Heresy in the Kitchen: How To Make Pulled Pork the Easy Way
It's been a while since I wrote a cooking post. I decided on a controversial one. Pulled Pork is an incredible dish. It's a staple of the Amercian South. It is usually the crowning event in competitive barbeque. If you ever have the opportunity to attend such a competition, do it!
Leave your diet at home.
Fights have broken out over secret spice rubs, types of sauce, and even which wood to use in smoking.
They might lynch me because of this post.
To me, there is only one problem with Pulled Pork. It takes too damned long to make.
Who has the time or the desire to hang around a smoker for 8 to 12 hours? Did I mention that this dish is from the American South?
It gets freeking hot down there!
Come to think of it, who even has smoking equipment? No, that little rig sold in hardware stores won't cut it. You need a lot of wood to smoke for 12 hours!
If you have both the equipment and the time go the traditional route, go ahead. It's worth it.
If you don't, this method is a reasonable facsimile of the dish. But here's the thing. It's similar, not the same.
Why I committed this Heresy
I was stalking the aisles at my local grocery store looking for something easy and quick. My wife had just invited 4 of her friends to a casual dinner.
She neglected to mention it to me.
I wasn't thrilled.
I should mention that my wife can cook. Her stuffed peppers are divine.
Still, it's MY KITCHEN!
Admit it, girls. How many of you would cook if Hubby was a trained chef from one of the world's top Culinary Schools?
Anyway...
I had a busy day yesterday and had no time to cook. I stalked the aisles. I was grumpy. Nothing inspired me until Nick, the butcher, showed me some nice pork shoulders.
It was 2:30. Our guests were expected between 7:00 and 7:30. Pulled Pork was completely out of the question.
Or was it?
I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with this idea. People have been cooking for over 10,000 years. There ain't much really new stuff in the cooking world.
My pulled pork was ready by 6:30.
The Method
The method is called, "braising." Like it's close relative, "stewing," it means cooking low and slow in a liquid. Braising uses less liquid than stewing. Braising speeds the Pulled Pork process up because liquids transfer heat much better than air does.
That's why you can stick your hand in a 400F/200C oven and suffer no ill effects. Don't try it with a pot of boiling water at half that temperature.
Remember that "slow" and "fast" are relative terms. Braising is not fast, not by a long shot. It's much faster than smoking, though.
The Meat
Pulled Pork is made with a bone-in pork shoulder. Yes, the shoulder. It's sometimes called a Boston Butt and that's where the confusion started. Here, "butt" refers to the name of the barrel they used to be packed in, way back when. It has nothing to do with a rear end.
In the UK, according to Wikipedia, it's called "pork hand and spring", or simply "pork hand." That's even more confusing.
Do pigs even have hands?
In Spanish, the cut is paleta de puerco. I guess Spaniards are the least confused with this dish. Their name is the most accurate.
Whatever you call it, remove the tough, skin-like rind. Then, cut it in two. Do not remove the bone.
You'll need about 6 to 8 pounds (2.5 to 3.5 kg)
The Rub
Pork shoulder is not the tastiest cut. Traditional pulled pork relies on a rub to flavour it. We will be cooking in a liquid, so we don't need to go nuts with the rub.
Most of the rub will end up in the liquid anyway. That's not a bad thing.
I used a mixture of white and brown sugar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, and cayenne. I didn't document how much of each. It's mostly sugars.
If you want to go nuts, there are plenty of rub recipes online.
The Cooking Liquid
I used a strong beef broth, light amber ale, a tablespoon of instant coffee, and a healthy dollop of ketchup. Don't tell my wife, but a squirted in a good dose of sriracha sauce too.
Use just about anything you like. Even plain water works, but you would be missing an opportunity to build flavour.
Toss in a few veggies if you feel like it. I added two carrots and three onions. Keep them whole or in big chunks for later retrieval.
Pulled pork is for carnivores.
If you use beer, be careful. Many darker beers become very bitter when heated. It's like coffee left on the element for too long. It ends up tasting like crap.
