Saturday, April 30, 2011

Kalua Pork

from melskitchencafe.com

10-12 pounds pork shoulder butt roast (don't substitute a leaner cut of pork or it will be dry)
1 bottle liquid smoke
2 tablespoons sea salt (or hula salt if you can find it)
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Trim roast of large pockets of fat (but leave some fat on there to help the pork stay tender while cooking). Place pork in large roasting pan (the aluminum, deep roasting pans you can buy at the grocery store work great if you don't own a heavy-duty roasting pan). Rub 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt into pork. Pour the bottle of liquid smoke over and around the pork. Pour the water around the pork. Cover roasting pan TIGHTLY with two layers of aluminum foil.

Bake for 5-7 hours (don't uncover while baking - let the steam and heat work it's magic!).
Shred with two forks and serve with rice.

*Mel's Note:  I always make a ton of this when cooking it because it freezes well but feel free to scale down the recipe as needed.*

Cinnamon Sugar Buns

I've had this link saved for a while and I just happened upon it again.  I'm definitely gonna have to try this soon!  It looks soooo yummy!  I found this recipe here.

Cinnamon Sugar Buns 

3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) all-purpose Flour + 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) cornstarch
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) sugar
2 to 2 1/4 cups heavy cream

Coating
7 tablespoons butter, melted, OR 2 5/8 ounces milk
Cinnamon and sugar for rolling

If you don’t have any demarle nonstick baking pans, then lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan, line with parchment, and grease the parchment. Parchment isn’t absolutely necessary, but it makes it easier to get the bubbly, sugary buns out of the pan once they are baked.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add 2 cups of the cream all at once, then toss and stir the mixture till the dough comes together. If necessary, add additional cream to make the dough cohesive. Gather the dough in your hands and knead it a few times to make sure there are no dry spots.

Place the cinnamon sugar in a small, shallow bowl or pan; or in a plastic zip-top bag. Break off pieces of dough about the size of a ping pong ball, or about 1 1/8 ounces. Dip each piece in melted butter or milk, then roll or shake in the cinnamon-sugar to coat. Place the cinnamon-coated dough balls into the pan of your choice in a single layer; they’ll be touching one another, which is just fine.

Cover the pan with plastic, and place in the freezer overnight, or for up to a week or so. If freezing longer than overnight wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap, then in foil. Next day, remove the pan from the freezer, and let the buns rest at room temperature while you preheat your oven to 350°F. The buns don’t need to thaw.

If you’re baking the buns immediately (not frozen), bake them for 45 to 50 minutes, till the buns in the center are cooked through. You can asses this by taking a toothpick and actually digging into the center bun to take a look; it should look totally baked, not doughy. If the buns have been frozen, bake them for 65 to 70 minutes, testing for doneness as instructed above. Tent them with aluminum foil after 45 minutes of baking. Remove from the oven, and serve immediately. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired, right before serving