I got home yesterday to find that there was nothing in the fridge to feed the family. And they were hungry. Hungry and quickly transitioning to hangry.
What to do? Yes, that is correct, I turned to the Instant Pot. And, I went way out of comfort zone because I put FROZEN meat in my Instant Pot.
I had four pork chops frozen. Frozen into one solid block. Rock hard.
Did I mention the kids were about to turn on me? They were. So I turned the Instant Pot to sauté, added some olive oil and I let it heat up.
Then I dropped in the chunk of frozen pork. And poured in a cup and a half of chicken stock. Put on the lid, flipped to the lid to “seal” and the timer for 15 minutes. And then I stepped away to start working on some Carolina-style barbecue sauce.
Because the chunk-o-pork was frozen it took a few minutes for the liquid (chicken stock) to get up to temperature. Once it did, the timer started counting down from 15 minutes.
Once we got to zero, I was anxious to see what was inside so I did a “controlled quick vent”. Opened the lid and saw that my chunk-o-pork was now four sort of frozen pork chops. Good news!
I poured the Carolina-style barbecue sauce into the Instant Pot and put the lid back on. Sealed it. Set it. 15 minutes.
In no time the Instant Pot was up to temperature and under pressure.
15 minutes later I did another quick pressure release and opened up the pot. The pork was now ready to be “pulled” which I did in a large stainless bowl. Using two forks I pulled the pork into shreds.
I ladled on a little of the barbecue sauce and mixed it all together.
I split a few Kaiser buns and placed them under the broiler for a couple minutes to get them browned.
Then I scooped some of the pulled pork onto the bun, added a scoop of coleslaw onto the other side of the bun, ladled on some more of the Carolina-style barbecue sauce, and got ready to eat.
The most amazing thing? Both kids liked it and they actually ate it!!
And just like that, they went from neatly hangry to fully happy.
That’s A Dad in the Burbs style cooking!
Here is my A Dad in the Burbs “recipe” for the Carolina-style barbecue sauce:
- 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup of ketchup
- 1 teaspoon of Worcestshire sauce
- A scoop of mustard – about a tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
I added all the above ingredients into a medium sized saucepan, brought it to a boil, reduced the heat to low and let it simmer while I waited for the pork to cook in the Instant Pot.
The Carolina-style barbecue sauce has a strong vinegar hit – much different than the sweeter Texas style barbecue sauce – which I quite like. I just wanted to try something different this time.
That’s it!