---
title: Glorious One-Pot Meals and Cooking Tender Meat
date: 2014-11-11T22:58:33Z
modified: 2014-11-11T23:00:24Z
permalink: "https://elizabethyarnell.com/glorious-one-pot-meals-cooking-tender-meat/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 4240
categories:
  - Glorious One-Pot Meals
tags:
  - cooking classes denver
  - Glorious One-Pot Meal
author: Elizabeth
---

_**Reader message:** At an event you came to in Boulder I bought your book. Sometimes when I use this method (esp. with pork or beef) the meat is tough. Like it is either cooked too long or then not long enough. One recipe the Adobo Pork, for example. So I just added extra broth and then put in oven at 325 for another hour or so to see if it gets tender. What do you suggest to fix this? ~Annie W., Boulder, CO_

[![Honey and Spice Pork recipe](http://elizabethyarnell.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HoneyAndSpicePork-web.jpg)

](http://elizabethyarnell.com/effortlesseating/2010/06/glorious-one-pot-meal-recipe-honey-and-spice-pork/)Honey and Spice Pork Glorious One-Pot MealHi Annie, Thanks for writing!

From the sound of it, you could be having one of two issues:

1\) You could be using too large of a piece of meat.

Try making the recipe with thawed meat cut into cubes or chunks instead of one large piece. You might find that you prefer a saucier recipe for these meats, like the [_Honey and Spice Pork_](http://elizabethyarnell.com/effortlesseating/2010/06/glorious-one-pot-meal-recipe-honey-and-spice-pork/ "Honey and Spice Pork recipe one pot meal"), or you could make any recipe a little saucier by adding 1/4 cup of water or broth to the original recipe;

or 2) Your oven temperature is off.

If your oven temperature is off by even a little bit, or your oven is not fully pre-heated to 450 F before you put the full pot inside, the method will not work perfectly. There’s more about [oven temp and Glorious One-Pot Meals here](http://elizabethyarnell.com/effortlesseating/2013/10/is-oven-temperature-important-to-glorious-one-pot-meals/ "oven temperature and Dutch oven").

Thanks for writing and Happy cooking!

Get all your [Glorious One-Pot Meal](http://elizabethyarnell.com/books/gloriousonepotmeals/ "Glorious One-Pot Meals") questions answered and more at a [Glorious One-Pot Meals cooking class](http://elizabethyarnell.com/events/ "cooking classes")! I don’t teach as frequently as I once did, but the next class will be at [Compleat Lifestyles in Centennial, Colorado](http://www.compleatlifestyles.com/ "compleat lifestyles"), on November 13, 2014. Contact them directly for information and to register.