Tomorrow is the annual member picnic for the Cherry Creek Chorale, with about 75 people attending. I went to Costco this morning to pick up the food for the items I’m making, and I had the same experience that I’ve had many times before: going ahead and getting started on the preparations gave me a shot of adrenaline. I’d been going around in a state of low-level anxiety about this event, but now that the fridge is loaded up with the food and I have a plan for tomorrow I’m looking forward to it.
Another reason I’m more confident about the whole thing is that I gave myself permission to cut out a couple of items. This elimination almost always happens anyway, but usually at the last minute as it dawns on me that I just can’t get everything done. Up until that moment of realization I’ve been stressing over the long to-do list that’s still looming, and the relief doesn’t make up for the anxiety. So, for once, I got rid of the frills ahead of time. Specifically, I decided that I wasn’t going to make homemade rolls for the pulled-pork and/or shredded chicken sandwiches. Instead, I placed an order at Costco for 72 dinner rolls, which my husband will pick up tomorrow afternoon. And I decided just to make my specialty pasta salad with a vegetarian and non-vegetarian version and forget about including the carrot and chickpea salad with tahini dressing and pistachios I had planned. The latter is an awesome salad, and it’s vegan, but we’re going to have a boatload of food since people have signed up to bring various items. (The original recipe is over at Smitten Kitchen, but I’ve decided that roasting the chickpeas is not necessary and is indeed counterproductive.) I’ll make it for a smaller gathering soon. But for tomorrow it’s just not needed.
What am I making? First, homemade pulled pork. I have two (yes, two) 17-pound pork shoulders sitting in the fridge as I type this, and tomorrow morning I’ll get them both into my two ovens, coated with chili powder, salt, smoked paprika, and pepper, by 8:00, where they will roast slowly for seven hours. I’ll start them out at 3000 and then check on them after three hours, perhaps turning the temp down to 2750 at that point. (Jim is going to cut them in half in the morning so they’ll cook a little faster, and I’ll use both ovens in my wonderful stove to cook them. I’ll borrow my mother-in-law’s roasting pan to go with mine.) At 3:00 I’ll drain off the liquid, defat it with my gravy separator, and boil it down. I’ll shred the meat and mix it in with the liquid, then transfer the whole shebang to disposable foil pans that fit into my chafing dishes. I’ll include botted barbecue sauce on the side, but it probably won’t be necessary. “But wait a minute!” you may say. “Doesn’t Costco sell pulled pork all ready to use? Why aren’t you availing yourself of that great product?” And yes, the great Costco does indeed have this product, and I’ve used it before with great success. But you know what? I’ve decided that using the pre-cooked product isn’t any easier than roasting your own, since you have to go through the meat, pull out globs of fat and tough skin, and shred pieces that are too big. Plus you don’t get the wonderful meat juices that you do when you cook your own.
However, I am using the wonderful Costco deli chicken meat for the shredded chicken, and I’ll just cut/shred it, being sure to get out any tendons or skin (a much easier process than it is with the pork), put it into a couple of the chafing dish pans, drizzle it with bottled barbecue sauce, cover the pans with foil, and heat it up in the oven. So that will be very easy. I’m using some ideas for my pasta salad from my own long-time recipe using cheese tortellini instead of plain pasta, plus facets of Pinch of Yum and America’s Test Kitchen. Plus some items I want to use up, including some poblano peppers and some pickled banana peppers. So it will end up being one of those dishes that can never be replicated. I’ll post the recipe next week and tell you how it came out.
Appetizers, other salads, and all the desserts are being brought by members. Ain’t it great? And we’re having it at someone else’s house, so they’re doing all the setup and taking care of the drinks. I’m actually going to enjoy the party! Come back next week to hear how it all went down.