Pork Fried Rice

 

Fried  rice is one of my favorite meals.  I have many variations on my blog, click on the label "fried rice" to get to all of them.

As for this recipe, I would substitute white rice since I don't care for brown rice.  Also, I would use pork chunks.  I love the idea of cashews!  I typically use bean sprouts or water chestnuts.

Fried rice is one of those recipes you can adapt to your preferences or what is available in your refrigerator.

Source:  https://www.amyscookingadventures.com/2013/04/pork-fried-rice.html

¼ lb Chinese Spiced Sausage, or leftover wonton filling

2 tbsp sesame or canola oil

3 cup cold, leftover brown rice (see note)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs, beaten

2 carrots, grated

½ cup peas

½ cup cashews

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

Cook the sausage over medium heat until cooked through completely, set aside.

In the same skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the rice and lightly fry, 5-7 minutes. 

Create a well in the center of the rice.  Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then add the beaten eggs.  Cook the eggs, gradually stirring them into the rice.

Add the carrots, peas, and cashews.  Cook for an additional 3-5.  Stir in the green onions and serve.

Serves 6-8 side dish portions

Pork Chop Basics

Pork chops are one of my favorite meals to cook, so versatile and delicious.

If you are interested in everything you ever wanted to know about pork chops, click here for an excellent article from Pillsbury . . . click here for "Skillet Pork Chops 7 Ways" from Betty Crocker.

In addition to the basics of pork chops, the article includes some yummy recipes.

Johnnys All-Purpose Rub . . . and pulled pork

Ever since we brought our awesome smoker/grill home, I've been on a search for a spicy flavored rub to use on ribs, pork roast or chicken.  We have not tried this recipe yet, but it seems to be what I've been looking for thanks to The Food Network and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Recipe courtesy of Johnny White, owner of Johnny's Bar-B-Q in Mission, KS.
SHOW: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
EPISODE: Kansas City Barbecue Tour


All-Purpose Rub

5 cups kosher salt
2 1/4 cups paprika (for color)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons celery powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoons garlic powder
1 cup black pepper
1 tablespoon powdered vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cayene pepper (optional)

Add all of the rub ingredients to a small bowl or container and mix well.


Pulled Pork with Some Serious Bite

3 to 5 pounds pork butt, rinsed with cold water


Directions

Heat a smoker to 225 degrees F.

Generously rub the entire butt with 1 1/2 cups Johnny's All-Purpose Rub. Put it in a pan, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove pork from the refrigerator, uncover and put it in the smoker for approximately 7 to 8 hours. 

Cooks Note: This can also be cooked in a home oven at 425 degrees F for 2 hours. 

Remove the pork from the smoker or oven to a cutting board and pull pork apart while still hot. 

You are now ready to serve it your favorite way.


PROFESSIONAL RECIPE: 

This recipe was provided by a chef, restaurant or culinary professional and makes a large quantity. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe in the proportions indicated and therefore cannot make any representation as to the results.

Grilling/Smoking . . . A Collection of Recipes

There is nothing like the aroma of grilling/smoking meats outdoors.  The Captain and I recently treated ourselves to a grill/smoker since he is a master at smoking meats on the grill.  No gas grill here, we love the taste and aroma of meats prepared on a wood fire.  Since we will be putting our grill/smoker to good use, I have been looking for great grilling/smoking recipes.


For starters, at one of my favorite food blogs, Closet Cooking, Kevin has posted a collection of 25 recipes for the grill.  In particular, the grilled shrimp recipes caught my eye.


From the Taste of Home . . .

Top 10 Burger Recipes

Top 10 Grilled Pork Recipes

Grilled Kabobs

Grilled Beef Recipes

Grilled Chicken Recipes

Grilled Fish

Grilled Ribs

Grilled Shrimp


Food Network's Grilling Central


BBQ Pit Boys



McCormick Grill Mates

Recipes, Techniques and Tips


Grilling with Kingsford Charcoal



BBQ Rib Recipes by Kraft



Amazing Ribs



Chatham Artillery BBQ Team


From Smoke Grill BBQ

Smoked Shrimp Kabobs

Smoked Chicken 

Smoked Beef

Smoked Pork


From eHow . . . 

How to Smoke U Peel Em Shrimp


From Smoker Cooking . . . 

Grilled Shrimp Recipes and Marinades

Smoker Recipes

Grilling Recipes


From The Mullet Festival . . .

Smoked Mullet




From The Cooking Channel

Grill Power



From DIY Ready
44 Saucy BBQ Recipes & Ideas for Creative Kitchens


The Secret to Grilling Perfect Burgers

Gina's Mojo Pork

Gina’s Mojo Pork

This is the best roast pork ever!  It is a family recipe, cuban in origin, and usually includes black beans and garlicy white rice on the side with some of the juice of the pork poured over the beans.  

