Pulled Pork Burger with homemade buns

I love using the slow cooker to cook my meals. My faithful cooker has been with me for a long time. I used to dump ingredients in the morning before I go to work way before when I used to work long hours and come back to a completely cooked meal when I reached home. Or you can put in the ingredients at night before you sleep and hey presto,you will wake up to a nice smelling kitchen in the morning, a meal fully cooked. 

The whole point of using a slow cooker is to get the ingredients into the cooker quickly and then be able to walk away. For this easy pulled pork recipe, just coat the pork shoulder with a dark brown sugar, paprika, cinnamon, minced garlic, then cook it on a bed of chopped onions covered with a can of stewed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and BBQ sauce. When you come back six to eight hours later, you’ll have juicy pork that’s ready to be shredded and served alongside coleslaw, french fries or chips. This no-fuss, versatile recipe makes enough to feed quite a few and the leftovers, should you have any  freeze well.

Pulled Pork

Ingredients

1.5 kg of pork shoulder
1 big onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup of BBQ sauce
300 ml of chicken stock

Method

Spray the slow cooker with a thin layer of oil.
Lay the chopped onions at the bottom of the cooker.
Wipe the pork dry with paper towel after washing.
Put in a bowl, salt, black pepper, garlic, cajun seasoning, cinnamon, paprika, chilli powder, mix it all up.
Rub the mixture on the pork all over.
Next pat the pork with the brown sugar and press on it.
Place the seasoned pork into the cooker.
Pour BBQ sauce, stewed tomatoes, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and chicken stock on the pork.
Turn the slow cooker on high and if possible turn it down to low after a couple of hours when boiling.
If not, just leave it on high all the way for about 6 to 8 hours. 
It is optional if you would like to continue to cook it in the oven at 180 C for an hour.
Take out the meat out to be shredded without putting it into the oven if you think the meat is a good enough texture for you. 
You can thicken the sauce with cornflour over the fire if need be. Season with more salt if necessary.
Mix the shredded meat with the thickened sauce before serving on a nice bun.
You can add lettuce, tomatoes and even cucumbers to the pulled pork and bun.

Note: If you find that you do not have certain dry or spice ingredients, and do not want to buy them for adding so little in, you can omit, but the taste of this meal will not be so robust and tasty. But you cannot omit the wet ingredients. 

Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Cinnamon French Toast

I will make this particular French Toast for my family once in a while whenever I bake Brioche bread. This French Toast goes very well with Brioche bread but of course you can use normal white bread. 

I ate this French Toast with filling as one of the dishes served at a food luncheon party by Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone organized by a bank at a hotel. It was very delicious. The toast was served with a fruit sauce. 

This is my very own recipe and you can twitch it and fill it with anything you want or feel like it. It is very simple to make and can be a hearty breakfast on a nice Sunday morning.

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Cinnamon French Toast. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 eggs

• 4 thick slices brioche bread or normal white bread

• 2 tbsp. butter

• 1/4 c. sugar

• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

• Peanut Butter spread

• 1/4 cup of meltable chocolate chips, couverture type, (you can use Nutella if you want)

• Honey/Golden Syrup (optional)

• Method
  Using a fork, beat the eggs in a baking dish to blend.
  Apply peanut butter on one side of the brioche/bread, divide and put the chocolate chips/Nutella on the peanut butter. 
• Sandwich with another piece of bread on top.
  Place the brioche sandwiches in the egg mixture. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the eggs are absorbed, turning the brioche to let it absorb the egg mixture.
  Melt some butter on a flat frying pan over medium heat.
  Place the brioche slices on the pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side or until golden brown on the outside and heated through, melting the chocolate chips inside.
  Meanwhile, stir the sugar and cinnamon on a large plate or pie dish.
  Immediately place the hot French toast in the cinnamon-sugar and turn to coat completely.
• Repeat for the other sandwich.
  Drizzle a little honey or golden syrup in a thin stream on the French Toast if desired. 
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