Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime.
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns. (Source:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/a/memorialday.htm)
Although traditions have morphed through the years, we must never fail to honor our military personnel who gave their lives so the rest of us might live in freedom. How will you honor family members and friends who have died while serving their country? What will you tell your children and grandchildren about your relatives who have given their lives in battle? How will you emphasize this day of remembrance? What occasion might give you an opportunity to lead in a prayer of thanksgiving for these honored soldiers?
What a better way to get the family together on a day of remembrance than to celebrate with a family picnic? A picnic provides a perfect opportunity to gather both friends and family to share in a meal and some memories. As you bless the food, you can be sure to include your thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy and for those who secured it for us.
And what better picnic food than BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and baked beans? YUM!
Normally, I barbeque outdoors with the grill and smoker, but today, we're going to avoid the heat and humidity (and the extra labor and time required! :-) by baking everything indoors. This is a great alternative, especially if the weather turns bad, and you're stuck inside on a rainy holiday weekend, like some of us have been the past couple of weekends.
For those in the southern United States, pulled pork and barbecue are synonymous. Pulled pork refers to the pulling of two forks apart to shred the cooked meat. Pulled pork that has been prepared outdoors in a smoker has a natural smokey flavor from extended exposure to wood smoke, which both cooks and flavors the meat. Smoking takes the longest of any outdoor meat-cooking method. Cooking with smoke requires low temperatures and a cooking time of several hours, but the final results of tender, flavorful shredded pork are well worth your efforts. (I plan to do a future blog on outdoor smoking, but it will probably involve a beef brisket.... the concept is the same, either way.)
Pulled pork is a pork roast that has been slow-cooked to the point that it falls apart when pierced with a fork. The pork is then shredded with forks, spiced and mixed with barbecue sauce (optional, if you used dry rub before cooking) to create a delicious staple that can be used in sandwiches, wraps and other recipes. The secret that puts the taste over the top, at least in my humble opinion (BIG grin:-), is to use a good dry rub and wrap the roast in bacon before putting it in the slow-cooker or oven.
My mouth is watering just thinking about it, so let's get started! The recipe is in the cookbook on page 59. If you don't have the cookbook, don't worry! I've included the complete recipe below for you to print or copy and paste to your word processor and save in your cooking files.
SLOW-COOKED PULLED PORK
(Favorite for BBQ Sandwiches!)
Make your grocery list, or collect your ingredients :-)...
Of course, you'll need a nice big pork roast...
and a few other ingredients...
And, the item below isn't an ingredient, but it's necessary! :-) These bags are great for helping seal in the juices and keep the meat moist and tender. Be sure to purchase the "Turkey size" bags if doing a large roast.
Wash and blot meat dry with a paper towel. Coat well with seasonings, beginning with Cavender's, garlic powder, and ending with the BBQ rub of your choice.
Shake a couple of tablespoons of flour and a dash or two more Cavender's inside the Brown-n-Bag and place in a large aluminum pan or casserole dish (big enough to hold the juices that will inevitably cook out over the next several hours). Place sliced onions (and bell pepper pieces, if desired) inside the bag, spread out evenly in the bottom of the pan, so the roast will rest on the veggies.
Transfer seasoned roast to the bag, placing it on top of the onions, bell peppers and flour mixture. Drape strips of hickory smoked bacon over the roast until it is completely covered. Sprinkle more BBQ rub seasoning over the bacon until it is completely covered.
Be generous with the dry rub...
Add 1/2 to 1 cup water to the bottom of the bag, being careful not to wash seasonings off of roast.
Clasp and seal bag closed. Slit small 1-inch openings in the top of the bag for steam to escape, and place the pan in a 350 degree oven (or turkey roaster that you will cover) and continue to cook for 6 to 8 hours, until roast is forktender.
Remove pan from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes or longer, if needed to cool and handle. Shred roast (discarding waste fat and bones), using two forks; Place shredded pork in a large container where you can add juices--including bits and pieces of the onions and bell peppers-- from the Brown-n-Bag and a few more dashes of BBQ rub to taste.
Some folks like to add a few dashes of BBQ sauce at this point, but I prefer to serve the meat like it is (since I've already used dry rub and bacon to give it a smoked flavor, it has a great taste and doesn't really need the sauce), and serve the sauce on the side for those who want extra. Serve on a platter or casserole dish. Spoon meat and BBQ sauce (if desired) onto bread slices or rolls.
As you will see when you finish pulling all the pork from the bone and removing it from your roasting pan, you will have a lot of "drippings" left in the bag. Don't you dare toss this mess! It's the best ever ingredient for making BBQ Baked Beans!
Just use a ladle to transfer your drippings to plastic bowls or freezer containers (You'll see below that I'm using a fancy-smancy Cool Whip bowl as my container!) and freeze it until you're ready to bake your next batch of baked beans.
This mixture already has everything in it that you would want to add to your baked beans to make them REALLY good---smoked flavoring, BBQ flavoring, onions, bell peppers, other seasonings you've added to the meat---what else would you need to season your
Baked Beans? I'm telling you, this makes the best baked beans you'll eat anywhere!
Here's what I do to make them: To 3 regular sized cans of pork-n-beans, add about half of a bowl (Cool Whip sized bowl :-) of these drippings (just leave the other half in the freezer for later-- I use an ice cream scoop to dip out whatever amount I want to use, and leave the rest in the bowl), along with a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar that you've mixed (until all the lumps are out) with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch. Stir the sugar/cornstarch mixture well into the beans/drippings mixture (if you want more spice, add a couple of tablespoons of smokey BBQ sauce) and pour the whole thing into a casserole dish that you've sprayed with non-stick coating. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 30 minutes and remove from the oven to stand for a few minutes before serving. YUMMY!
