Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

[ts]
Sometime ago, JS and I chanced upon a couple of pork shoulder sales. Of course, the easiest way to whip something up is to slow-roast them.

Version 1: Spanish


[ts]
The first sale was early in the new year, so we took the opportunity to use up our leftover ingredients from our New Year's Eve Spanish menu. I combined leftover sofrito from our fideuá (Spanish Seafood Noodle "Paella") and leftover gremolata from our cocido (Spanish Pork Stew).

We scored the pork skin before rubbing in the marinade. So, from the sofrito, there's cooked-down bell peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes, flavored with smoked paprika and bay leaves. From the gremolata, we have parsley, cilantro, capers, garlic and zest from oranges and lemons. We also lay some orange slices at the bottom of the pork.



[ts]
There's our Spanish Pork Shoulder, out of the oven.


Version 2: Cuban


[ts]
The other time we bought pork shoulder, we decided to go Cuban.



[ts]
I melted some guava paste (last seen when we made our Cuban Guava and Cheese Pastries), and mixed that into a marinade of citrus juices (orange, lemon and lime), chopped garlic, cumin, dry oregano, bay leaves, and a tiny splash of vinegar.



[ts]
As with the previous dish, we scored the pork skin before bathing the shoulders in the marinade.



[ts]
Cuban Pork Shoulder, oven-ready.



[ts]
These are just two ways with pork shoulder. I'm sure that you can slather anything onto pork shoulders, slow-roast them, and the result will always be fabulous, succulent meat.

In fact, our Cuban pork shoulders were accidentally placed in a hot oven (as opposed to one with low heat), and the result was still good. Not ideal, but edible. So, we devised the perfect way to use up this less-than-ideal pork. Stay tuned.

[update]
Our roast pork shoulder is put to good use in a Torta (Mexican Sandwich)!


[eatingclub] Cuban
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Grilled Cuban Chicken
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

[eatingclub] Spanish
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Roast Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Sardinas na Bangus (Milkfish in the style of Sardines)
Red Wine-braised Squid with Potatoes and Chorizo
Philippine Beef Salpicao (and a Spanish variation)
Stewed Tripe, Spanish-style
Lengua Estofada (Beef Tongue Braised in Red Wine and Veal Stock)
Bacalao con Patatas (Baked Salt Cod and Potatoes)
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Grilled Calçots (Green Onions) with Salsa Romesco
Empanada de Pavo
(Galician-style Meat Pie with Turkey Filling), plus Turkey Cracklings!
Fideuá (Spanish Seafood Noodle "Paella")... and Paella
Cocido (Spanish Stew with Various Pork Cuts)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

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Recipe
Cuban Pork Shoulder

1 pork shoulder, approx 4-5 pounds

marinade
1 head garlic, cloves chopped
1 orange, zested and juiced
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup guava paste, softened/melted in the microwave
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon black pepper

Score skin of pork shoulder. Combine all marinade ingredients and pour over/rub into pork shoulder. Marinate overnight to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 250F. Roast pork shoulder in marinade for about 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)

[ts]
We had almost forgotten about these little treats. I first had these guava and cheese pastries several years ago when JS and I, along with a couple of the gongs (our cousins), went on a trip to LA. One of our stops was Porto's Bakery. Actually, we made a few stops at Porto's, including a stop to stock up on pastelitos before flying back to to Vancouver.

Porto's Bakery (Glendale, CA)



[js]
My original plan was to grab a couple (okay, TWO DOZEN) of these pastelitos from Porto's on our way up to San Francisco (to attend the Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival). But, as you well know, that didn't happen.

Oh well. I consoled ourselves with the thought that there's always a next time.

I didn't know that next time would be today, when TS had it in her sight to make these morsels of deliciousness. I casually reminded her that we did have guava paste in the pantry. The guava paste was a purchase several months ago, just a purchase on who-knows-what-whim.



[js]
I never expected that the guava paste would be enlisted to a higher calling.

[ts]
I rushed out of the house to buy puff pastry. Then, I realized that I wouldn't be able to make these pastries the same day because the puff pastry had to thaw! The waiting!

The next day, I prepared the cream cheese filling -- cream cheese loosened with some milk and lemon juice, and sweeteened with the smallest amount of sugar -- and the rest was basically an assembly job.

