook in a fryer
-the gravy and shredded cheese of your liking (for me, this was a simple storebought pork gravy from a mix and some Jarlsberg, respectively)
-some chopped parsely, to assuage you conscience about the lack of green on your plate
-salt

1. Prepare the gravy and cheese first.

2. Pre-heat the oil to 375° F before cutting up the potato(s) into 1-cm x 1-cm x the length of the potato pieces.

3. Fry the potatos until they look like something you'd like to eat. Drain (carefully) and plate. Salt liberally. Pour the gravy over them, then about half the cheese. Top with a fistful of the pork (heat it up in the microwave if you prepared it ahead of time), then the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle the parsely on top, if you can be bothered.

4. Enjoy! (Bon appetit!)

Addendum--I have since learned that the secret of perfect pommes frites is to blanch them first in oil at 325° F, then finish them immediately before serving at 375° F. Also, if you have duck fat to augment your vegetable oil, even better.