Smoked Pork ‘n’ Beans

8th of February was Super Bowl 50, my sister-in-law’s partner is keen on it, being Canadian himself.

He hosted a bit of a party and I offered to do this with a slaw and some corn bread to compliment his chilli and salad (recipes for corn bread and coleslaw will follow).

Southern spice mix Recipe:

1 onion, minced or grated (If you want a dry spice rub, replace the minced garlic and onion with 1 Tblspn onion powder and 1 tsp garlic powder and omit the oil)

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 tsp salt

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp sweet paprika

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp ground black pepper

8 dried bay leaves, ground up

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper or ground chilli

2 tsp dried thyme

1 Tblsp sugar

¼ cup cooking oil (peanut is good but canola will do)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, add the oil and mix into a paste that you can rub in to your joint of meat.

Rub the mixture generously all over the meat coating it well. Reserve a Tblspn of the mixture for the beans. In this recipe I went with a shoulder roast of pork (it was on special at the supermarket).

Set up a smoker, my little Weber (pictured above) is ideal, alternatively you could use a deep roasting pan lined with aluminium foil, a wire cake rack that fits inside it, above some wood chips (about 1 cup), I use mānuka, cover and seal with foil and on a low heat on the stove top smoke for 20-30 minutes. Make sure you open kitchen windows and turn on the extractor fan, you don’t want to frighten the neighbours or set off the fire alarms!

Recipe For the Pork and Beans:

Cooking and preparation time 8+ hours

1 Tblspn peanut oil

1 red onion diced

4 cloves minced garlic

1 Tblspn southern spice mix (from above)

1 litre chicken or beef stock or water

3 cans drained and rinsed, red kidney, haricot beans etc OR soak some beans for 6-8 hours earlier, black eye beans, borlotti, haricot, cannellini etc.

Method:

In a large ovenproof saucepan, heat the oil and sweat off the onion and garlic, add the tblsp of spice paste and cook out.

Add the soaked or tinned beans that have been drained and rinsed.

Place the joint of meat on top and pour in the litre of stock or water.

Cover with lid.

Turn on the oven to 100-120ºC and place pot in the centre of the oven for 5-6 hours, turning the meat over halfway through the cooking time.

When the meat is tender and falling apart, remove any bones from the meat.

I finish the dish with a slosh of bourbon and some freshly chopped thyme.

Adjust the seasoning to suit.

Serve with corn bread (recipe to follow) and salad greens, coleslaw or fresh steamed vegetables.