I’ve been cooking at the lodge for a couple weeks, and we had a little Cinco De Mayo celebration this year. My sous chef is a fabulous cook, and hispanic. She made her homemade tortillas, and some homemade gorditas. They were the star of breakfast and appetizers. Nina came to help me in the evening and put this stunning spin on the Cucumber, Avocado, and Tomato Salad (salsa).
The 5-5 (May 5) out of orange bell pepper was positively genius!!! For a main course we had slow roasted pork with corn and beans. Here’s what I did with the pork.
Slow Roasted Pork Butt
Ingredients
- 12 lb pork butt
- Bacon fat
- Frankly Delicious (or other all purpose seasoning)
- Ground cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Chili powder
- Granulated garlic powder
- Granulated onion powder
- Liquid smoke
- Dried oregano
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 8 or more carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 large green bell peppers, cleaned and cut in chunks
- 6 (1/2") slices summer sausage (I use the deer and cheese summer sausage made for the ranch)
- 1-2 cups picante
- 1 can rotel
- Lots of roughly chopped cilantro
- Kosher salt
- 1/2 can Dos XX beer
Instructions
- First, I have the butcher cut the pork into 3 large pieces. It will cook better and in less time. Then I use a large aluminum pan that I have used to cook bacon in the oven, so there's leftover fat. I stack another pan under the pan with the pork, to give it more stability.
- The night before you cook it, coat both sides of the pork pieces with lots of the dry seasonings. This is where most people miss out on flavor. Don't be shy with the seasoning, it needs to be coated. Then sprinkle with liquid smoke, and oregano. Place in fridge - covered or uncovered.
- Get it out of the fridge one - two hours before you cook it.
- Heat oven to 500.
- Drizzle pork with oil and cook, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from oven, lower oven to 300.
- Place carrots, peppers, and sausage around pork
- Drizzle pork with picante and rotel, then sprinkle on cilantro. Then sprinkle everything with salt.
- Pour a little beer in the bottom of the pan. Cover pan tightly with lid or foil. Cook for about 7 hours or until very tender (falls apart), remove bones and break meat into smaller chunks, so it absorbs more flavor. Lower oven to 250, leave lid loose, and slightly sideways to allow some moisture to escape. Hold in oven until you're ready to serve, lower to 170 when some of the moisture has evaporated. Skim grease from surface of baking pan.