I need a good Southern Pork BBQ recipe

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2004
I need a good Southern Pork BBQ recipe
10
Thu, 07-27-2006 - 9:40pm

Hi Ladies,
OK. Here's the situation: I'm in a once-a-month-cooking freezer meals co-op. It is WONDERFUL! Next month it's my turn to plan the meals and I would really like to do a pork BBQ dinner. You know, the authentic southern shredded pork that you eat on a bun.

Problem is, I've never even made the stuff, and now I have to track down a good recipe and one that can be frozen. I'm picturing it like this: we freeze the pork roast separately. Make the BBQ sauce and freeze it. Then when it comes time to make dinner, we thaw the roast and stick it in the crockpot (for how long, I don't know). Take it out and shred it, then return to the CP and add the BBQ sauce.
So basically all I need is a good recipe that the ladies will like and that can be adapted to our freezer-meal situation.
Can anyone help me?
Thanks,
Emily

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 07-28-2006 - 5:24pm

How many people are you cooking for?

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 07-28-2006 - 7:15pm

I'm home now.

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 07-28-2006 - 7:40pm
I got so carried away with MY favorite topic (bbq) that I forgot...I want to know more about this club you are in!

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2004
Mon, 07-31-2006 - 11:49pm

Hi K-Roni,
Thanks so much for your detailed description of how to make authentic Pork BBQ! Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you for the last couple of days but I haven't had much extra computer time. So, you have given me more info than I have been able to find anywhere else and I am so grateful! I was wondering if you could give me some added input.

Please don't hate me for this but I don't think we will be able to go quite as authentic as smoking the pork b/c we, first of all, don't have the equipment, and secondly, the way the club is organized there isn't really time.
So, I'll tell you more about how we are organized and you will see why. But first of all, I wanted to run my plan by you and see (since we are on the curious chefs experimental cooking board) if you think it would be edible and even slightly yummy, even if it's not the "real thing." Also, I spent a year in NC and some additional time in TN and each time I've had BBQ it's been w/the pork actually mixed into the BBQ sauce. I'm noticing that different areas of the south have different ways that it "must" be done, so again I hope you won't hold it against me but I think that's what I want to do. So here it goes:

We buy and freeze the pork shoulder or butt, as you said. (I think it's ok if we have to cut it to fit it in the CP. We've done it before w/large beef roasts) (How many lbs would you suggest?)

When it comes time to cook it, we thaw completely, place in CP and add a little bit of liquid smoke. We let it cook until it can be pulled (6-7 hours). Take it out of the CP, trim the fat and shred it. THen return it to the CP and add the BBQ sauce and let it warm again (or cook another hour or so).

DO you see any pitfalls aside from a lack of authenticity?

About our club:
Oh, my gosh, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm a SAHM with 2 under 2 and I do NOT have time to cook real food for my family. We all agreed to some rules in the beginning and reconciled ourselves to the fact that it's not a club for picky eaters. We trade food preference for convenience but so far the meals have all been delicious and much better than anything I would have tried to make during my stressful life. So here's how it works:

There are 6-8 of us, depending on who is participating that month. Each month a different partnership of two gets to plan the menu, do all the grocery shopping, divy up the "prep" work, and prepare for cooking night. I know this seems like a really big job, but when you only have to do it 3 or 4 times a year in exchange for not having to plan any other meals or shop for them for the rest of the time, it's worth it!

We all agreed at the beginning to be as frugal as possible and only shop Costco/Sams and Aldi/shoppers (i.e. generic central) or sales at the big-name stores.
Once all the shopping is done, everyone else in the club goes to the shopper's house and picks up their "prep" work assignment which could be browning hamburger, chopping meat, chopping veggies, or any of the time-consuming stuff that we all "love" to do when we cook at home.

Everyone brings their prep assignment as well as their cooking utensils and checkbooks to cooking night where all the meals are assembled and packaged for freezing. There are different stations where all the partnerships will make the meals for everyone else. Throughout the course of the night everyone's coolers or laundry baskets get filled up with about 8 meals (which ends up feeding my small family for 16 nights). Everyone goes home with their meals and a list of instructions on how to prepare them once they are thawed.

Last month the grand total for each of us was $69 for 8 (or 16 for me) meals, which is so great! So now I'm under pressure to be more frugal than I normally am since I'm spending everyone else's money. But it's good for me b/c I haven't paid much attention to sales or coupons before but now I realize it's not as big of a hassle as I thought.

Anyway, I have to end now, but thanks so much for your input!
~Emily

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 5:04pm

What an INSANELY KEWL idea!!!!

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2004
Wed, 08-02-2006 - 11:46am

Hi K-Roni,
Sorry to keep bugging you but I still have a couple more questions I could use your advice on. I'm preparing the meal for a family of 6 so I want to make sure I get my quantities correct, since I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this recipe.

You said a serving would be 3-4 oz. So, if I need about 24 oz when it's cooked then I need at least a 2-lb roast, correct? And how do I account for how much of that weight is going to be the bone?

Also, say I have a 2 lb roast. How much liquid smoke would you suggest adding to the slow-cooker? Do you think I should mix it with H2O or add any other seasonings at that point? How much BBQ sauce do you think would cover the meat? And which brands/flavors of BBQ sauce would you recommend?

Thanks so much for your help on this one! I really need it!

~Emily

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 08-02-2006 - 7:54pm

Oh, Emily!

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2004
Mon, 08-07-2006 - 9:06pm

I should try to find my Swedish meatballs recipe, that would suit you really well , in Sweden ( where I live) we use the same

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2006
Tue, 08-08-2006 - 3:02am
Sounds great!
Don't wait to
let us in on the wonderful
recipe!
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2004
Tue, 08-08-2006 - 7:15am

I will!


I post it later today, my meatball recipe is 10 servings and I can't make it smaller and oven pancake is about 4 or 5 servings.

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