For week #3 of the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, I made pulled pork sliders on biscuits.
I never heard of a picnic roast before, so I thought I’d get one and try it out. A picnic roast is also called a shoulder roast. Typically, they’d have some skin on and a shank. I suppose technically mine was a pork shoulder arm roast.
Since I don’t have a smoker, I found an alternative cooking method: this crock pot pulled pork recipe. I followed it, for the most part, using about half as much pepper, substituting maple syrup for the sugars, and adding some minced garlic.
It spent about nine hours on low in the crock pot which worked out well. The meat was juicy and tender and easily fell apart.
If I were to do it again, I’d leave out the cumin and peppercorn pepper altogether and use more cayenne, more syrup, and way more garlic.
I didn’t make the barbeque sauce described at the end of that recipe, opting for just the drippings, separated from the fat. Kind of like an au jus.
I splurged and used some of the Red Fife wheat I saved for the biscuits, following this biscuit recipe, except with more salt, a little more butter, and a quarter of the milk.
All in all, a tasty little slider. I’m looking forward to trying this again with a different rub.
Sources:
- pork picnic roast from Laurel Ridge Farm
- maple syrup from McLaughlin Vineyards
- Cayenne peppers (crushed), thyme, and garlic from my garden
- cumin, chili powder, black pepper paprika, salt: not local
- Red Fife wheat from Curtis Eck near Kent, CT
- hard spring wheat from Wild Hive
- butter from Smyth’s Trinity Farm
- baking powder and salt: not local
Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.