Rock out with the Crock out...Asian Pork

It's 11:00 am on Saturday and before our ritual trip to Harris Teeter my wife is sitting on the couch flipping through the food network cook book while simultaneously food network on the TV. I am surrounded by food ideas and I am starving. "So what do you want to make for dinner?" I didn't really give a damn about dinner at that point, I was more concerned with lunch, I knew the quicker I agreed to dinner the quicker I could get lunch. (Lunch was gonna be Wendy’s glorious Chili and Baked Potato) She flips a page “How about mussels and clams?” I say might be hard to find but lets do it, “Nah, How about polish, we could make pigs in a blanket!” One phone call to her mother for the recipe and 20 mins later (no lunch in site) she still has the magazine open. “How about Slow Cooked Asian pork?” Keys and shopping bags in hand I say Yes I love that lets go! And off we went, one step closer to Wendy’s…

We couldn’t find the ingredients it called for so we just tweaked it to make our own (example where they called for Sherry I had Marsala close enough)



5 Lbs Boston Butt (This was the smallest pork shoulder we could find, oh well pork for days!)
2 Tbls Vegetable Oil
1 Quart Chicken Broth
1 C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Marsala
2 Tbls Brown Sugar
1/2 Whole Fresh Pineapple cubed
1 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1 Cinnamon Stick
5 Cloves of garlic smashed
2 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced
8 Dried Shitake mushrooms
1 Lbs Udon noodles (you could use soba or ramen, we just like udon)
1 Serrano Pepper
2 Scallions
1/4 Fresh Cilantro

Heat a large skillet to med-high and add vegetable oil. Season the Pork with salt and pepper then brown all sides in the skillet. Once browned set aside. Combine the broth, soy sauce, marsala, brown sugar, pineapple, cinnamon stick, garlic, ginger, and mushrooms in a slow cooker. (hope you made sure it was big enough first ;) Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the pork, cover and cook on low for 6 hours…

Now the waiting game

1 college game and an on-demand movie later the pork is done!

Remove from the slow cooker and set on a cutting board. Boil salted water and make the Udon noodles. Place some noodles in a bowl, ladle in some broth and mushrooms (leave the pineapple chunks in the cooker) over the noodles. Top with pork and garnish with scallions, serrano, and cilantro.
Enjoy!