Pulled Pork

DrygastDrygast, 2021-02-17

Simple and tasty pulled pork.

 

  • Servings6 Portions

 

  • Cook Time515 min

Simple and tasty pulled pork. Pulled pork is a barbecue dish that comes from the USA, where it is mainly common in the southern parts of the country. It is often cooked with pork butt on low heat for a long time. Usually it is very smoky influences and the result is very tender and tasty.

This variant is partly made in a slow cooker to finish in a regular oven, but can of course be run completely in the oven as well. Using only the slow cooker is easy as you can only forget everything for a few hours, but you miss out on the slightly burnt pieces that cooking in the oven gives. Therefore, I have chosen to first cook everything in the slow cooker and when everything is done there, I move the meat to a regular oven on high heat for a few minutes to finish and give the meat just the good and slightly burnt surface.

I was a little against pulled pork when it became popular a few years ago (about 2010 in Sweden) and did not really see the fascination with it. But when I tried this recipe and tasted the result, I could not help but understand how good it can be. I also try to make this as simple as possible by using slow cooker (so everything takes care of itself for a few hours) and cheating a bit with chipotle paste which replaces many other ingredients I normally want in a pulled pork. If you are in a hurry, it is also possible to cook the meat in a pressure cooker instead. This little chipotle cheat and the recipe in general comes from a friend (thank you Fredrik!) who served this a few years ago and which in turn led me to start appreciating this dish more.

I have seen a few different choices of cuts of meat for a pulled pork, but I think pork butt is clearly the best. Not only is pork butt relatively inexpensive but it also contains a lot of fat and becomes tender and juicy even when heated slowly. Just grind the meat a little coarsely (remove with most of the hard fat) and then it is ready to be put in a pot / slow cooker. When the meat is done, it easily falls apart and with the help of a pair of forks, you tear the larger pieces apart and make sure that the meat is mixed with the liquid that is left in the pot. After this, the meat is ready to be served in hamburger bread, pita bread or tortilla. I also think it goes well with coleslaw and you do not even need any bread in that case.

Ingredients

Pulled Pork

Nutrition Facts*

 TotalServing100 g
Energy2298.34 kcal383.06 kcal178 kcal
Carbohydrates83.28 g13.88 g6.45 g
Fat140.48 g23.41 g10.88 g
Protein181.16 g30.19 g14.03 g
Sugar64.3 g10.72 g4.98 g
Salt20.79 g3.46 g1.61 g

* The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using the ingredients available in the database. Info will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Directions

Pulled Pork
  1. Add all ingredients in a slowcooker. Set it to low for 8 hours.
  2. Preheat oven to 225C. Transfer the meat into an oven safe container and pour all the liquid from the slowcooker. Leave it for 20 minutes to get some color and char slightly. If it goes to far, just turn the meat as needed.
  3. Take it out of the oven and allow to cool down for a few minutes. Using two forks - shred the meat.
  4. Serve with hamburger bread, salad, red onion, corn and sour cream / creme fraiche. A fresh coleslaw on the side is delicious.

Serve with hamburger buns, salad, red onions, corn and sourcream/creme fraiche. A good coleslaw on the side works really well.