Caramel Pear Butter

I was at a local Fruit stand and decided to make some sort of Fruit butter My dad Always  makes Apple Butter, normally after going to apple orchards in Eastern WA  and getting a  box of apples

I got 8 #'s of pears  (3.5# comice, about 6 and 4.5# Green Anjou)

Due to my dad's apple butter  making we have an apple peeler/corer/slicer.

DID NOT work on the pears! the spikes that hold the fruit in place Tore out the inside of the pears,

I hand peeled and cored the pears and Placed them in water to boil them down(in hind sight I'd have used a juice  of some sort)

 Once They were boiled and I could I Pureed them With my Immersion Blender Then I Put the Puree in a crock pot on High and let it cook for about 6-8 hours (the less water you start with  the faster this step goes)

sorry I don't have a complete Picture, my camera ate it

 Caramel!
2C Sugar
.5 C Water
1 Tbsp Light corn Syrup

Mix it all together and start cooking over Med High heat

I cooked it to about 380 degrees,  then I pulled it and waited a bit for the camera to work so it went a little over(it's right on the edge of being toooo Burnt tasting)
Alton Brown said to pull it when you see the first signs of smoke

then stand back and add 2 cups of heavy cream.

When it  starts to settle down stir with a wooden spoon and return to a boil for 3 mins

In the last 30 seconds I got a 9x9 metal pan to pour the caramel into so I could rapidly cool it in the freezer

after cooling I mixed it all up and  Started to mix the 2 parts together( pear and Caramel)

I did a little test and decided 2 parts of Pear and 1 part Caramel is pretty good, Maybe up the pear to up to 3 parts instead of 2

 Finished Product, A little thicker than applesauce, a bit grainy  due to the texture of the pear

 Would be perfect on toast . or ice cream   or mixed into anything that could use a little sweetness

Day two: PULLED PORK!

So i'll start with apologizing for not getting a picture of the Meat all seasoned and ready for the smoker! Ok so when I got the Sausage meat I got it in a 2 pack (15# of sausage in one day is toooo much) So I kept the smaller Pork Butt for Pulled Pork! This one is pretty Easy: Pulled pork 1 pork butt(it's good because it has a nice little fat cap that bastes the meat as it cooks) salt/Pepper Garlic Powder Cayenne Sprinkle the fat cap , the bottom, the sides, then open it (there is an opening naturally where the bone used to be) season in there too! Ok my family has a Trager smoker/Grill(it's awesome!) So to start I turned on the smoke and let the Meat smoke for a bit to get a little flavor.

While that was happening I went inside and made a little braising liquid The Liquid: 2 cups Apple cider Garlic, minced cayenne You just heat that all up and pour it in a 9x13 and bring it to the grill after about an hour of smoking if you don't smoke the meat first Just put the Seasoned pork in the pan and put it in your grill/oven(from now on if I say grill I also mean oven) once I had the Meat in the liquid I turned it up to around 350 and let it cook for a bit , About 60-90 mins Depending on the size, the meat not submerged in the liquid will kind of roast making for some Extra-tasty pieces after it's pulled. After it's been at 325-350 I turn the grill down to 250 and Let it go for another 15 mins then Cover the pan and let it go another 60-90 The Low temperature helps the connective tissue "melt" away making it easier to pull the muscle fibers apart. Similar to what makes a pot roast so tender The best way to know you're done cooking the pork, is to take a couple forks, and try to pull the meat apart if it pulls easy cover it back up , pull it out of the oven and let it rest for another 20/30 mins once it's rested , you get to have fun first pour off all the juices

(we'll get to that later) take the two forks and start to pull the muscle fibers apart

I had to transfer the pulled meat to a bowl to make room for the rest to be separated.

you can take the little bit of fat that is left and discard it or kinda just keep it in the mix. once it's all Shredded you can Just snack on it plain like my mom and I did. Or you can add your Fav BBQ sauce or whatever you like on pulled pork! I made a honey mustard sauce for Our Dinner Honey Mustard sauce: I took the liquid from the pan and Skimmed off the fat. Tasted it and took about half of the liquid out and watered it down to lower the salt level, (in hindsight I would have used stock , Any added Flavor is better than water) after adjusting the liquid, I added about a tablespoon of Mustard powder to a 1/4 cup of honey then added it to the simmering liquid.

I then Added more honey/and Yellow prepared Mustard(it looked crazy after I added the mustard!)

til I reached the right Amount of Tang and sweetness . To finish the sauce I thickened it up with a corn starch slurry, I used about 2-3 Tbsp of Corn starch and added some of the Sauce to the starch to make the slurry before adding that back to the simmering sauce. It thickens the sauce quickly and the sauce easily coats the back of a spoon and sticks to the pork. ok, almost time to eat. add some sauce to the pork, Adjust seasoning.

Put some meat on a warmed bun and Eat up .