No Fall season in Central Illinois is complete without a visit to Curtis Orchard, but no visit home to Champaign is complete without a visit to the University of Illinois Meat Science Laboratory. Period.
On our last visit home E-Meree & J-Meree went on my behalf and came home with a 4 pound center cut pork loin and a 5 pound pork shoulder. Buying this at a chain grocery store would cost approx. $25 and the meat would come from a factory farm, thus yielding a lower quality of meat. At the meat store: $16 for a much higher quality product!
With a day off before the Illinois-Ohio State game, Friday was cooking day! We started with a boneless Boston Butt pork shoulder in preparation for pulled pork sandwiches for our tailgate on Saturday.
The shoulder got a quick rinse and pat down while resting 30 minutes to come to room temperature. As the meat sat, I started making a spice rub with equal parts kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, thyme, oregano, and cumin. When the meat went into the pan, it got drenched with a 1/4 cup of Curtis Orchard's apple cider.
Speaking of spices, I wanted to highlight an alternative to the spice cabinet. As opposed to the traditional spice cabinet, I thought Judith's idea of putting spices in a drawer to be a pretty novel idea (read: Martha Stewart inspired), but in reality, it makes spice selection quicker and easier.
The pork shoulder went into a 200 degree oven for a little over six hours in a covered roasting pan; the meat is done when it falls apart with a fork.
When the pork cooled, I reserved the pan juices before I chopped into fine shreds. Using a gravy separator, we were able to separate the fat from the meat juice.
Using a gravy separator is pretty easy. One simply pours pan juices straight into the separator over the vessel's mesh top. When the liquid cools, gently pour off the yellow fat at the tip of the spout. At this point the fat will have separated from the juice and floated to the top of the vessel. Finally, just pour the juice into the your desired location, stopping before the fat gets to the bottom.
With the arrival of our iPhone4Ses just 4 hours before, Ad Hoc has now has video capability. Here's our first attempt at a video of how to separate fat from juice using a gravy separator. Just click the link below!
After the meat was shredded, I poured the juice over meat and and wrapped the pan in foil. The next day we topped it with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and stirred it all up! The pork shoulder was moist & tender and as always, a hit at the tailgate!
While the pork shoulder occupied the oven (no, the pork was not protesting Corporate America in an ironic set of knock-off Ray-Bans), it was time to start the pork loin for dinner. Since the spice worked so well on the pork shoulder, we used it again on the pork loin, first letting it rest until coming to room temperature before covering it with spices.
With the oven tied up & such a nice Central IL night, the pork loin found its way to the grill. We pre-heated the grill with all 4 burners on high and before the pork went on, we hit the grates with Pam cooking spray and turned the heat down to medium high.
We seared the pork on all four sides before turning off one of the burners and sliding the pork half way over that area.
The pork cooked for about 30 minutes more until it reached an internal temperature of 125 degrees. We pulled the pork (pun intended) and let it rest under a loose foil tent for ten minutes until the juices settled internally and the thermometer read 135 degrees.
The pork came out great and paired nicely with rainbow chard from the garden and homemade mashed potatoes, and with that, the prep for a wonderful Central IL dinner came to a close!
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