A Slow Cooking Saturday

I didn't feel particularly ambitious this morning and I didn't feel like oatmeal either. I just scrambled up a couple of eggs in the leftover chicken drippings and had them with a piece of toast. Nothing fancy, but quite tasty.

A Simple, But Satisfying, Breakfast


I had another peanut butter and banana sandwich. Normally I wouldn't bore you with yet another picture, but this one was so beautiful that I couldn't resist.

A Work Of Art


Today was my day to roast my pork shoulder, which is always kind of a fun project.

Getting The Cold Shoulder


The last one was tasty, but a bit bland. I figured I would try to kick this one up a notch. Of course, with the limited spices available to me, I relied heavily on garlic.

Garlic, Of Course


Ah, but what to do with it. I chopped it up and threw it into my little mortar with some salt and pepper.

Prepare To Be Mashed


And Mashed It Was


Next I broke out a long slender knife and made several deep penetrations into the pork shoulder. I am glad I didn't buy a pork butt because talking about penetrating the butt would probably get my blog censored.

Maybe Incision Is A Better Word


Then I poked the garlic, salt, pepper mixture into the incisions.

No Comments, Please


This wasn't quite enough, though so I sliced up a few more cloves of garlic.

Sliced Garlic, How Exciting


Now, where should I put it. I made a deep pocket between the layer of skin and fat and the meat and stuffed it in there.

Here Is Where It Went


And, finally, I slathered the meat side with mustard.

All It Needs Is A Bun


I didn't use the dutch oven this time. Instead I just placed it on a rack over a roasting pan and stuck it into the oven. The oven was heated to 325 F and I let it cook to an internal temperature of 180F. It came out perfectly.

Camera Ready


I set it aside to rest for a bit before cutting into it. This is very important because it gives the juices time to be absorbed into the meat. If you cut into it too quickly they tend to run out.

While it was resting I cooked up some beans and rice. I cooked the rice like I usually do but just as the water started to boil I threw in a couple of spoonful's of the drippings from the pork. It adds a nice color and flavor.

A Nice Caramel Color


I did the old broccoli-on-top-of-the-rice trick to just steam it a little bit. When everything was done I sliced several pieces of the pork and plated it with the rice, beans, and broccoli.

Another Delightful Repast


I ate until I could eat no more and then put the beans and the rice that I couldn't eat into a container to have another day.

Leftovers


And, as you can imagine, I have a hell of a lot of pork left over as well. I would have some more tomorrow, but I am thawing out one of my "steaks." I think I will have a potato with my steak and then use the leftover potato with some of the pork and some onions, garlic, and a chopped carrot to make hash for my Monday breakfast.

My one big regret is that I can't have rabbit for my Easter dinner tomorrow.

I watched an interesting special on the restoration of the Beacon Theater. I couldn't figure out why it was on MSG until I realized that James Dolan was behind it. Sheesh, now I actually have to kind of like the guy a little bit, despite him ruining the Knicks (on their way to another 50 loss season). I will have to make a point of going to a concert there. The last time I went it was to see the Pogues and the place was a bit of a dump. From the special it looks like they did a hell of a job with the restoration.

Oh, did I mention that over the last five years the Knicks have the worst record in the NBA. You have to give them credit for this, they are no flash-in-the-pan.