Pulled Pork- Round 2

I have being doing alot of "round 2" attempts lately.  Sometimes I will cook a dish and it will be good, but I know it has more potential.  That's when I go back to the drawing board.  Last time I did this with Coke and BBQ sauce.  It was too sweet.  This recipe is much better.  This is something I really like about blogging, I can have a diary of what I cook and always strive to improve what I do.  Its sooo motivating.

This recipe is quite spicy which is why I loved it so much.  I literately ate it for lunch 3 days in a row!

Well enough of my insipid babble...

Ingredients

1.5kgs of Pork Shoulder

1 tspn of Cayenne Pepper (obsessed much)

1/2 Cup Ketchup

1/3 Cup Cider Vinegar

1 Medium Onion diced

1/4 Cup Tomato paste

2 Tbsp.  smoked paprika

2 Tbsp.  Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp. hot english mustard

1 1/2 Tsp. Salt

1 1/2 Tsp. Black pepper

1 large finely sliced char grilled capsicum

Whole egg mayonaise

Barkers spicy eggplant relish (I love this stuff!!!!)

Bread rolls (ciabatta recommended)

Method

In the slowcooker stir ketchup, vinegar, tomato paste, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper until combined. 

 Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.  

Add the chopped onion on the side.

Cover slow cooker with lid and cook pork mixture on the low setting for 12 hours.

With tongs, transfer the pork to a large chopping board. 

Get 2 forks and shread the pork, discard the bones and unwanted fat. 

Turn the slow cooker on high and add the shreaded pork back into the sauce in the slow cooker. 

 Make sure that all the pork is cover by the sauce so that it marinates.  Leave it on high for an hour or so.  The sauce should thicken.

Spoon mixture on top of your favorite bun and add whole egg mayo, char grilled capsicum and Barkers Spicy egplant relish.

Images by me

Pulled Pork.

Sitting here having a glass of The Rolling Cab Merlot 2009, Pork Knuckle cooking away in the oven thinking how lucky I am.  I have a good group of friends, the most amazing partner I could of ever imagined, career back on track and plans that we are working on for the next 3 years actually happening (puppy included :D).  The only thing is I am just soooooo tired.  I really need a break.  I have never been exhausted like this.  I am really lucky I have this blog to keep me relaxed and focused on the weekend.

I have been meaning to cook this one for a while.  I have about 3 different recipes saved to my favourites but decided to go with the one I found in an addition of "the critic" at work.  It intrigued me.  It has coke in the marinade. I am in this phase of experimentation at the moment.  When I cook something, I can tell if I am going to like it just based on the ingredients.  I want to try using ingredients that are different to expand my pallet.

I decided I probably wont do this recipe again, The Coke Cola was too sweet for me, It was delicious, I did eat 3 buns of pork goodness but for me I need more depth of flavour.  I am a savoury gal at heart!!!!! I will try it again with a different recipe next time.

I also tweaked the recipe as well- I have cited what I did in bold

Ingredients

1 – 1.5 kg pork shoulder

1 regular-sized bottle or carton barbecue sauce

1 litre Coca Cola (approx)

3 whole dried chillies, or 5 tbs chilli sauce

3 tsp ground cinnamon or smoked paprika (I used paprika)

1 heaped teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

6 soft bread rolls (try maybe 14)

1 small jar gherkins, drained and sliced (I hate gherkins so we replaced it with barkers Eggplant chutney)

6 slices chargrilled capsicum

Edmonds whole egg mayo (I added this)

Method

Place the pork shoulder in a large pot, preferably cast iron, though any will do. A slow cooker can also be used – just skip step three. Pour over the barbecue sauce. For a smaller pork shoulder (around 1kg), use about 3/4 of the barbecue sauce. For a larger pork shoulder, tip the entire bottle or carton in.

Pour over enough Coca Cola to cover the pork entirely.

 Give it a swirl and add a few chillies or some chilli sauce and your choice of cinnamon or smoked paprika & Cayenne pepper. 

Turn the element up high and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

Cover the pot, reduce to the lowest heat possible and cook for at least six hours. (I did mine for over 12 hours on Low)

Ladle most of the liquid from the pot and place in a bowl. Set aside.

 Drain the pork and any remaining liquid through a colander. Place the pork on a chopping board and, moving two forks in an alternating crisscross motion, finely shred the meat. 

Place the meat back in the pot over a low heat and add a few ladlefuls (or more) of the reserved liquid so that it remains juicy until you are ready to serve it. 

Slice the bread rolls in half horizontally and place a generous scoop of pulled pork on top, followed by the gherkin slices Barkers Eggplant chutney, chargrilled capsicum,  & Edmonds Whole Egg Mayo. Gobble up quick smart without cutlery.

The above recipe was from Critic http://www.critic.co.nz