The cozy fall bakes and roasts edition 🍂

Open for a pear crumble that won’t let you down, unlike 2020.

Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, I make a shit-ton of crumbles. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate. 

Pear crumble without oats at home

Wherever home is for you <3

Unlike everything else in 2020, this pear crumble absolutely won’t let you down. I was so delighted by the fact that it did not let me down that I made three of them this week, even though I live alone, just to remember what it feels like for things to turn out the way you want them to. Murakami had his spaghetti; I have pear crumble. Even if you’re short on… everything, as I always am, you can make this simple pear-cinnamon bake, which takes only six ingredients, and most importantly, does not include oats which I never seem to have when I need them. I think the cardamom called for in the original recipe would add a really nice touch but again, I didn’t have any, so I just doubled up on the cinnamon and it was still lovely. For the second batch, I added fresh grated ginger to the pears, and it was delicious. I used small bartlett pears, and you definitely need more than 3-4 to make 5 cups of sliced fruit. Oh, and there is no universe in which it makes sense to serve this delicious crumble drenched in half-and-half, so that ingredient is clearly a shill for Land O Lakes, which is where this recipe hails from. 

Honey pear cobbler at home

Recipe bastardized from the New York Times.

Originally I had a much harsher review for this cobbler, which I adapted from Alison Roman. (I used 2 pounds of small Bartlett pears, sliced into eighths, whole milk instead of cream in the biscuits, and cinnamon with the fruit.) Serves me right, I thought, for using a recipe from a Canceled Author who insulted the Only Good Celebrity on Twitter, Chrissy Teigen. I set the cobbler aside after eating a tiny scoop to let it cool. But then something happened. I picked myself up from the carpet. I went outside and saw trees for the first time in 24 hours. I had human contact for the first time in a week. I brought a tupperware of the cobbler, to a friend. Apologetic that the pears were too dry, I took a bite. It was delicious. And I ate more when I got back home, after dinner. (Next time, I would mix the pears with some fresh grated ginger, slice them more thinly, and add a soft fruit or berry to moisten the filling.)

Pork shoulder, three ways

For a little COVID-times thrill, I picked up a (~3.8 lb) pork shoulder for $4.99 at the neighborhood grocery store and decided to spend Saturday afternoon having an Iron-Chef adventure with myself. 

I took the shoulder,  bone-in with a nice thick layer of fat and skin, home and hacked it into big chunks off the bone. Then I experimented with three preparations.

Pork adventure #1: Cumin and adobo-rubbed roast pork bone  

For this culinary experiment, I took the shoulder carcass, rubbed it down with ample amounts of adobo seasoning and cumin, and set it on a foil-lined baking sheet. Then I cranked the oven up to 450F and let it roast for 30 minutes, then turned the heat down to 250F for a very slow three-hour roast.

After three hours, the pork bone was amazing -- shreddable and tender, with a nice spice crust. I would highly recommend this method.

Pork adventure #2: Oven pork ragu

For this pork preparation, I braised half the pork chunks in a hot, oven-proof skillet with olive oil. Then I took the pork out, and cooked one diced yellow onion and three diced carrots in the grease, added the pork back in, a big splash of red wine, a 20-oz can of crushed tomatoes, and 2 sprigs of rosemary (plus lots of salt and pepper).

Then I put the whole dish in the oven with the pork bone, at 250F for three hours. Unfortunately, tomatoes have some kind acidic witchcraft going on that prevented the meat from becoming meltably tender. (Also, I only have one pot with a lid, and I feel like all these problems could have been solved if I had a lid). So in short, if you try to make pork ragu but you bake it instead of boil it and use a skillet, not a pot, you will fail.

Pork adventure #3: Hong shao pork shoulder

This was the most chaotic of all the preparations, but also possibly the most delicious. In making this hong shao rou, I carry on the tradition of my Chinese mother (and all the mothers before her) in presenting you with something delightfully made and a garbage list of sentences for a recipe. Anyways, I made this pork recipe last, letting the chunks of meat marinate in a big splash of shaoxing wine and a smaller splash of soy sauce and a spoonful of brown sugar while I prepared the other dishes. Then, I braised the chunks of pork in a saucepan with olive oil (because it’s the only kind I have), added a cup of water, and simmered, cover, on low, for three hours. The pot kept burning and I would add a cup of water each time it boiled down. Finally, when the meat was soft and tender I added another half cup of water and another spoonful of brown sugar and more cooking wine and let it reduce into a thick sauce.

Stay safe, if not sane,

Soph