Shredding Meat Doesn't Have To Be Hard

It can be argued that waking up to a pot of freshly brewed coffee and coming home to a dinner already done are two of life's greatest pleasures. After all, the day is already busy, so not having to chop, skin, peel, and bake a meal at 6 p.m. is truly a treat.

This is why slow cooking is such a delight. It seems ironic though, that this cooking method which consists of putting something in the oven or crock pot and mostly ignoring it for several hours, might culminate into one of the more labor-intensive practices of the kitchen. Once that slow-roasted pork shoulder or chuck roast has finished cooking there should be nothing left to do but pull it all apart. Sadly, this often isn't as satisfyingly simple as it sounds.

In theory, the best part of pulled pork or a slow-roasted pot roast is watching the meat fall apart at the slightest suggestion of force. However, if you haven't given your meat enough time to cook, then you might find yourself struggling. In a perfect world, we could always let the meat cook for another hour, but sometimes that isn't in the cards. Don't worry, you're not alone, or else there wouldn't be much of a market for the meat-shredding claws that make you look like Wolverine.

Luckily, there's a way to shred any kind of meat you'd like without getting your hands, and it uses an appliance you likely already own.

If you're someone who likes to host big dinners or meal prep for the week, then you know how tedious it can be to shred a few pounds of meat. If you own a stand mixer though, you'll never have to bother with shredding by hand again.

All you need to do is transfer your cooked meat into the bowl of your stand mixer, attach the flat paddle attachment, and let it do all the work. Set the mixer to "stir" and it should slowly but surely tear through all of your meat until it's reached the desired consistency.

This can work with a hand mixer as well and makes preparing slow-cooked roasts in a crock pot a breeze. Once the meat is cooked, leave it in the cooking vessel, shred it with the electric mixer, and you're ready to serve.

This process works for pork, turkey, beef, and chicken. The next time you have to shred pounds of chicken for a buffalo chicken dip, or just need to get dinner on the table in a hurry, remember to use an electric mixer.

Plenty of home cooks will tell you that their stand mixer is an invaluable kitchen tool, but they likely haven't even scratched the surface of what they can do. This versatile appliance can shred meat and whip up batters for cakes, bread, and cookies in a flash, but there's even more it can accomplish.

One way to get the most out of your stand mixer is to use it to make homemade ice cream. It just takes a little dry ice, but that easily makes up for the lack of specialized equipment. Once you find dry ice online or in specialty grocery stores, you'll be able to whip up any kind of ice cream you can dream of.

Your stand mixer doesn't have to be limited to food either. You and your tween can make slime with your stand mixer, as this YouTube video details. And for even more fun with the kids, here's a Kitchenaid-approved recipe for homemade playdough.