For various reasons, I had a really trying time with the whole job. I was actually very annoyed during the whole time, but I willed myself to finish because despite the annoyance, I was still very excited to eat them.



[ts]
I decided to cut each pastry sheet into 9 pieces, as I knew the more pieces there are, the better. Look at how sorry my pastry squares looked.



[ts]
I filled each square (or whatever shape these can be called) with some cream cheese filling, then some of the guava paste.



[ts]
The first 9. Look at how ugly those shapes are. The next 9 didn't fare any better. I brushed egg wash on them before placing them in the oven. When they were fairly golden, I brushed some simple syrup on them -- equal parts of water and sugar, heated until the sugar is dissolved -- and baked them some more.



[ts]
Here they are out of the oven. Almost all of them were not sealed properly and had either cream cheese or guava, or both, oozing out of them. I guess that's what happens when one greedily overfills tiny pastry squares. As I said, it was a very bad day for me and these pastelitos.



[ts]
But, no matter.
These Cuban pastelitos were fantafreakingbuloutastic!

Brushing them with simple syrup seemed to be a must, as it gave the exterior the same quality as the pastries from Porto's. I was quite powerless to resist these, stuffing my face even though I was extremely full. It was probably for the better than I only made so few. And yes, 18 small pastries is a few.

[js]
Just like the Refugiados from Porto's, I couldn't stop eating these! The filling was the perfect balance of sweet, tangy, fruity, creamy. Needless to say, we finished off our batch in a couple of hours.


interior of a pastelito

[ts]
I made sure to save some to give to the gongs. They had no trouble at all remembering these pastelitos.

Actually, gong2 almost missed out altogether! She mistakenly held out until the next day to eat one, and only managed to snag HALF of one as she caught someone taking the final pastry.



One could probably just wing it when making these pastries. But, this is the recipe I referred to. For the Love of Food: Guava Pastries

[eatingclub] Cuban
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Grilled Cuban Chicken
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

[eatingclub] vancouver Regional Recipes posts
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Simmered Saba Mackerel with Daikon Radish (Saba Oroshi-ni)
Thai Fried Chicken
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney
Canadian Onion Soup with Oka Cheese
Muffuletta
Börek with Beef Filling
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheeks) with Brown Sugar Rub
Beef Salpicao
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

We're submitting this to Regional Recipes, a blogging event created by Blazing Hot Wok that celebrates food from all over the world.

The region for this edition is Cuba. The round-up will be hosted at Blazing Hot Wok and will be posted after November 15.

Regional Recipes information

Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)

[ts]
JS and I were at a loss at first when we found out that Cuba is the focus of this month's Regional Recipes. But, I realized that I was subscribed to Nathan's blog, La Cocina de Nathan: Cuban, Spanish, Mexican Cooking & More. Perfect. A quick browse, then I quickly remembered that I had bookmarked a specific dish from his blog so many months ago. (Regional Recipes information at end of post.)

[js]
Looking at recipes of Cuban food, I can't help noticing how similar some of the Cuban dishes are to Filipino dishes. This is not surprising, as both the Philippines and Cuba have a shared Spanish colonial history and a similar American "liberation" period.

Which I suppose explains the fascination with canned vienna sausages. We grew up on Purefoods (a Philippine brand) Vienna sausages. In desperate times and not-so-desperate times, a tin can of Vienna sausages would tide us over to the next meal.

We usually pan-fried these sausages to develop a crispy crackle on the outside, and we would eat them sometime with eggs, sometimes with garlic rice, sometimes with "tasty" bread (which was what we called soft, white bread).



[js]
However, I don't remember our Philippine Vienna sausages having the flavour of smoke. In fact, when I first tasted these Maple Leaf sausages oh-about-two-decades ago, I recoiled because the smoke flavour was just overwhelming. Time is such a great equalizer and I don't mind these Maple Leaf ones as much. I don't eat them that often, though, so I suppose that might have something to do with not minding them as much.



[ts]
I'm not a Vienna sausage fanatic, but for some inexplicable reason, arroz con salchichas spoke to me. I have even taken to calling it my "fantasy recipe." Granted, it did take me almost a year until I finally made it, but I was as excited as could be once I realized I could make this dish for our Regional Recipes entry.

