ICBC: Mustard and Eggs

Nope, not as one challenge but two separate weeks (always behind, sigh).


Mustard!
I love the idea of slow cooker recipes because you can come home and have dinner ready for you. Unfortunately that means that you have to do all the preparation in the morning, when you're feeling just as tired. So it took me a while to finally get my act together and make this recipe. I finally realized why so many recipes had "make ahead" instructions, as it helped a lot to do some of the chopping and prepping the night before. Ah, so that's how people pull off those elaborate dinners. (Total tangent: we were watching some NYC real estate reality show on HGTV or the like, and they were showing a Manhattan apartment with TWO kitchens. The saddest part is that the agent was like, "One is downstairs for the cooks' prep work and the upstairs one is where the caterer can stage your dinner parties." Two kitchens and the owners will never set foot in either! Ultimately, that house, which had its own indoor pool, was listed for $25 million!)

I tackled Barbecue Pork Shoulder from Epicurious, because, simply, it sounded tasty and I had some Dijon that needed to get used. Actually, this was a great recipe for using up those condiments that you buy for one recipe and then sit in the fridge door, mocking you. I couldn't find pork shoulder anywhere in the meat case at the grocery store, so I settled on pork roast. It came out just as tasty! I also put this over rice since I forgot to get rolls, and it worked pretty well. Spicy, but tasty. It didn't taste like BBQ in the finger-lickin' sense, but still good.

Eggs!
For some reason, when the ingredient is especially simple, it's tempting to see how far you can take it. I found out about the ingredient while at La Fuente, so naturally was inspired to try flan. But not only was I going to make flan, I was going to make homemade dulche de leche. I'm sorry, but the stuff that passes for dulce de leche in all the trendy desserts that are now using it just tastes like caramel sauce.

This was all quite an adventure. First, dulce de leche is shockingly simple but takes four hours! You take a can of sweetened condensed milk, pop two holes in the top, and submerge it up to an inch from the top in simmering water. Easy enough, except that you have to keep an eye on it for those four hours, as the water level gets low and demands your attention.

The flan also seemed deceptively simple, but getting sugar to liquefy was so frustrating. First of all, the recipe made it seem like you heated it on low, stirred for a bit and there you had it - beautiful liquid sugar. But after 30 minutes of stirring and staring... nothing. I then went online to find out what I was doing wrong, and there I met pages after pages of warning about how the slightest error in temperature and time would leave you with a blackened solid ball of pure sadness. So now I was freaked out and bumping the temperature up by microdegrees (if there is such a thing). Once it finally started melting, I freaked out and took it off the stove before it was totally liquid. Instantly it hardened into a sticky mass (oh, I've just discovered how they make hard candy). My first instinct was to microwave it, and amazingly, it softened. This was all just to make the sweet sauce that eventually becomes the top of the flan. The flan itself was quick and easy and after all the time and stress, it came out quite tasty. And the dulce de leche? Divine. Try it!

Hour 1 of 4.

Decorative sugar arts (aka, still waiting...).

Finally! Unfortunately I took it off the stove shortly after this, which was too soon.

You know, it kinda looks like a pie. Not pretty, but really tasty.

Barbecue Pork Shoulder

From Epicurious.com

• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons hot chile powder
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco), or to taste
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped (with seeds)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 3 strips bacon, chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes including juice
• 1 bay leaf

• Special equipment: Slow cooker

• Accompaniment: 8 to 10 sandwich rolls

In small bowl, whisk together sugar, tomato paste, mustard, vinegar, chile powder, hot pepper sauce, and salt. Set aside.

In heavy, medium skillet over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onion, pepper, jalapeño, and garlic, and sauté until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape into slow cooker.

Add pork cubes, bacon, tomatoes and their juices, and bay leaf and stir to combine. Pour sauce over mixture. Cover and cook on low until meat is very tender, 8 to 10 hours. Remove bay leaf and use fork to break up meat before serving on rolls.

Flan

From AllRecipes.com

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes. Let cool completely.
5. To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool

Dulce de Leche

The video near the bottom of this site is super helpful: www.wikihow.com/Make-Dulce-De-Leche