This is great served alongside
Creamy Coleslaw (Page 23 in the cookbook) or a green salad and
Baked Beans (just gave you that recipe! :-).
SLOW-COOKED PULLED PORK
(favorite for BBQ sandwiches!)
INGREDIENTS:
Large (4 - 5 lb.) pork shoulder or Boston Butt roast
Cavender's Greek Seasoning
California Garlic Powder
Your Favorite Kansas City BBQ Rub
6 - 8 slices smoked slab bacon (thick sliced)
1 or 2 sliced onions
1 large, chopped green bell pepper, (optional, but it's good!)
1/2 c. flour
1 Reynold's Brown-n-Bag, large size
1/2 to 1 c. water
Turkey Roaster or regular oven, prewarmed to 350 degrees F. (note: you may want to reduce this temperature to 300 degrees F, if your oven tends on the HOT side. Mine usually needs the extra temp and cooks lower than most ovens. Be your own judge, according to past experience with your oven.)
DIRECTIONS:
Wash and blot meat dry with a paper towel. Coat well with seasonings, beginning with Cavender's, garlic powder, and ending with the BBQ rub of your choice. Shake flour and a dash or two more Cavender's inside the Brown-n-Bag and place in a large aluminum pan or casserole dish (big enough to hold the juices that will inevitably cook out over the next several hours). Place sliced onions (and bell pepper pieces, if desired) inside the bag, spread out evenly in the bottom of the pan, so the roast will rest on the onions. Transfer seasoned roast to the bag, placing it on top of the onions, bell peppers and flour mixture.
Drape strips of bacon over the roast until it is completely covered. Sprinkle more BBQ rub seasoning over the bacon. Add 1/2 to 1 cup water to the bottom of the bag, being careful not to wash seasonings off of roast. Clasp and seal bag closed. Slit small 1-inch openings in the top of the bag for steam to escape, and place the pan in a 350 degree oven (or turkey roaster that you will cover) and continue to cook for 6 to 8 hours, until roast is forktender.
Remove pan from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes or longer, if needed, to cool and handle. Shred roast (discarding waste fat and bones---but do not discard drippings!!), using two forks; Place shredded pork in a large container where you can add juices from the Brown-n-Bag and a few more dashes of BBQ rub to taste. Some folks like to add a few dashes of BBQ sauce at this point, but I prefer to serve the meat like it is (since I've already used dry rub, it has a great taste and doesn't really need the sauce), and serve the sauce on the side for those who want extra. Serve on a platter or casserole dish. Spoon meat and BBQ sauce (if desired) onto bread slices or rolls.
This is great served alongside
Creamy Coleslaw (Page 23 in the cookbook) or a green salad and baked beans.
Some hints (not in the cookbook :-):
•If you don't use bacon to wrap your roast, or if you want a deeper smoked flavor in your pulled pork, you may choose to transfer it to a smoker once it is cooked. Only after the meat is cooked through and nearly falling apart is it put onto the smoker for up to two hours to infuse the meat with smoke flavoring.
•Smoking should be done between 200 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature slowly cooks the meat to ensure that the exterior is not burned before the interior cooks. This low heat is needed to increase the time for the smoking process to ensure that the meat is fully flavored by the wood smoke.
•Smoking an entire hog for pulled pork can take several days, and even a shoulder roast requires 10 to 12 hours of smoking if you do not precook the meat (as in the recipe above). This is the most traditional way to smoke pulled pork, but if you boil the pork before putting it on the smoker to keep it juicy, the smoking time reduces to two hours.
Read more: Southern Pulled Pork BBQ Smoking Tips | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/info_8658033_southern-pork-bbq-smoking-tips.html
HERE ARE YOUR BONUS RECIPES:
If you have the cookbook, take a peek at the
Creamy Cole Slaw recipe on pages 23-24 and
Chick-fil-A's Coleslaw recipe on page 30. For those who don't have the cookbook, I've included both recipes below. Hope you enJOY your holiday weekend and spend some special time with your family.
CHICK-FIL-A'S COLESLAW (page 30, A Pinch of This... A Smidgen of That)
6 cups shredded cabbage 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 cup shredded carrots 2 - 3 drops hot sauce
1/2 tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. dry minced onion
1/4 tsp. pepper 1/4 - 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
Combine shredded cabbage, sugar, shredded carrots, salt, pepper, and milk.
Chill mixture for 15 minutes (no less). In the meantime, combine mayo, celery
seed, hot sauce, minced onion, and buttermilk. After 15 minutes, mix well with
cabbage that has been chilling in the refrigerator. Allow flavors to blend for
several hours or overnight before serving. (SOURCE: E-Cookbook's Library of
Top Secret Insider's Recipes, Master Edition, available on the Internet.)
CREAMY COLE SLAW (page 23-24, A Pinch of This... A Smidgen of That)
by Patricia Rains
1/2 c. whipping cream 1/8 tsp. pepper
3 T. apple cider vinegar 4 c. shredded cabbage
1/2 c. mayonnaise 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
2 T. sugar 1/2 c. finely chopped bell peppers
1/2 tsp. salt
Combine the cream, vinegar, mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over
the veggies; toss to coat well. Chill 2 hours, then serve. Makes 6 servings.
For more Memorial Day recipes and ideas, see this previous post:
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