I said a little while ago that I was going to be trying this summer to create better home-made versions of some restaurant or take-out favorites. Nicole asked for the McRib™.
Because I think the real McRib™ is a little gross (but addicting) I of course had to go for a better version. Turns out it wasn’t that hard.
Ingredients
3 lb pork loin
3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
Directions
I started by looking up a bunch of copycat recipes. Some of them called for actual rib meat, others for pork shoulder, some weren’t real specific. One thing they all agreed on was that the authentic McRib™ is a ground pork product: a sausage patty. You didn’t think that shape was natural, did you?
Because I believe in making things harder for myself, I first tried a few methods that didn’t start with ground pork. I tried some pork loin and some shoulder, cooked low and slow like I’d do pulled pork. The shoulder came apart, like you’d expect, and the loin just dried out. Fail x2.
Okay, so ground pork it is. But I was not going to load it up with sugar, like most of the copycats called for. If you’ve got to have it sweet, do it with the sauce. As for the cut, I still had plenty of pork loin left, figured I’d start with that.
Cut the loin up into small enough pieces to put through the meat grinder, with the small plate.
You don’t have a meat grinder? Your friendly neighborhood butcher would be happy to do it for you.
Add the Cajun seasoning
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Fold the paper over and roll the meat out as thin as you can without squeezing out the sides.
I actually could have gone thinner than that.
Using a pizza cutter, cut the meat into roughly 2-inch squares.
Heat some bacon fat in a heavy-bottomed skillet and fry the sausages on medium-low heat until browned and there is no pink in the middle.
The thinner they are, the quicker they’ll be done. (PS: Throw some onions in there before you’re done.)
The original version, they dip in sauce and serve with raw onion and pickles. I prefer a bit less sauce, grilled onions, and home-made buns.
And that’s it.
Leave a comment below if you try it, let me know how it came out.
