Frugal Cooking

If you’re a fan of the Food Network show Good Eats, you’ve probably heard Alton Brown say that he only owns one multitasker- a fire extinguisher. Everything else he puts in his kitchen has at least more than one function. I love that philosophy and try to keep my kitchen stocked the same way because I truly believe “less is more” in almost all cases. Today my cast iron skillet does double duty as a baking pan for a low carb meatloaf.

Soon after this trip to Hawaii, I decided to make kalua pork at home. I read many recipes, many of which involved some process nearly as complicated as the traditional method.

Adobada means marinated in Spanish so could probably refer to a wide variety of meat treatments. When I think of adobada I think of sliced pork marinated in a thick paste of red chile, garlic, oregano and vinegar and then grilled. Apparently, so do a lot of people…

As usual this recipe is based on the ingredients I happened to have on hand. The exact proportions of ingredients aren’t that important. The most important aspects are good quality ingredients and proper cooking technique. This explains why a good chef can turn nearly any combination of ingredients into something absolutely delicious.

I used to think I didn’t like pork chops. It turns out I didn’t like pork cooked until it was as dry and tough as shoe leather like my mom used to make them.

Unless you’re good with the pressure cooker, don’t even think about pulling a shoulder out of the fridge an hour before dinner time!