The Great American Slow Cooker Book (49 page)

1
Mix the water, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and onion powder in the slow cooker. Stir in the pinto beans. Nestle the ham into the mixture.

2
Cover and cook on low for 10 hours, or until the meat falls from the bone and is completely shreddable.

3
Move the ham from the cooker to a carving board (you may need to do this in pieces, as the meat will fall apart). Let stand for 10 minutes. Keep the cooker covered and on low.

4
Shred the meat off the bones and discard the bones. Scoop about 1 cup of beans from the cooker with a slotted spoon and pour them into a small bowl. Mash them into a paste with the back of a wooden spoon. Stir this paste and the shredded meat (as well as the salt, if desired) into the cooker to serve.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
There’s no denying that a smoked ham makes the best pork and beans, far leaner but also more tasty than hocks or the random bits of meat used in commercial productions.

•
The mashed beans help thicken the stew. If you like, cover and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes to make sure everything’s hot when served.

•
The amount of ham here is actually a bit less than the previous ham recipe. Have the butcher cut a ham down to size; freeze the other parts for more pork and beans in the months to come.

•
Nope, you can’t really make this dish in a small slow cooker. You’ll almost never find a bone-in ham small enough. That said, you could make it with bone-in ham steaks. Use 1½ pounds and half the stated amounts for the other ingredients as listed for a 4- to 5½-quart slow cooker.

Serve It Up!
This is a meal, not a side dish—and best for bowls. Have warmed flour tortillas, sour cream, grated cheese, and even pickle relish for accoutrements.

1
Cut the pork belly into 2-inch chunks. Set them in a large bowl and toss with the soy sauce, brown sugar, and sherry until evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 16 hours.

2
Remove the meat from the marinade (reserve any juice in the bowl). Pat the chunks dry with paper towels. Heat a large skillet over medium heat; add a batch of pork chunks to the skillet, just enough so there’s no crowding.
Brown on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. As they’re ready, transfer them to the slow cooker and continue browning more.

3
Scrape any reserved marinade from the bowl into the cooker. Stir in the broth, ginger, scallions, garlic, chiles, cinnamon sticks, and star anise.

4
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until very tender.

5
Use a slotted spoon to move the chunks of pork belly to a heat-safe serving bowl or platter. Spoon or ladle the sauce through a strainer and into a fat separator. Discard the aromatics and set aside for 10 minutes. Pour the skimmed sauce into a small saucepan, bring it to a boil over high heat, and reduce to half its volume, about 3 to 8 minutes. Pour the sauce over the pork belly.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
This Asian-style preparation yields aromatic chunks of fatty meat with a rich, heady broth.

•
Dry the marinated cubes well so they’ll brown properly. For even better browning, let them sit out of the marinade at room temperature for 20 minutes before browning.

INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Pork belly is about the most ridiculously decadent cut of pork you can find. Most of it is cured for bacon. For this recipe, choose a large fresh (that is,
uncured
) slab to cut into chunks. Make sure the butcher has removed any rind. While you’re at it, look for a slab of pork belly with plenty of meat, not just rifts of fat.

Serve It Up!
Have bowls of cooked medium-grain white or brown rice at everyone’s place. Use chopsticks or a spoon to reach into the cooker to pull out a few pieces at a time and set them on the rice. Drip bits of the sauce over the pork in the bowls, if desired.

1
Put the black-eyed peas in a large bowl, fill the bowl about two-thirds with cool tap water, and soak for at least 12 hours or up to 20 hours.

2
Drain the peas in a colander set in the sink; scatter them in the slow cooker. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, celery, and Cajun seasoning; nestle in the ham hock.

3
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the meat easily falls off the bones. Move the hock to a cutting board (a wooden spoon in the other hand helps for balance). Keep the slow cooker covered and on low.

4
Cool the meat for a couple of minutes, then shred it off the bones. Discard the bones (look for little bits and chips), then chop the meat and stir it back into the stew in the slow cooker.

5
Stir in the rice and scallions. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour, or until the rice is tender and the stew has thickened considerably.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
Hoppin’ John is a West African dish that has long been a staple in Southern kitchens. It’s a mix of rice, black-eyed peas, and vegetables, sometimes made with fatback, but here with the somewhat leaner ham hock.

•
Some hocks are kept luridly pink, thanks to lots of saltpeter and other preservatives. If you want to skip this chemical treatment, look for nitrate-free smoked ham hocks or uncured smoked ham hocks. There’s no additional salt required here since the hock will have plenty.

Serve It Up!
Hoppin’ John is sometimes served on New Year’s Day, a harbinger of good luck for the year ahead. Serve it with steamed or sautéed greens (particularly collard greens) for a more substantial meal.

1
Bring a pan of water to a boil over high heat. Set the dried mushrooms in a bowl; fill the bowl about two-thirds with boiling water. Set aside to steep for 20 minutes.

2
Drain the mushrooms in a colander set over a bowl to catch the soaking liquid (now a mushroom stock). Cut off and discard the shiitake stems. Slice the caps into thin strips; toss with the cabbage, water chestnuts, scallion greens, and fresh ginger in the slow cooker.

3
Mix the ground pork, scallion whites, and ground ginger in a large bowl. Form the mixture into one large meatball for a small slow cooker, two for a medium one, or three for a large one. Set the meatballs in the cabbage mixture.

4
Whisk the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and balsamic vinegar in a large bowl. Whisk in 1 cup reserved mushroom stock for a small slow cooker, 1½ cups for a medium cooker, or 2½ cups for a large cooker. Pour over the meatballs and vegetables in the cooker.

5
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the pork is cooked through and the cabbage is tender. Serve by cutting the meatball into pie-shaped wedges and offering these atop the vegetables and sauce.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
These large meatballs are a specialty of Cantonese cooking—and so of American Chinese cooking as well.

•
The big meatballs—said to look like a lion’s head with a cabbage mane around it—can sometimes fall apart when poached on the stovetop. The slow cooker solves that problem with its even, low heat.