Kalua Pork

This is super easy and smelled so good cooking all day that I was pretty much counting down the hours till it was done.

10-12 pounds pork shoulder butt roast (don't substitute a leaner cut of pork or it will be dry)
1 bottle liquid smoke (4oz)
2 tablespoons sea salt (or hula salt if you can find it)
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Trim roast of large pockets of fat (but leave some fat on there to help the pork stay tender while cooking). Place pork in large roasting pan (the aluminum, deep roasting pans you can buy at the grocery store work great if you don't own a heavy-duty roasting pan).

Rub 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt into pork. Pour the bottle of liquid smoke over and around the pork. Pour the water around the pork.

Cover roasting pan TIGHTLY with two layers of aluminum foil.Bake for 5-7 hours (don't uncover while baking - let the steam and heat work it's magic!).

Shred with two forks and serve with rice.

What I did: I used a 4 lb roast and still had tons left over for freezing. I got a covered stoneware baker for Christmas so I cooked it in there. I used the stoneware lid, but still covered the seal with foil, just to be sure the steam stayed inside since that is the key to cooking this. Since my roast was smaller, I used only 3/4 cup water but I still ended up using almost the whole bottle of liquid smoke, and I cooked it at 325 for 5 hours instead of at 375. The recipe is going to be really forgiving, so don't stress about it too much if your roast is a different size. You could cook in in a crockpot too. I served it on rice with fresh pineapple on the side. My husband ate it on a sandwich with bbq sauce and took leftovers to work for lunch in a tortilla. Leftovers will freeze well for use later in pork tacos, sandwiches, enchiladas, whatever you like.

Original recipe: http://www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/search?q=kalua+pork

Smoky-Sweet Pork

We are surrounded by BBQ places here in Texas & my husband said he would buy this. We had it on little mini slider-sized wheat buns & my 2 1/2 year old ate 2 of them!

Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 1 1/2 hours

1 1/2 lbs boneless pork top loin roast or boneless pork blade roast
2 tsp cooking oil
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup snipped pitted dates
2 TB finely chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp bottled minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic, minced
bread or buns
lettuce

1. Trim fat from roast. In a large saucepan brown roast on all sides in the oil. Drain off fat. Add water, ketchup, bbq sauce, red onion, celery, brown sugar, dates, peppers, mustard and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until meat is tender stirring sauce occaisonally.

2. Remove meat from sauce. Pull meat apart into shreds with 2 forks. Skim fat from sauce. Combine meat with enough sauce to your desired consistency.

3. Serve on top of bread slices, or in buns, with lettuce (if desired).

What I did: I left out the dates. My roast was 1.8 lbs and was done before an hour and a half, so make sure you check it around an hour b/c you won't want it overcooked. I also pureed the sauce in a food processor after cooking it b/c I didn't want onion & celery chunks in my sauce.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter's Cookbook