Ad

Sunday, November 22, 2009

What Master Can Do With A Disaster...




Thursday night, I took Picnic Ham out of the freezer(still wrapped and in a white plastic shopping bag) to thaw for Friday night dinner. I planned to make scratch scalloped potatoes to go with the ham.... Imagine my surprise Friday morning when I removed the meat from the bag.... it was not a picnic ham, but a fresh picnic shoulder- uncured pork! The ham and scalloped dinner became an oven pulled pork, with Au Gratin potatoes!... Normally, I would do pulled pork in my smoker- but there was no time for that.. I trimmed all heavy fat off, dry rubbed it with the seasoning shown, put it into a pan, covered it tightly with aluminum foil, and baked for about 7hrs. at 240F.. Sure glad I have a double oven, as the taters needed 350F 1hr covered, 30 min. uncovered. The meat was then shredded(fat removed) into tender strings and shreds, and mixed with white vinegar, and a couple of BB-Q sauces until ready to eat! Wife and son raved, and for a mistake- it was pretty darn good!
Made some home-made coleslaw also.. goes well with or on the sandwich..

42 comments:

Chris said...

Funny case of mistaken identity, thank goodness you found out in time:)

Mike said...

I just decided that I was going to get back on a good diet today, and then I come here! Now I want food!!! LOL!

buffalodick said...

Chris- Left out the part where I thawed in water to get the non- existent salt out of the ham that wasn't ham! Didn't hurt the pork at all! Learned a couple of things that day...
Otin- The only animal harmed in this post was an already dead pig...

Mona said...

that coleslaw looks like something to die for! reminds me of Russian salad which is my favorite! :)

Chef E said...

Oh if I could only tell you how many times I put meat in the freezer still in the store bag...sounds good, I am now wanting BBQ and coleslaw, looks yummy over there!

Akelamalu said...

LOL this made me laugh Buff because quite often I will take a container from the freezer to defrost thinking it's one thing when in fact it's another! I tell MWM "I don't know what's for dinner we'll have to wait until it defrosts!"

Unknown said...

Glad your 'mistake' turned into something delicious. I've made a few mistakes that are completely inedible.

buffalodick said...

Mona- It's a hand cut white cabbage, chopped carrots, chopped celery, chopped onion, in a slaw dressing, with celery seeds and black pepper seasoning.. creamy and crunchy!

buffalodick said...

ChefE- Came out better than expected!!
Ake- Wife bought this by mistake- my mistake was not checking it!
Angela- I got those too!

Kate said...

I just learned to make coleslaw this summer. Now people ask for it. I think I'll call that a win.

buffalodick said...

Kate- I make it, and a good version or two, but don't crave it like some folks!

pam said...

Same thing happened to me awhile back. Though, I think I enjoyed the pork roast better than I would have enjoyed a ham!

buffalodick said...

Pam- So did my wife! I've done pulled pork forever, but not in an oven! I'll do this again, for sure!

Barbara said...

Once again a mistake results in a brilliant dinner! Great looking slaw too.
My mother used to do meticulous labeling on her frozen food- I don't. Who the hell knows what's in there?

snowelf said...

Happy Weekend UncleBuf!! :)

Just like I tell my son, sometimes the best things born into life are the unexpected. I love it when life brings you joys like these.

And my son is kinda a ham himself... ;)

--snow

Marjie said...

Always good to have a plan B. Do try out my WSJ recipe some time; folks will rave.

Christo Gonzales said...

master disaster blaster - looks like you pulled a SAVE!

Donna-FFW said...

Sounds just as good if not better than what you originally planned..

Anonymous said...

Ham and scalloped potatoes vs. Pulled pork and potatoes au gratin... I'll take a serving of each...PLEASE Great post BD

buffalodick said...

