Miami Blog

My friend Peggy Jean was in town over the Easter holidays. Peggy Jean is a real Southern cook, which means that just about everything she makes calls for many pounds of butter, cartons of heavy whipping cream, half and half, bacon fat, salt, and variations on the theme of sugar (turbinado, honey, molassas). Peggy Jean is a cook who makes Paula Deen look like she's on the Mediterranean Diet. She made us a dinner of pulled pork shoulder, black eyed pea salsa, cheese grits, ground pork and sausage burgers, tea-cured grilled salmon, grilled pineapple, and green beans tossed with cured bacon ends that had been sauteed in turbinado sugar and balsamic vinegar. I did my part and made the cornbread. Then we ate an entire 8-layer yellow cake with chocolate icing and raspberry filling that Peggy Jean had also made up in her spare time. The next day, we put together the sandwich pictured above with leftovers: a pork burger topped with pulled roast pork topped with the cured bacon ends. We ate these with leftover grilled pineapple and Peeps. (Note: Peeps and pork shoulder are an inspired pairing.)

Addendum 4/16/09: check out Food & Wine's recipe for a double pork burger with bacon and cheese here.

Here follows PJ's recipes for pork shoulder and black eyed peas salsa:

Peggy Jean's BBQ Pork Shoulder (feeds 12 with lots of leftovers)

Preheat oven to 450

1 pork shoulder (5-6 lbs. We got a bag containing two 5 lb. shoulders at Costco for $14 and put one shoulder in the freezer)

For the marinade, mix well and set aside:
*Note: the marinade will be poured over the shoulder right before you bake it.
zest and juice of:
1 lime
1 lemon
1 orange
*note: save your leftover squeezed fruit for the black eyed pea salsa, below)
1 tbs fresh parsley
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1/4 cup kosher salt (see what I mean about the salt?)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbs honey
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tbs sweet paprika
3 tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs ground black pepper
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
dash of tabasco

Rub roast with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
Place roast in roasting pan and sear on all sides in 450 oven, turning as each side browns. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 300. Pour the marinade over the roast, cover with foil, and immediately return to the 300 degree oven. Bake for 3-4 hours, until pork easily falls apart when poked with a fork. **Note, we finished the roast on a covered grill, for about 15 minutes, to give it a nice smokey flavor.

Peggy Jean's Black Eyed Peas Salsa

Mix together and set aside:
zest and juice of
1 lime
1 lemon
1 orange
1 tbs each parsley, cilantro, thyme
1 family size bag of frozen black eyed peas, thawed (sold at Publix)
1/4 cup bread and butter pickles
1/4 cup pickled okra
2 diced ripe tomatoes or 1 container grape tomatoes, halved
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced, mostly white part.
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 dash tabasco
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp each: cumin, chili powder, paprika
3 tbs cider vinegar

Put black eyed peas in large pot with enough room to move around, and cover with water. Add half each of the used lime, lemon, and orange, cut in quarters. Add 2 tsp salt and 1/s tsp black pepper. Cook until tender but firm (al dente). Strain. Add the mixture of ingredients that you've set aside immediately and mix well. Can be served warm, at room temp, or chilled.