In my continuing quest for slow cooker meats that don’t all taste the same, I happened upon this recipe. Vegetarians, look away. This recipe has A LOT of meat!
It was very tasty. I’m not sure if I would classify it as a stew or something else, but it had a stew-like consistency.
I think this is the first time I have cooked with a ham hock.
Like so many wonderful recipes, this starts with frying up bacon.
Frying up the pork shoulder.
And the ribs.
Putting it all together in the slow cooker.
When the cooking was all done, I was still at work. I called and asked my wife to remove the ham hock, as the recipe calls for. When I returned home, I found that it had been fully absorbed into the dish.
The dish had a deep, meaty taste. It was really good.
Brazilian Feijoada
Makes: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups bean mixture and 1 orange wedge)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups dried black beans
- 4 applewood-smoked bacon slices
- 1 (1-pound) boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 3 bone-in beef short ribs, trimmed (about 2 pounds)
- 3 cups finely chopped onion (about 2 medium)
- 1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (9-ounce) smoked ham hock
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 8 orange wedges
Directions:
1. Place beans in a small saucepan; cover with cold water. Bring to a boil; cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain.
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Sprinkle pork evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add pork to drippings in skillet; saute 8 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Transfer pork to a 6-quart electric slow cooker. Sprinkle ribs evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add ribs to skillet; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in slow cooker. Add drained beans, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, onion, and next 3 ingredients (through ham hock) to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours or until beans and meat are tender.
3. Remove ribs from slow cooker; let stand 15 minutes. Remove meat from bones; shred meat with 2 forks. Discard bones. Discard ham hock. Return beef to slow cooker. Stir in vinegar and crumbled bacon. Serve with orange wedges.
Nutritional Info:
Calories: 458 Fat: 17.4g Saturated fat: 6.8g Monounsaturated fat: 6.7g Polyunsaturated fat: 1.1g Protein: 39.5g Carbohydrate: 35.8g Fiber: 11.6g Cholesterol: 96mg Iron: 6.4mg Sodium: 533mg Calcium: 102mg
Source: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brazilian-feijoada-50400000110438/
Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
That sounds great! I love slow cooker recipes, and anything that starts with “frying up bacon” has my attention.
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Holy delicious. SO much pigg!
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MEAT!! _ HAM HOCK!!!_ BACON!!! Beautiful. As an old friend said: “If it doesn’t bleed it’s a side dish.”
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Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!!
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I like the warning, but as a chef, I never understood why people make a big deal out of vegetarians and vegans and so forth. I can’t seem to draw a divisional line between one food and another. Vegetables can be amazing, if cooked properly and with creativity, and meat is equally amazing. Unless you are medically allergic to something, I consider it an act of elitist arrogance to refuse good food when it is given to you. I think these so called “Diets” are just a result of an over privileged, ungrateful elitist class. So when you have it, Bring on the meat! If you don’t than bring on the Veg or carbs, but always make it good and worth eating. Sorry for the rant. Eat, drink and be merry everyone. 🙂
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Ham hocks are magical. I use them in my split pea soup and just about any other stew/soup that is better with pork.
Jowl is also delicious, less meaty more fat bacon.
This looks awesome. In gonna have to do this.
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Funny. Very, very funny… 🙂
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… And who says you can’t serve this with a generous heaping of roasted root vegetables and maybe even a sprinkling of maple syrup! Great cold-weather recipe.
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It’s a cavalcade of meat! Back in my meat days I would have loved something like this 🙂
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This looks incredible. It might even give me a reason to try out the crockpot my mom gave me a few months ago that’s still sitting in my closet. Thanks!
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