pulled pork

So.. remember the barbecue sauce that I made awhile back? Well now I'm going to show you one way to use it. Pulled pork sandwiches.

I love pulled pork. Barbecue to me IS pork. I think beef and chicken can be barbecued. I just don't think it IS barbecue. Down south when you get barbecue pork at a great barbecue joint its from the whole hog. They slow roast it snout to tail until its super tender. But at home, I don't really have the means to get my hands on a whole hog, nor do I have a way to cook something that large. I suggest using boneless pork shoulder roast, its the perfect ratio of meat to fat. You can always make shredded pork in the crock pot, but if you have a few hours to spare I think oven roasting is the way to go. So here is how I do it:

Pulled Pork
Makes about 12 cups

2 boneless pork shoulder roasts (approx. 5 lbs each), cut into 2-3 inch chunks
garlic powder
salt and pepper
chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 450. Put your oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Put all of the pork in a large roasting pan. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss well, massaging the meat. Transfer half of the pork to a rimmed baking sheet, and place both the baking sheet and roasting pan in the oven. Roast 30 minutes until the top is brown, turn the pork over to brown the other side, and roast another 15 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and lower the heat to 325.

Transfer the pork from the baking sheet to the roasting pan. Don't forget to add the pan juices from the baking sheet to the roasting pan! Add the stock and tightly cover the pan with foil. Continue roasting the pork for another 1 hour and 45 minutes. Let the pork cool for about 10 minutes and then shred with 2 forks. Put on a bun and top with your favorite sauce!

By starting at a high temperature you get a great caramelization on the outside of the meat before you slow roast it. It just deepens the pork flavor. If you were to make pork in the crock pot you would get the same tenderness, but not the browning on the meat. The reason you split the meat up onto two pans is so that the pork can brown evenly. If the pork chunks are too close to each other they will steam and turn grey instead of  brown.

Traditionally in South Carolina pulled pork sandwiches have mustard barbecue sauce and coleslaw on top of them. I myself am not a big coleslaw fan, but you could easily whip up a quick slaw to go with these sandwiches. This pork is not only great for sandwiches, but also for burritos, nachos, tacos (I love all Mexican food), quick soups, salads, just about anything.