Sunday 9 February 2014

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Po'Boys - Ginger Style!



Ingredients:

1600g (3.5 lbs.) pork loin roast or pork loin steak in 2 or 3 large pieces

½ a large onion – diced

1 large clove of garlic - pressed

1 cup ketchup

1/3 cup soft packed light brown sugar

¼ cup vinegar

2 heaped Tbsp. HP Classic Woodsmoke Barbecue sauce (or similar smokey bbq)

2 Tbsp. molasses

2 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1.5 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1.5 tsp. pink salt

1 tsp. French’s yellow mustard (or similar American style yellow hotdog mustard)

½ tsp. cracked black pepper

¼ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. celery salt

7-8 shakes of Tabasco sauce or ½ tsp. of mild to medium chilli powder
A large slow cooker (crockpot)





I’ve always blagged my way through pulled pork.  I’ve never followed a recipe and have generally just thrown the meat in the slow cooker and thrown in some water, Worcestershire, barbecue sauce and maybe a few spices.  I’ve always kept it simple and it’s lovely – very popular in our house.  This time I wanted to make some pulled pork with a little more punch and zing, as mine was good, but I always felt it could do with just a tad more flavour.  I pulled out an old slow cooker barbecue beef recipe that I’ve had for years from one of my favourite Southern cookery magazines, but have never really looked at.  I used some of the same ingredients and ideas (the molasses being a major one that I kept the same), but as is usual with me and recipes, I left out a few ingredients that I didn’t have or didn’t want to use, added several more that I thought would be nice, changed the amounts on almost everything and used pork instead of beef.  By the time I was finished, I’d made so many changes that I’d made it my own and come up with a recipe to suit my family’s tastes.  This is a large amount and should make enough for a family of 3 or 4 to eat for a couple of nights and then freeze the rest for another couple of nights further down the road.  Here’s how I did it – enjoy!



Method:

Place the pork cuts whole into the slow cooker, throwing in a couple of tablespoons of water underneath to start the juices and prevent sticking.  Dice a whole small onion or half of a large onion and throw in with the meat.  In a medium bowl, mix all of the other ingredients well and then pour the mixture over the meat, making sure to spread it around so that the meat is fully covered all around.  Set the slow cooker to high and cook for anywhere from 7 to 8 hours total.  You will need to remove the meat an hour or 2 before cooking time finishes and shred it on a large plate with two forks.  If there are any thick layers of fat on the meat, they should come away easily with the forks after a few hours in the slow cooker.  Once shredded, place it back in the slow cooker and cook on low for the last hour or 2.  Serve in baguettes or split buns, soft rolls, etc. with pickles and crisps or some potato salad, fries or corn on the cob on the side!

Just in... 
 Shredded and almost ready...
Yummy!!!