By My son got married. Miguel Angel Delgado-Ortiz Junior married Jennifer Marie Sullivan on November 18, 2017, in Hartford, Connecticut, and I was there and I cooked the food and I cried through the ceremony and I danced at the reception and I did all of these things simultaneously because I am Carmen Delgado-Ortiz and doing four things at once is my baseline.
The ceremony was at our church in Hartford. Father Ramirez officiated. Miguel Jr. stood at the altar in a suit that made him look like Eduardo at twenty-eight — tall, serious, good. Jenny walked down the aisle in her white silk and her father gave her away and I held Eduardo hand so hard I think I bruised his fingers but he did not complain because Eduardo does not complain, he endures, and enduring his wife grip during their son wedding is the kind of endurance he was built for.
The reception. THE RECEPTION. The food was — mi amor, the food was my life work on a buffet table. Karen side: chicken marsala (acceptable), roasted vegetables (fine), bread rolls (adequate). My side: pernil (PERFECT, twenty-two pounds of golden-skinned, garlic-saturated, falling-apart perfection), arroz con gandules (fluffy, seasoned, a hundred portions and not one grain of rice was wrong), tostones (crispy, hot, salted, stacked like a pyramid of gold), flan (inverted perfectly, caramel dripping, nine eggs of custard perfection). The guests — both sides, the Sullivans and the Delgados, Glastonbury and Hartford — ate from both buffets, and I watched Karen guests taste pernil for the first time, watched their faces change, watched the recognition that this is what pork was always supposed to taste like. Karen herself ate two helpings and said, Carmen, this is incredible. I said, Thank you, Karen. This is what I do.
David made the tres leches cake. It was magnificent — three layers, soaked in the three milks, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. Eduardo ate two pieces and cried, which I think was about the cake and also about his son and also about the fact that we made it here, to this moment, from Ponce and Bayamon through Hartford winters and hurricane seasons to our boy standing in a suit next to a woman who loves him.
We put Mami on FaceTime during the reception. She watched from Bayamon, from the house with the tarp, and she said, Miguel, you look like your grandfather. And then she said, Jenny, eat more. You are too thin. Jenny laughed. She has learned to laugh at Luz Maria, which means she is fully, completely, irrevocably one of us. My daughter-in-law. My mija. Welcome, welcome, welcome. The table just got bigger. We need more chairs. We always need more chairs. Wepa.
After Miguel Jr.’s wedding, after the pernil was demolished and Karen’s guests had their eyes opened to what pork is supposed to taste like, I started thinking about all the other ways I feed a crowd with pork and a little patience. These slow cooker orange meatballs are what I bring when I need something golden and glazed that holds up on a buffet table for hours — sweet, tangy, and gone before the dancing starts. They are not pernil, but they carry the same truth: good pork, cooked slow, with love and a little citrus, and people will follow you anywhere.
Slow Cooker Orange Pork Meatballs
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours | Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup orange marmalade
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the meatballs. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, and ground ginger. Mix until just combined — do not overwork. Roll into 1-inch meatballs and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Brown the meatballs. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake the meatballs for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly browned on the outside. They do not need to be cooked through.
- Make the orange glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange marmalade, orange juice, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha until smooth.
- Slow cook. Transfer the browned meatballs to the slow cooker. Pour the orange glaze over the top and gently stir to coat. Cover and cook on low for 2-1/2 to 3 hours or on high for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until the meatballs are cooked through and glazed.
- Thicken the sauce. During the last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in the cornstarch slurry. Leave the lid slightly ajar and let the sauce thicken.
- Serve. Transfer meatballs to a serving dish, spoon extra glaze over the top, and garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with toothpicks for a buffet or over rice for a meal.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 380 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 620mg