If in doubt, boil some for a few minutes and taste it. Don't waste a pint of Guinness here.
Apart from the dark beer thing, pretty much anything goes.
You'll need enough liquid to go half-way up the meat. Use a little more if cooking on the stove top. Use a little less if you're cooking it in the oven.
The Cooking Pot
If you have a heavy enamelled cast-iron pot, this is the time to use it. If not, any large pot with a lid will do.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil (not olive oil). Brown the meat on all sides, then add the cooking liquid.
Now, you have to make a decision.
You can either drop the heat to a simmer or transfer the whole shebang to a 350F oven. Some stovetops have trouble with a low simmer. If that describes your stovetop, use the oven.
The liquid should bubble, but only a little. You don't want a rolling boil.
In two-and-a-half to three hours
It's nearly impossible to overcook a braise. If you must, cook longer rather than shorter. The easiest way to check for doneness is to just grab the bone with tongs and pull. It should come away with little or no effort.
Transfer the meat to a big mixing bowl, a big plastic container, or another big pot. Be careful, it will be very delicate. You will need to fish some chunks out of the liquid.
Get rid of the bones.
Use two forks to shred it as finely as you can. Stab the forks in, and pull apart. Get it? Pulled Pork!
You can either discard the cooking liquid or use half of it as a base for a barbeque sauce. I discarded it. I was pressed for time.
Now that you have a bunch of shredded pork, add a liberal amount of barbeque sauce. If you want to make your own, go for it. I didn't bother...no time. Either way, don't be shy with the sauce.
I used the bottled stuff (shameful, I know, more heresy. I am surely going to Culinary Hell.). Use a good one. I used the whole bottle. Nobody noticed it wasn't homemade.
The longest part of making this was going to the store to buy the meat. Actual prep time was about ten minutes.
Is it "just as good as the real stuff?" Oh, hell no! Nothing is as good as Pulled Pork from a Master.
Still, I got no complaints. I even had several requests for seconds.
I had hoped for leftovers for my lunch today. Leftover Pulled Pork is one of the few leftovers that I will eat.
No such luck.
It amazed me how much Pulled Pork five little ladies could pack away.
I guess it was good enough.
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Comments
Wayne Yoshida
6 years ago #5
Yup Randall Burns - that's correct! I am drying some macadamia nut tree branches as we speak. Not sure what kind of smoke that will be. Maybe something similar to mesquite, I reckon.
Randall Burns
6 years ago #4
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #3
LOL, we aren't exactly teetotalers up here in Canada. When I make my own BBQ sauce it's more Jack Daniels than anything else. Much as i like shortcuts, I haven't slunk down to buying ready-made Pulled Pork or Ribs. They are just too easy to make.
Wayne Yoshida
7 years ago #2
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #1
Yes, Robert, two actually. Both are equally heretical. If you have a Middle Eastern market nearby, buy kafta meat. It's perfectly mixed and seasoned for incredible burgers. Adonis over here sells it in 1 kg bags. The other option is to use 2/3 lean beef and 1/3 pork (anyone who is religiously averse to pork can use straight beef). Squish them by hand until well mixed. Then add the secret ingredient.... Wait for it... Wait... Make sure you're sitting down, I don't want you to get hurt.... Here it comes... Jarred salsa. Yes, the stuff you eat with tortilla chips. You can use mild, medium or spicy, as you like. Just pour some in, squish it around, pour more until you have the consistency you like. Burger forming tip: When forming burgers, the edges tend to get very thin. They burn and break. Use a butter knife to push the edges back towards the middle to avoid that thin edge. When you have them the way you want, lightly press the back of a tablespoon in the middle to form a depression. It will pop out in cooking and keep your burger fairly flat. Never, ever squish them with a spatula! Maybe you can help with future cooking posts. I never know how complex to make them, so I stick with the easy-peasy ones. Thoughts? One person asked how to make Wellington (beef or salmon) I thought that would be too much. Many chefs would order puff pastry from me, even though puff is not tough to do at all.