I know a lot about a lot of stuff. I chalk it up to having no friends growing up. Since I didnt kids to play with, my friends became books. Sounds like a bad 80s movie, huh? Well, its true for me. I immersed myself in anything with pages. I was bored the summer of second grade so I decided to to start with page one of volume 1 of the World Book Encyclopedia and by summer’s end I finished the last Z entry. Lots of useless information floating around my head. The next summer, I read the dictionary & thesaurus. I know, I know – complete nerd but would expect any less from Food Geek Mom? I thought not.
Oddly, there are two things I can’t wrap my brain around, accounting (which is odd since i love math & numbers and took 2 years of calculus & quantitative methods and did amazing in those) and meat. I can never remember cuts of meat for the life of me. I can study up, go to the store, and all the information I knew 10 minutes before is gone in a flash!
So, I just buy what looks or sounds good and is at a good price. I bring it home and figure out what to do with it later. I got a great deal on some nice looking ‘Boneless Pork Blade Roast.’ I hit the internet to search for ideas. I like make ahead meals when on nice days I can pull things from the freezer, heat & serve. I decided to use the pork to make the meat for carnitas. Being me, I take a recipe and then alter it to fit my needs or just see “how it’s done.”
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder blade
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon mexican oregano, dried
- 2 tsp cumin
- 3 jalapenos, finely chopped, seeds removed
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- 12 ounce beer
- salt
- place meat in the slow cooker.
- add onions, garlic, spices, & herbs.
- pour in beer.
- put slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours.
- shred & let cook to package all (including juices) for freezing.
- To use, let thaw. Once thawed, can either heat in microwave or put in a roasting pan under the broiler until warm. Serve in tortillas with fresh pico de gallo and/or guacamole. My 2 youngest loved them with a little bit of cheese and a little bit of lettuce. Oldest had it with avocado slices & lettuce.
- Served with homemade baked garlic-salt tortilla chips & salsa and fresh corn on the cob.
