Smoked Pork Roast Braised in Bloody Mary Mix

Sometimes you go out for dinner and the dish you order is so good you want to try it at home.  Last August, while traveling to the Hudson Valley Rifest, we spent the night in Bloomsburg, PA and went to the Turkey Hill Brewing Company for dinner.  I ordered the special: Pork shank, braised in Bloody Mary mix.  It was very good.  So good that this instantly hit my re-creation list at home.  It may have taken nine months, but I finally got around to giving this recipe a try at home.  I must say, I think I did pretty good.

I cannot find pork shank in my little neck of the woods.  So, I substituted a bone in pork roast, about three and a half pounds in size.

Next, I diced the following: half of a sweet onion, two ribs of celery, two peeled carrots, and four cloves of garlic.  I tossed this mix in two tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp sage, and some salt and pepper.  Once mixed, I spread into the bottom of my nine quart cast iron dutch oven.

Next, I ground 1/4 tsp each rosemary, thyme, and sage in my "coffee" (spice) grinder.  Then, I massaged some olive oil onto my pork roast and a applied this spice mix along with a light grinding of salt and pepper.  Once complete, I placed the pork roast on top of this bed of veggies.

While I was prepping, my smoker was lit and coming up to a temperature of 350 F.  Once I was ready to start cooking my roast, I threw two chunks of apple into the ash pan for smoky flavor.  Once I had some thin blue smoke rolling, I placed the dutch oven in my smoker, lid off, too cooker 60 minutes.  Here is how the roast looked after an hour.  Perfect.  A little bit of brown on the roast and the vegetables were starting to caramelize.

Next, I added four cups of store bought Bloody Mary mix (that's one bottle) and two cups of dry white wine into my dutch oven for my braising liquid.  Then, I put the lid on top, lowered my smoker temperature to 325 F, and walked away for three hours.

When I returned three hours later to retrieve the dutch oven and bring inside, the smell emanating from the smoker was intoxicating to say the least.  I could not wait to get inside and slice this pork roast for dinner.  After resting with the lid on for 20 minutes, I removed the roast and started slicing.

There was a little bit of everything on this piece of pork.  The meat near the bone was pull apart tender and the bulk of the roast was sliceable.  Tender, juicy, and cuttable with a fork.  The wine, bloody mary mix, and spices came together to make a sauce packed with flavor.  The veggies on the bottom were thoroughly soaked in the flavor.  

The one minor issue with the Turkey Hill offering was they they served their pork shank on a bed of roasted root vegetables.  Good, but not great.  This sauce screams for something creamy, mashed potatoes or perhaps even grits.  I opted for grits.  So, I whipped up a batch of grits for my sauce.  I even sautéed some mustard greens for the side as well.  

I was more than satisfied with how this re-creation turned out at home.  I can't wait to make this dish again.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Beer and Butter Injected Pork Roast

In pursuit of my constant mission to try new flavors and recipes for the same cuts of meat, I concocted a new injection for the same old pork roast.  As fall is upon us, I was looking for some hearty, German inspired flavors.  The result was a pork roast injected with a mix of beer, mustard, and butter.  Here is the recipe and method.

Beer-Butter Injection:

1, 12 oz bottle of Oktoberfest style beer.  I used Penn Brewery Oktoberfest.  This Oktoberfest beer is not as sweet as some offerings on the market.  It is a nice full bodied lager style beer with lots of roasted malt flavor.  If you don't have a bottle of Oktoberfest style beer around, any darker, full bodied beer will do.
1 Tbsp of Spicy Brown Mustard
1 Tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed

I placed the above ingredients into a small sauce pan, brought to a boil, reduced the heat, and simmered until I reduced the volume by 1/3.  Once reduced, I placed in a bowl and chilled until cooled to room temperature.

Once the injection was cooled, I injected my bone-in pork roast all though out the meat.  At first I injected close to the bone so that I was sure the injection would stay in the meat.  Then, I started moving away from the bone, injecting down through the fat cap.  Once injected, I placed the roast in the refrigerator for four hours to marinate.  

After four hours of marinading I coated the outside of the roast with olive oil, then seasoned with fresh ground sea salt and cracked pepper.

I allowed the roast to sit on the counter for one hour to come to room temperature.  At the same time, I lit my smoker and brought the smoker temperature to 375 F.  Once the smoker was at temperature, I added two pecan splits to the ash pan for some smoke flavor.  Other types of wood would work, but I used the pecan for the mild nutty flavor that would accompany the malty flavor of the beer.  The roast went on the top rack.

This roast, about three pounds total, took about two hours at 375 to reach an internal temperature of 150 F.  At that point, I brought the roast inside, placed a piece of foil over the meat, and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

We were more than happy with this roast pork.  The mustard was not over powering and added a bit of tartness that cuts the richness of the meat.  The malt flavors were present and mixed well with the slowly cooked garlic cloves and celery seed.  Next time, I may try and work some sauerkraut into this dish as well.  Bottom line, if you are looking for some new ways to work some beer into your cooking or you are just looking for something different, give this recipe a try.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill