Recipe: Pulled Pork

The end result - pulled pork on pane

Last week my Mum sent me a newspaper clipping of a recipe for pulled pork, and on Friday night I won a $20 meat voucher at the Servies raffle, so I decided it had to be done.

Here’s the recipe from Maggie Cooper’s Weekend Cook column in the Northern Star (with my modifications added):

Ingredients:

Dry Rub (enough for a few roasts, so make sure you have an airtight container to keep it in):

  • 1/2 cup smoky paprika (I actually used sweet hungarian style paprika as that’s what I found in the cupboard)
  • 1/4 cup garlic powder
  • 1/4 cup dried chilli powder (use less if you don’t like it so spicy, or more if you like it hot)
  • 3 tablespoons salt (I used pink himalayan rock salt, but I’m sure any salt would do)
  • 2 tablespoons onion powder (I used a combination of onion powder and onion flakes as I didn’t have enough powder)
  • 3 tablespoons ground black pepper (I used freshly ground peppercorn medley and nearly gave myself RSI)
  • 2 tablespoons celery seeds
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves (After realising I had run out of oregano, I substituted a combination of dried basil and dried tarragon leaves)
  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin seeds (again, I ran out of ground cumin so mixed some whole cumins seeds in as well)
  • 2 teaspoons dried mustard
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds (I left this out all together)

Pulled Pork:

Brine:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (I ran out of brown sugar and used some brown & some raw sugar)
  • 1/2 cup of cooking salt (I used some table salt, some sea salt and some pink himalayan salt)

Method:

  • Combine all the ingredients for the dry rub.

the dry rub

  • Make the brine by combining the sugar, salt and two tablespoons of the dry rub in a non-metal container just big enough to hold the pork.
  • Add two cups of cold water and stir until sugar and salt have dissolved (I actually added the sugar & salt first and dissolved it in a little hot water, then adding cold water to chill the mix and stirring in the dry rub at the end).
  • Place pork in container and add enough extra water to cover the meat.

pork in brine

  • Cover and refrigerate overnight (I made the brine in the morning and refrigerated it all day and then cooked  the pork overnight).

pork in brine in fridge

  • Preheat the oven to 100°C. (120°C was as low as my oven would go, but that seemed to be low enough… low and slow is the go…).
  • Remove the pork from the brine and pat it dry with paper towels.

brined pork patted dry

  • Rub the meat generously with the dry rub mix until it is completely covered.

dry rubbed pork

  • Place in a baking dish or cast-iron pot and cover.

pork in a baking dish

  • Cook at 100°C (120°C) for 10-12 hours (11 hours 45 minutes) without disturbing.{mum’s note: Sounds interesting but lot of time X}

cooked pork (yes, I had to try it before i took the photo)

To serve:

  • Pull meat apart with tongs or two forks. (Here’s a video that show how to “Pull” the pork with forks.)

pulling pork with forks

  • (I strained the juices, as suggested in the video above, and added them back into the pulled pork to retain some moisture.)

juicy pulled pork

  • Serve with barbecue sauce or apple sauce on a crusty bread roll accompanied by some cooking juices or with roast vegetables.

pulled pork with barbecue sauce on a crusty bread roll (yum!)

 It was absolutely delicious… melt in the mouth and so flavourful… I’ve been eating it for a couple of days now… next I have to find a good BBQ sauce recipe, as the stuff in the bottle just doesn’t really seem to do it justice… any suggestions?

2 thoughts on “Recipe: Pulled Pork

  1. Rachel

    I’ve done a nice pulled pork a couple of times based on the recipe from Porteńo (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/australia-food-blog/2013/nov/14/porteno-milk-bun-cheeseburger-recipe).
    Got a couple of boned shoulders on special and did it in the crockpot. Once cooked I removed the fat/skin and skimmed some of the extra off (I did dice the skin as suggested at put it back in which was fab).
    Some of the ingredients required a bit of hunting but are cheap enough if you can find them (good South American/Spanish grocer in Wooloongabba. I like extra molasses and lime juice. Have done the buns too but to be honest I prefer with soft white rolls from the baker (and shop bought coleslaw!). Great for feeding lots of people and so freakin’ easy.

    Insanely yum!

  2. Ross Bennetts Post author

    wow… that sounds delicious… I like the idea of chopping up the skin and adding it back in… might have trouble finding chipotle chillies in adobo sauce and piquillo peppers in Armidale… to the interwebs!

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