Pure DWTS Cookbook – Season 14, Week 5 Edition!

It’s a little late, but as promised, here is our first installment of our “PureDWTS Cookbook” series.  This week, in honor of Latin Week, I opted to go with some Latin-themed recipes.  The first comes to us courtesy of Deidre, and it’s for Cuban Pork – which is what I bet Cheryl is hoping for before season’s end (Did I go too far? nah ;-)).  This one requires a bit of advanced preparation, so you might wanna start this one today in order to have it ready for the results show tomorrow 🙂

Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork

Ingredients:

(1) 8-10 lb bone-in pork shoulder (make sure it fits into your slow cooker!)

1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

1/3 cup lime juice + 2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil

(8) whole, peeled garlic cloves (or 1 tbsp dried garlic)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp dried oregano leaves

1 tbsp or more fresh ground pepper

(2) tsp kosher or sea salt

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional) + 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (not optional)

2 stems (no  leaves!) fresh cilantro (optional)

2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar

1/2 tsp dried mustard powder

2 drops liquid smoke (optional)

Directions:

Drizzle olive oil in slow cooker bowl.  Rinse pork with cold water; place in bowl and coat on all sides with olive oil.

Sprinkle fat side-up shoulder with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, &1 tsp  red pepper flakes.  Spoon the orange juice concentrate on top, and pour 1/3 cup lime juice around the edges of the roast.  Throw garlic cloves in around the roast, and add the cilantro stems (if you’re using them).  Cover the cooker and let the roast cook on high heat for 1 hour; after that, turn to low heat and cook for an additional 12 hours, or until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork.  Turn off slow cooker and transfer covered bowl to the fridge.  Let meat rest in fridge overnight.

Use a spoon to scrape the congealed fat out of the slow cooker bowl.  Transfer pork shoulder to cutting board, and reserve the juices remaining in the bowl.  Pour juices over fine mesher strainer over a saucepan; discard any solids left in strainer. Add the (2) tsp lime juice, white vinegar, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, mustard powder, and liquid smoke to the juices.  Bring to boil over medium high heat and allow to boil until reduced to 1/4 the starting volume.  Set aside.

Pull bone out of pork shoulder and discard. Scrape as much fat as you can from the outside of the pork shoulder, and as remove as much fat as you can from the roast itself without wasting meat.  Using your hands or two forks, shred the meat into small pieces.  When fully shredded, transfer to 9″ X 13″ baking dish.  Pour reduced juices over meat; tightly cover pan with foil and bake at 325 F for 25 minutes, or until heated through.  Serve on hot flour tortillas, with mango salsa and black beans (if desired).

For the mango salsa or black bean recipes (and great step-by-step pictures of how to make the pork!), visit Foodie with Family 🙂

I’m still hunting for a good Latin drink or dessert recipe…if you guys send me one at courtney@puredwts.com, I might add it here before showtime tomorrow 😉