Pork Roast!

Last night, we had my friend Renee’s famous pulled pork roast. Cooked for 6 hours, it was falling apart good. I prepared my nummy mashed potatoes and some pork drippings gravy, and with some salad-in-a-bag and Ranch, it was one of the best dinners I’ve had in a while.

January 25 Update: Here’s the recipe, which I had posted in the comments. This will make it easier for you!

Take a pork roast (my friend uses a Boston butt or picnic, whatever looks good) and cut small holes all over it. Use your finger to make the holes large enough, and pour salt in them. Put the roast in a deep roasting pan just big enough to hold it, with foil. Pull the foil up and over to cover completely, then cook at 350F for around 6 hours. The end goal is to be able to stick a fork in the roast and have it fall apart.

Now, Renee uses too much salt for my taste; I asked her to go light on it this time, and it was perfect. Just be aware of how you like your food and adjust the amount of salt accordingly. The gravy I made from the drippings was very salty, but still very good.

As for the gravy, I used 1/4 cup of the fat from the drippings, 1/4 cup flour, and 2 cups of drippings (no fat). If I hadn’t had enough drippings, I would have used chicken broth or even water to make up the difference. Heat the fat in a pan, stir in the flour till it’s smooth and bubbly. Let it boil about 1 minute while stirring constantly, then turn down the heat and let it cook for 5-10 minutes until the flour is well cooked and the gravy is smooth and thickened. I continue to stir while cooking so it doesn’t stick.

My mashed potatoes are boiled potatoes (peeled, cut into chunks, with salt and garlic powder), mashed with butter and whipping cream. I like mine a little soupy, so I add extra cream. Play with the amounts until you get it the way you like it.

Another note about salt: the dripping gravy was salty, and I used salted butter plus added salt to my potatoes as they cooked. Waaay too much salt! Next time I’d use no salt at all and let the gravy do all the seasoning work.