Superbowl recipe – Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Posted on | January 12, 2010 | No Comments
Recipes are always good to share, and I’ve decided to start of with one of the easier ones. This recipe honestly has the best effort:results ratio around.
Born and raised around Toronto, Ontario, I haven’t had the good fortune to grow up around “real” down south BBQ. That hasn’t stopped me from growing an appreciation of meat cooked “low and slow”. I’ve purchased a number of cooking instruments over the years to aid in my education of BBQ, but for this recipe I move away from the traditional and towards the practical.
Slow cookers or Crock-Pots (a brand name) are fantastic general use kitchen appliances. You can easily cook a chili, beef stew or hearty soup in one, and they all turn out wonderfully.
Traditional pulled pork sandwiches call for slowly smoking a pork shoulder over low heat using any variety of wood chips/chunks to create a nice smoke flavour to the meat. Although some of that flavour will be missing from this recipe, you’ll find that the tenderness and sweetness of the finished product will not leave you wanting.
Pork shoulder
Pulled pork uses a pork shoulder (also known as Boston Butt, pork shoulder butt) because of the fat content within the meat. This ensures that the meat stays juicy over the long cooking period. You’re okay to go with either bone-in or bone-out, depending on what your butcher/grocer has on hand. This is usually an inexpensive cut of meat, and you’ll find you can feed a small army with a 5lb cut.
Ingredients:
- Pork shoulder/Boston butt (5lbs)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup chili powder
- 1/4 cup garlic powder
- 1/4 cup mustard powder
- salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
- your favorite barbecue sauce
Putting it together:
Mix together the brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, and generous amounts of salt and FRESH GROUND black pepper. Now get your hands dirty you pansy and rub the mixture into the meat, ensuring that you’re getting into the crevices all over. You can do this with the meat inside of the slow cooker, just please make sure you haven’t turned it on already.
With the meat properly rubbed and the fat slab facing upwards, splash a bunch of Worcestershire sauce all over, having a small amount pool at the bottom (probably use about 1/3 cup).
After thoroughly washing your hands, turn the slow cooker on. You’ll need to cook this for 4 hours on high, or 8-10 hours on low. If you have the time, use the low method, you’ll have better results.
Once the cooking is finished, you’ll notice that the slab of fat, as well as the bone if you had it, slide extremely easily off. You know it’s done then. Using gloves, gather all meat into a big bowl and shred away. You can use two forks if you want, but I’ve always found it easier this way. Pour in your desired amount of barbecue sauce, I’m partial to Diana’s Gourmet Rib and Chicken sauce for this recipe.
Please make sure you’re using FRESH BUNS for this meal, I use a nice soft dinner roll or something.
To top your sandwich, I usually sauté (a fancy word for cooking things slowly in butter or oil) some sliced onions, green peppers and hot peppers, depending on who I’m serving.
As you can see, all this recipe requires is a little thinking ahead, as time is a factor. It’s super easy to accomplish, and your guests will keep coming back for more!
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