Pulled Pork. It’s so on trend right now. London is in love with the flavours of the Deep South. We are seeing pulled pork, buttermilk fried chicken, hush puppies and all that on lots of menus.
From street food stalls to high end eateries, we have embraced these dishes and served them up with our own twist. I have collected so many Pulled Pork recipes and have not had a chance to try them all. Some of these are quite intriguing like the one that uses a can of coke, ketchup and some chopped onions in a slow cooker. I will have to test that one out soon.
Here is a very easy Pulled Pork recipe that I cooked recently for the Waitrose BBQ Off party. It’s one that Heston did for his Ultimate BBQ series for Waitrose. It doesn’t take that long, only 1 1/2 hours on the stove and is really good. This recipe yields quite a lot of BBQ sauce too and I used that leftover sauce to make some BBQ Pork Ribs too. I just added the ribs to the leftover sauce in the pan, braised them for about an hour and grilled them for the nice charred effect after. I will definitely make this one over and over again.
For this I used my new cast iron Chasseur pot from Viking which has a 5.2 litre capacity, ample for the amount of pork in my recipe. These pots are really heavy and solid and has a matt black finish. The heavy cast iron ensure even heat distribution and is great for this slow cooking recipe. After cookign it it was very easy to clean too (it’s also dishwasher safe). Their cookshop is on sale right now and you can get these cast irons posts at a really great bargain price. Top tip: In the sale, you can get a Chasseur cast iron pot for about 1/3 of the price of a Le Creuset equivalent.
Heston’s Slow Cooked Pulled Pork
Ingredients
For the braising liquid
- 1 x ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 x ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 x ½ tsp mustard powder
- 1 x ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 shallot peeled and finely sliced
- 1 clove garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- 500 g pack Heston from Waitrose Chicken Stock
- 325 g Cooks’ Ingredients Soffritto Passata
- 250 g tomato ketchup
- 175 ml cider vinegar
- 175 g dark muscovado sugar
- 10 ml Worcestershire sauce
- 25 g golden syrup
- 1 tsp tamarind paste
For the pulled pork
- Pack of 4 essential Waitrose British Pork Shoulder Steaks or an equivalent weight Pork Shoulder from a butchers
- Spice mix reserved from making the braising liquid
- Heber Chicory Wood Chips for smoking optional
- Braising liquid
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 burger buns or wraps
Instructions
For the braising liquid
- Combine the ground ginger, paprika, mustard powder and salt in a bowl. Mix well.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. When hot, add the shallots and sweat until very soft and caramelised for approximately 8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sweat for 1 minute.
- Add half the spice mix – reserving the other half for a rub – and the rest of the ingredients to the pan and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes then blitz with a hand-held blender until smooth.
- Pass the liquid through a fine meshed sieve and set aside.
For the pulled pork
- Season both sides of the steaks with the remaining spice mix. Sear in a hot pan (or place on a hot barbecue – see smoking tip, below) to colour both sides for approximately 1 minute on each.
- Remove the steaks from the heat. Place the braising liquid in a large pan, add the seared steaks and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat until the liquid barely simmers. Allow to cook for 90 minutes.
- After the time has elapsed, allow the meat to cool in the sauce completely. Remove the steaks and place on a chopping board. Use 2 forks, as shown, to pull the meat apart until it is finely shredded. Place the shredded meat back into the barbecue sauce.
- When ready to serve, warm the meat in the barbecue sauce by placing the pan over medium heat. Check the seasoning and adjust with salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. Warm the burger buns by placing them cut-side up in a warm oven or on a warm barbecue. Place some of the meat on the bottom half of the bun, add some slaw and place the other half of the bun on top.
Notes
To intensify the smoky flavour of the meat, place wood chips in a square of tin foil, folding it round the chips to make a closed parcel. Using a sharp knife, poke holes in the parcel. When the barbecue has cooled down slightly, put the parcel on to the coals. Place the steaks on the grill and cover with the barbecue lid, allow to stand for 10 minutes, flipping after 5 minutes.
You can find more Heston Ultimate Barbecue recipes here.
The Chasseur pot was a review item from Viking Direct.
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