Ingredients:

Mojo Criollo (Found in your local Hispanic aisle I use Goya brand)

  or make your own Mojo Criollo

6 medium Onions

10-12 garlic cloves

1 cup sour orange juice (you may substitute 1 cup orange juice and 1/8 cup lemon juice)

5 lb Pork butt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

           

Place pork in Dutch Oven fat side up.  Score the fat and stud with ½ of the garlic. (I like to stab holes in the pork and stuff with garlic to further distribute the garlic flavor within the pork).

           

Cut onions into quarters and place in pot with the remaining garlic

Pour the Mojo Criollo into the Dutch Oven and add 1 cup of sour orange juice.

Cook for about 6 hours or until fork tender.

The Captain's Pork Stew

Who said that leftovers have to be boring?  We had some pork roast left over from our delicious meals of black beans and rice with roast pork.  The Captain made a delicious pork stew out of the leftovers!  I can't tell you how much money we have just thrown down the garbage can until we started coming up with ways to turn one meal into another.  

There are many things you can do with leftover pork roast.  My favorite is to make sandwiches on some good hoagie bread.  How about a pot of any type of beans with the leftover pork thrown in?  I've used them in my famous "Gina's Cuban Style Fried Rice" . . . actually, all types of leftovers end up in that dish!

Ingredients:

1-3 lbs Gina’s Mojo Pork* or your roast pork

1-3 large onions quartered

4-8 medium potatoes cut into bite sized pieces

1-2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic

½ to 1 12 oz can of tomato sauce

½ to 1 can corn

½ to 1 can peas

Salt

Pepper

2 quarts of water

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil and add the onions, garlic, and potatoes boil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile slice or shred Gina’s Mojo Pork, keep some of the fat and discard the rest.

Reduce the onions/potato/garlic mixture to a simmer and add Gina’s Mojo Pork. Add just enough tomato sauce to taste. When the stew simmers add salt and pepper to taste.

Occasionally stir the stew. As it cooks it will become long shreds of pork and the sauce will reduce.  When the potatoes have become soft (about 20 minutes), mash them against the side of the pot to break them apart.

Add the corn and peas.  Heat until steaming and serve with biscuits.

  

*The spices used in Gina's Mojo Pork do have an impact on the outcome of the total flavor of the stew.  I highly recommend making the pork for a main meal and using the leftovers for the stew.

This recipe was shared at the following linky parties:

Cuban Mojo Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips for Mojo

One of my greatest blessings is the kitchen aroma in my house growing up and the associated memories.

We were what is considered a "multi-ethnic european/latin family" . . . yes, ethnic groups have subgroups.  Back in the day, the mixing of those groups was frowned upon, but my generation in my part of the world seems to be one of the first to have embraced the mingling of those ethnic groups. 

Cuban cigar factories sprung up in Tampa, Florida that employed so many of the european latino and cuban immigrants that flooded the area and many grew up in the same neighborhoods and their children went to the same schools.

With the blending of those families came a blending of cooking techniques and customs.  The food that came from my childhood kitchen was italian, cuban and spanish in origin.  What a delicious combination!

In doing research for some local dishes I grew up with, I have come to realize that many are unique to this area of the world!

It is delightfully odd how writing a post about cuban mojo conjured up so many memories.  My fondest memories come from the smell of a roast pork in the oven marinaded and basted with cuban mojo and tons of onion and garlic as a bed for the pork.  Black beans served on garlicky white rice usually accompanied the roast.  When we make a roast pork, the aroma takes me back to Christmas Eve at my Godmother's house and the best black beans and rice with roast pork I have ever had! 

Ditto for the preparation of a roasted whole chicken, although the family had a strong preference for pork.

In Cuban cooking, mojo is a sauce/marinade that is made with garlic, olive oil and a citrus juice, traditionally sour orange juice.  Orange and lime juice can be used as a substitute if sour oranges are not available.

In my area, sour orange trees are prevalent since we live right on the line of the subtropical gardening zone.  When the sweet juicing orange trees would die from an occasional freeze, what grew back from the trunk was not a sweet orange, but a sour orange, much like a lemon, but sweeter.  Our house sits on a former orange grove, so the sour orange trees are still popping up from the birds scattering the seeds.  What a blessing!  I'm not even sure if they are locally sold in stores since I have never had to buy them.  I do know that you can buy bottled mojo in the ethnic section of the grocery store.

The Captain has developed quite a fondness for this concoction we call cuban mojo since we married and he was introduced to a whole new world of food and cooking.  He has become the official mojo maker, storing the mojo in old wine bottles that accompany all his other concoctions and sauces in the fridge.  He continues to experiment with the basic recipe by adding some form of hot pepper to the mix with some delicious results.

