Kalua Pork with Cabbage

What a week!  It is good to be back into the kitchen, but better now that I am settled (sort of) in my new place.  Along with moving I was working on a commercial for NBA 2K15 - yes, the video game - on top of working my normal job.  With all of that going on this was placed on the back burner (no pun intended) and forgotten about.  But it is a new day and I have a new recipe to share.

If you are anything like me, you enjoy food...I would hope so if you are reading this blog.  If for some chance you got here by mistake and have read this far - good for you!  Maybe cooking isn't your thing.  That's totally fine, but try these recipes out.  If it doesn't turn out...well, just post about it on HERE and let me know so I can enjoy your mishaps while I photoshop the crap out of mine.

Back to the recipe, living in Las Vegas there is a large Hawaiian population.  With that comes amazing Hawaiian food and restaurants.  One of my favorites here is L&L Hawaiian BBQ where they have everything from Spam Musubi to Kalua Pork.  Personally, these are my two favorites but I'm not about to go out to eat all the time so I started making it myself.

Normally this recipe would have you cooking the pig in a hole in the ground.  For those of you that live in Vegas you probably know how impossible it is to dig into the earth here.  Though, it's delicious I am not about to try and dig through this ground, so we make due with what we have.  A SLOW COOKER!  Below is the recipe as I have found it online.  With that being said...let's just get to cooking.


Kalua Pork and Cabbage

Kalua Pork and Cabbage

Ingredients

• 2 TBS Kosher Salt
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 (5 lb) bone-in pork shoulder roast
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp liquid smoke flavoring
• 1/2 large head cabbage, shredded

Instructions

1. Mix kosher salt, black pepper, and ground ginger in a bowl; rub evenly into surface of pork roast; place seasoned roast in a slow cooker.
2. Stir soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke together in a bowl; pour over the pork roast.
3. Cook on Low 10 hours.  Add cabbage to the pork and sauce in the slow cooker; cook another 30 minutes.  Shred pork to serve.

There you have it.  Simple and easy.  I did change the recipe a bit.  Before I do the rub I like to pierce the pork roast with a knife a fair number of times - a la Jodi Arias - so the liquid can get into it a bit.  With the pork in a slow cooker I will rub the liquid mixture into the pork as best as I can.  Doing this helps keep the dry mixture of salt, black pepper and ground ginger on the pork.  Whether this helps or not I don't know.  It's just what I do, and there is nothing wrong with deviating from recipes.  It's hard to mess this recipe up.  Also, as I don't need 5 pounds of pork so I only use two to three pounds and adjust the recipe accordingly.  Now, if you aren't into doing the conversions yourself HERE is the link to the original recipe where you can adjust the number of servings and it will calculate all of the measures for you.  This original recipe makes for 10 servings.  Changing it it to six servings as I did will call for just over 3 lbs of pork.

I love this recipe, but some of the people in my house didn't care for the lingering smell that comes with slow cookers.  Vegetarians...I hope catch a flesh eating virus.  How ironic would that be?!?  (Disclaimer:  Only kidding about that.  My roommates are neither vegetarians nor have a virus.)  On the bright side, if nobody else eats it at least the dog will like it.

That's all that I have for today.  Enjoy, share, reply and until next time....

Happy Snacking!

Luke

Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant Review

Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant

Last night a few friends and I went to Super Summer Theatre's production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  It's an outdoor theatre set within Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.  Tickets are a reasonable price and all you have to do is bring yourself, a blanket to sit on and maybe some food and beverage to enhance your experience that much more.

Being the classy people that my we are, my friends and I grabbed a 12 pack of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, picked up a pizza from CostCo and headed out to the ranch for an evening of fun.  Though I don't drink much at all, I began to have the biggest craving for Thai food as the night drew on.  It was sudden and out of place, but then again my partner and I have been getting our fair share of Thai food as of late.  My latest addiction: Pad See Ew.

Being that I live on the west side of Las Vegas I decided that I need to start trying new places in my area.  Just across from my favorite falafel house in Las Vegas I have noticed a few restaurants come and go, but nothing really stays.  Could it be bad location or just bad food?  I don't know, but what I did notice on my way past the area this morning is that there was a Thai restaurant that I have never been to.  And where there is a Thai café, there is Pad See Ew.

I decided to stop in at Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant on West Sahara to give it a go.  My first impressions where mostly faded by the fact that I just wanted this noodle dish...NOW!  I placed my order for beef Pad See Ew (there is a $1 up charge for beef) and sat down to wait for my dish.  As I had a few things to get done this morning, I ordered it to go but the wait staff still poured me a glass of water as I waited which was quite unexpected but very welcomed.

Sitting down I began to take in my surroundings, and to be quite frank, there wasn't much to take in.  The tables were very plain and each one had a large sticker on it's edge to indicate the table number.  The front desk was made up of what looked like an ill fitted computer desk set to the side of another desk that could have easily been left behind by the previous tenants of this rental space.  The decorations were few, but I just kept reminding myself that I am here for the food and not the atmosphere.  Besides, I was taking my food to go.  What did I care?

My order only took about 5 minutes to make and when it was ready the host bagged it up, walked it over to me and politely thanked me and invited me back.  For me, the drive home is usually the worst part about take out as the smell of the food taunts me until I have reached my destination.  However, in this instance I got nothing.  It wasn't until I opened the bag fully and opened the To-Go box that I got a whiff of what was to come, and what I got was a short scent of the dish and then...nothing.  I enjoy food that lingers in the air and taunts everyone around that's eating something else to the point of jealousy and begging for a bite.

Upon further inspection of the opened box I noticed the beef.  It had been cooked to an eerie gray to it that made it seem like low quality factory meat that was cut into a uniform thickness.  Looking past that I was excited to see a spring roll that came with this lunch special as it meant that I would enjoy at least one thing.  How can you mess up a spring roll, am I right?

I began to plate my lunch, but was quickly losing my appetite (it's hot here and I don't have a big appetite during the hot Vegas summer's to begin with).  I took my first apprehensive bite and was underwhelmed.  There was so much anticipation that was leading up to this moment that perhaps I was the reason that it wasn't appealing to me.  I took another bite and again wasn't excited, but the food was forgettable.  After my fifth bite I decided to just take the spring roll and enjoy the little bit that I could.

After my meal I looked up Lilly's on Yelp to see if it was just me, but they have gotten some mixed reviews.  The photos make the food look amazing, but good photos don't make up for a lack of flavor which seems to be a common complaint.  Though I didn't get a Thai tea or dessert like I would have wanted to give this place an overall review, I can't say that I will never be back.  

Overall, this dish was not good.  It had little to no flavor, the protein was gray, but the egg roll and dipping sauce were not half bad.  The desserts look delicious and the wait staff is very attentive, but as far as this dish goes there are far too many other Thai restaurants around Las Vegas that make a better Pad See Ew to go to.  I will probably come back to get the curry, Thai tea and coconut ice cream as recommended by others on Yelp.

Thanks for checking out my first review and be sure to come back as I make this dish at home later this week.

Until next time....

Happy Snacking!

Luke

Update

It's been two years, I have moved to a new city and have had a lot of changes, but am happy to say that I'm rekindling this blog. Expect some new and awesome recipes to come.

If you were following my blog originally you will know that it focused on vegetarian/vegan food at affordable prices.  With the relaunch of the blog I will now be focusing on all foods as well as offer restaurant reviews from local eateries in and around Las Vegas. 

If you would like to see anything specifically on this blog let me know by contacting me and I will do my best to accommodate all requests. 

Glad to see you all again! 

                             

Until next post....

Luke