One Nail Shy of Nailin' It

The next time someone says “Hey, have you ever had to cook lunch for 25, using pecans in each dish, and then serve it in one small condo on a steamy crowded day in South Carolina?” I can say “yes I have”. And now having done that…NEVER AGAIN.

That was just too much of everything to have to add pecans to the mix. I chose to do my challenge meal at lunch and carefully planned for my pulled pork, spicy pecan slaw and green bean/goat cheese/candied pecan salad. I started at home, in Chicago, by making two versions of candied pecans. One with an orange zest and juice, and another using chili powder. Here is the recipe.

Spicy Pecans
Ingredients
1 large egg white
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
Coarse salt
4 3/4 cups pecans (1 1/4 pounds)
To one batch I added: juice and zest of one orange
The other, 1/8 cup of chili powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Whisk egg white in a large bowl until foamy, about 30 seconds. Whisk in sugars, soy sauce, five-spice powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add pecans, and toss to coat using a rubber spatula. Transfer pecan mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and spread into a single layer using rubber spatula. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack, and let stand until cool and hardened, about 30 minutes

This was a hit. The sweet, slightly salty crunchies were great all week, on salads, and by the handful. I think Tricia even crumbled some in her challenge meal. So “thumbs up” for the candied pecans.

Next came the pulled pork. Much to my nephew's sadness, I was chopping pecans the night before (about midnight). He was sad but knew better than to stick his sweet 10-year old head out the door to comment (thank you David). Pecans crushed. Mixed with a very gooey rub. Slathered on three bone-in pork shoulders. The shoulders were small so I put the slathered pork in the fridge and hit the hay.

And then the unraveling of a good meal began…

6 am Pork shoulders in the oven
6:45 Back to bed
9:00 Feeling cocky. Hit the pool.
10:30 Back from the pool. Pork shoulder NOT EVEN CLOSE.
10:31 Ignore that pork will never be done by 12:00
10:32 Make slaw, try to convince my son to snap green beans
11:00 Tongue on fire, slaw too spicy -- add mayo and sugar -- good save
11:30 PORK NOT DONE
11:45 Green bean salad perfect
12:02 Children begin asking "when's lunch?"
12:30 John texts "abandon ship -- go get a bucket of chicken, save pork for dinner"
12:33 Silently curse John for not helping me
12:50 Realize that the pork will not be "pulled" rather "sliced"
1:00 Lunch. Smelled good. Tasted good. Wrong texture. Big miss.

My brother-in-law took some pics. Here they are. Pork (not pulled), slaw and green bean salad with those orange flavored spiced pecans.



The moral of this story: Don't expect to make a perfect meal with only 9 toenails to work with.