Honestly, all you need is a great mojo sauce to flavor your pork roast or whole chicken in a quick and easy prep . . . marinated and/or basted . . . cooked in the oven, grill/smoker or slow cooker does all the work.   For us, it is the most economical way for us to prepare them since we don't have to buy fancy, expensive sauces.

Some ideas for the use of mojo that we love:

Mojo is also used on seafood and beef. 

Add a splash of mojo to a shrimp scampi type of dish or baked fish with onions.

 Shrimp is awesome marinaded in mojo and grilled for a few minutes for a tasty appetizer. 

 Palomilla (a thin steak cut from the round) or cubed steak marinated in mojo and pan fried with grilled onions is awesome . . . put that steak and onions in some hot crusty bread for a sandwich that is to die for. 

 I love putting some mojo on black beans and rice for extra flavor! 

 It is one of those concoctions that can go a long way with a little imagination and creativity in your cooking.

Basic Cuban Mojo Recipe

½ cup of olive oil

10 garlic cloves, minced, but best processed in a blender with the juices  (You could use as few as 6 or 8, but in my opinion, the more garlic, the better!)
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup lime juice
¾ tsp ground cumin

¾ tsp oregano
½ tsp salt (or to taste)

Process the garlic cloves with the juices until garlic is minced super fine if a blender is available.

Stir in the olive oil and spices.

You can use bottled sour orange juice available in the Hispanic foods/ethnic section of most grocery stores, however, lime juice and orange juice work just as well in a 1 to 1 formula.

The mojo can be kept in the refrigerator for three days to a week, if it lasts that long!

If you don't want to mess with making your own mojo, there are some very good varieties available in the ethnic section of the grocery store.

Gina's Mojo Pork

Another recipe for Cuban Mojo Pork

Grandma's Chopped Barbecue

This recipe comes from Sunny Anderson's Food Network show Cooking For Real . . . the episode is all about family reunions and includes other recipes, like cole slaw and baked beans.  Click here to go to the episode page.

Ingredients

1 (9-pound) boneless pork shoulder, skin trimmed

• 8 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 to 3 cups vegetable stock
• 
  

For the Rub:

• 1/2 cup seafood boil seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Sunny's Pork Sauce, recipe follows
• 
  

Directions

Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.

With the tip of a knife, make 8 (2-inch) pockets all around the pork and insert a smashed garlic clove in each.

In a small bowl, combine the seafood boil seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Rub the seasoning all over the pork then let rest at room temperature up to 2 hours.

Place the pork in the bottom of a roasting pan and add enough vegetable stock to fill it to an inch deep. Cover very tightly with several layers of aluminum foil, getting the seal tight is really key here. The steam being locked in breaks down the pork to make it pull-worthy.

Roast the pork, covered, in the oven for 2 hours then pull back the aluminum foil a bit and prick with a fork. If it is tender, remove the aluminum foil and a place back in the oven for 1 more hour. If it isn't tender yet, cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour more, making sure to add more stock if needed. Once tender remove the aluminum foil all together. If the liquid evaporates here, it's ok; it has done its job. Remove from oven then let rest at room temperature, then chop down to small chunks and mix with enough of Sunny's Pork Sauce, recipe follows to make it wet or dry to your taste.

Sunny's Pork Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped Vidalia onion
• 2 cloves garlic, grated on a rasp
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup Sriracha (chili sauce)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar 

In a saucepot on medium-low heat, add the oil. Add the onions, garlic, and season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Cook until both are tender, but not browned and then add the ketchup, vinegar, orange juice, and Sriracha. Taste and then add the sugar, to taste. This should be a loose sauce. Refrigerate or use right away. Yield: 4 cup

Spicy Roast Pork with Rosemary Potatoes

Sunny Anderson from the Food Network's Cooking for Real is the television chef that I'd most love to cook with.  She whips up the most awesome looking food and seems to have so much fun doing it.  Cooking is definitely a passion for her.

I love the idea of using a boneless pork roast and cutting it into little pork steaks . . . and you can never go wrong with rosemary potatoes.  I'm not sold on the sweet and sour sauce though . . .

Ingredients

For the pork:

• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 (3-pound) pork roast, cut into 4 steaks, 2-inches thick
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the potatoes:

• 3 russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 sprigs rosemary, stripped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Salt

For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To prepare the pork: Place cumin seeds, red pepper flakes and peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind into a fine powder. Place in a small bowl and mix in garlic powder and salt. Rub mixture all over pork. Let sit at room temperature, 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss potatoes with rosemary, oil and salt. In a small saucepan, bring sugar, vinegar and orange juice to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking Sweet and Sour Sauce until it reduces by half, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, swirl in butter and keep warm before using.

In a 13-inch cast iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. When pan is smoking hot, add pork and sear on both sides. Add potatoes and place in the oven until pork is cooked through and potatoes are tender, about 40 minutes.

Serve pork chops with rosemary potatoes and drizzled with the Sweet and Sour Sauce.