I skipped to the kitchen, clapping my hands, and started my fantasy recipe.


achiote/annato seeds

[ts]
The recipe called for annato (achiote) powder. We've used up the last of ours making another pot of kare-kare recently (delicious!), so I decided to grind up some whole annato/achiote seeds.



[ts]
To start, some onions and green peppers sweated it out in our wok, followed by garlic and red peppers.



[ts]
The seasonings were next: ground achiote/annato, cumin, and dried bay leaves. I used 3 4-oz cans of Vienna sausages, each sausage cut into thirds. Those went in last.



[ts]
Next, the magic of the rice cooker!


before & after

[ts]
For people who haven't used rice cookers before, they usually come with a little cup for measuring raw rice. Then, it's a simple matter of filling the cooker with rice, then pouring in water until it reaches the appropriate level. There are grooves on the inside of the cooker for this purpose. Using 4 "cups" of rice? Pour the water until it reaches the "4" line.

Nathan's recipe called for 3 cups of rice. Since the standard "cup" size for our rice cookers is actually 2/3 cup, I used 4 rice-cups. I measured this all out, then added the Vienna sausage mixture. I pushed the switch to "cook" and the rice cooker did all the work. After that little "click" from the rice cooker, it was done.



[ts]
Following Nathan's example, I ate this with some leftovers: my mother's soy-braised long beans and some Vietnamese fried spring roll from a nearby eatery.



[ts]
Well, the spring roll was just for show. The wrapper didn't really fare well after a night in the refrigerator.

Seeing the wok and its bell peppery residue, JS and I thought it was the perfect time to make shakshuka (post is here!). If I had to wash the wok, I might as well use it one more time before doing so, right?

So, I ate the rice with long beans and my shakshuka (not pictured).



[ts]
Our rice didn't turn out as yellow as Nathan's, probably because of my achiote; perhaps they weren't ground fine enough. But, I don't think that the dish suffered because of it. We're quite happy to have discovered a piece of Cuban home-style cooking. As with home-style dishes, this one hit the spot.

Up next, a Cuban treat that we've almost forgotten. We gorged on these several years ago during a trip to LA.
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)

Recipe from La Cucina de Nathan: Arroz con Salchichas

[eatingclub] Cuban
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Grilled Cuban Chicken
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

[eatingclub] vancouver Regional Recipes posts
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Simmered Saba Mackerel with Daikon Radish (Saba Oroshi-ni)
Thai Fried Chicken
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney
Canadian Onion Soup with Oka Cheese
Muffuletta
Börek with Beef Filling
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheeks) with Brown Sugar Rub
Beef Salpicao
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

We're submitting this to Regional Recipes, a blogging event created by Blazing Hot Wok that celebrates food from all over the world.

The region for this edition is Cuba. The round-up will be hosted at Blazing Hot Wok and will be posted after November 15.

Regional Recipes information

Grilled Cuban Chicken

Like the faux ant near the chickens?

[ts]
Julio Latino ("Latin July") at [eatingclub] vancouver continues!

[js]
For some reason, I've been calling this "Cuban" chicken, maybe because of the orange and the lime in the marinade.

The other day, when I had some time in the afternoon, I decided to go ahead and marinate some chickens for grilling in the next couple of days. I was trying to save myself some prep time.

I cut out the backbone, tried to break the breast bone, and flattened the joints. I made a marinade consisting of garlic, oregano, lime and orange zest and juices, cumin, then put the chickens in a bag with the marinade and bided my time.


[ts] Chickens always look funny to me. Look at its pose!

[js]
Then, two days later, all I had to do was put the chickens on the grill, cover, and wait for them to get done.

On a scale of one to ten, this was a pretty relaxing day.



[eatingclub] Cuban
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Grilled Cuban Chicken
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

Recipe
Grilled Cuban Chicken

2 chickens, butterflied

3 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 bay leaves, crumbled
8 tbsp garlic, chopped
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp pepper
1 1/2 tbsp salt
zest of 1 lime, 1 orange

Combine all ingredients and pour over butterflied chickens. Marinate overnight to 2 days. Grill chickens until done.