Barb- Asked wife to buy a picnic ham- got it half right.. She loves roast pork moreso than ham... I'm thinking I got the flim-flam!
Snowniece- Thinking on my feet is way better than my planning skills!
Marjie- I will look into that!
DogB- I remember saying to myself- Oh crap...don't blame the wife...
Donna- Wife and son thought so too!
Highlander- I'm still craving ham... Turkey is the big one coming up!

Liz Mays said...

That's my kind of mistake! I LOVE pulled pork!

Just telling it like it is said...

I'm not sure what the difference is between a cured ham or a not cured ham...cured ham I assuming at one time was sick? but now cured??

UBERMOUTH said...

What is pulled pork?

I bet you never have to clean the bathroom!

The Blonde Duck said...

Sometimes mistakes are best! It sounds wonderful to me!

Jeanne Estridge said...

Looks dee-lish!

(And now I'm returning to the NaNo cave for the next week. Geez, I miss you guys.)

tavolini said...

Way to make do!! Pulled pork sounds great and I am definitely jealous of your double oven! How handy is that during the holidays :)

buffalodick said...

BlueV- Wife and son polished it off!
Darn girl- Cured means treated with salts and other nitrates to change flavor and keep longer..Fully cooked and cured is your eat out of the can stuff, cured not cooked will be a ham after cooking, and uncured means it's plain old fresh pork!
Uber- It's a large pork cut of meat, usually butt, or shoulder that is cooked until so tender, you can "pull" it apart! Great for sandwiches!
BlondeD- Wifey was happy!
Jeanne- Where you been?
Tavolini- That double oven is the whoop when I cook a large meal!

The Peach Tart said...

Sounds yummy. I did a pulled pork shoulder this weekend too.

Stacy Uncorked said...

I absolutely love pulled pork - and if given a choice, would choose that over ham any day... Maybe your wife subconsciously bought what she liked better! ;)

buffalodick said...

Peach- I'm still craving ham, and turkey is up next!

buffalodick said...

Stacy- That is the most diplomatic answer for "My wife screwed up" I've ever heard! You must be a very kind person!

Just telling it like it is said...

Buffalo: Your heart releases nitrogen and then you get an irrection...Thought I would let you in on that little unknown fact...viagra and cials works by helping your heart release nitrogen...I wonder if the cured ham does the same but without the prescription...You'll have to let us know

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed. I'm not sure I would have figured it out in time to save the dinner.

Velva said...

Your post made me smile. Too darn funny. Your creativity shines...You simply put your best laid plan aside and came up with something just as divine ( it's scary but, that almost rhymes :-) )

Martha said...

Sounds like a damn good meal to me! No harm in the mix up and there was even homemade coleslaw to go on top - sounds excellent! :-)

Chef E said...

Happy Turkey Day!

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

good save!

Almost sinfully decadent to have pulled pork this late in teh season... miss the smoker fun i bet, but still tastes fabulous!

The Good Cook said...

mmmm... good slow cooked BBQ and homemade slaw - now that's the stuff that sets my mouth to watering! Good Cook's know how to rescue any meal... good job!

buffalodick said...

Darngirl- Ah....no..
K- I was going to cook the ham quite a while too, so it all worked out..
Velva- Plan "C" would have been a delivered pizza!
Martha- Around here you see more people eat pulled pork, with slaw on the side...not as a topping!
Chef- To you and yours, also!
Griller- I used that rub( no time to let sit or marinade) from K.C. my son sent, baked in an oven- and in spite of my slap dash effort, it really was great!
Good Cook- Well, most of the time...

Brian Miller said...

you know, its never a good idea to drop by here on my lunch break when all i have is a PBJ in my brown bag...i miss the good bbq we got when we lived in NC! maybe i can convince T to make some this weekend once we are sick of turkey...

buffalodick said...

Brian- I think I told you once that my middle name is Brian... I used to tell people it was misspelled on my birth certificate- it should have been Brain... until one girl said to me, "Your parents tried to name you Dick Brain?" :) I love the left-overs of turkey- it's where I do my best work!

JihadGene said...

Love the rub!!!