last night's dinner: kalua pork and macaroni salad

@spiderdust (14756)
San Jose, California
April 26, 2020 10:15am CST
I bought a pork shoulder roast at work on Friday with the intention of cooking it this weekend. I can stretch it out for a couple of meals, 3 if I'm careful. Since I didn't want to heat up the house with the oven, I made it into kalua pork in the Instant Pot. If you've ever gone to a luau in Hawaii, you've likely had kalua pork. Typically it is cooked by roasting a whole pig in a pit, but I definitely use a cheater's method. I've cooked it in my oven and my slow cooker, but pressure cooking it in my Instant Pot is definitely the fastest way, and it turns out very tender. One of the secrets I use is a tablespoon of liquid smoke in the cooking liquid! I kind of played around with my macaroni salad recipe yesterday, adding a little bit of this and that until I was happy with the flavor of the dressing. I also added grated carrot, diced celery and diced bell peppers to the mixture for color and texture (and vegetables!), along with the dill relish and minced onion. One of the other adults roasted some green cauliflower and Brussels sprouts for vegetable sides, plus there were the omnipresent carrot sticks. We had some leftover rice from another meal, which provided a starchy side for those who didn't want the macaroni salad. Hey, dinner wasn't too bad! And I've got plenty of cooked shredded pork leftover to use in a different meal.
4 people like this
4 responses
@paigea (36143)
• Canada
26 Apr 20
That sounds delicious.
1 person likes this
@paigea (36143)
• Canada
26 Apr 20
@spiderdust That is important. We still are using our furnace.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
26 Apr 20
@paigea Yeah, I know some people are still getting snow right now. It's 81°F right now, which is cooler than it was yesterday.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
26 Apr 20
It was good and actually pretty satisfying. And the kitchen didn't get hot!
1 person likes this
@NJChicaa (127165)
• United States
26 Apr 20
That pork sounds really good
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
26 Apr 20
It really is. I know you don't have an Instant Pot, but do you have a slow cooker? I highly recommend this recipe! It makes a good bit, but the leftover pork can be used in tacos, stir fry or fried rice, and a lot of other dishes. You can even freeze it in portions so you can pull it out some night when you really don't feel like cooking and Grub Hub has failed.
https://nomnompaleo.com/post/10031990774/slow-cooker-kalua-pig
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
26 Apr 20
I went simple with a grilled cheese with bacon strips.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
26 Apr 20
I haven't made a really good grilled cheese sandwich in a while. I've been doing the lazy open-faced toasted cheese sandwich in the toaster oven.
1 person likes this
• Agra, India
26 Apr 20
I will try to make macroni after I buy some cheese