British BBQ Society Forums

DON'T SHOOT!

Okay, on Saturday I intended to do some pulled pork on the Weber and have a nice autumnal barbecue. Unfortunately my son Theo (3) was under the weather and we decided to eat inside. Him not being too well scuppered any chance of me giving the meat the near-constant attention required, so i did a quick seartch on t'internet.

I found this:

http://www.itsfordinner.com/recipe/pulled-pork-oven-bbq

My pork was only about 1.5kg (3lb). For the rub I used:

- 1 tablespoon paprika (half hot, half sweet)
- 1 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Coleman's mustard powder

For the liquid I used pork stock. I didn't have any liquid smoke, so I relied on the smoked paprika. I cooked it for about 5 hours, which just took it up to 93C.

After this I took the pork out to rest for 30 minutes before pulling. After the half hour I heated the juice up in the casserole and poured it over the pulled pork.

The results:

The pork meat was (for me) excellent in flavour and texture, pulling very easily from edge to centre.

There was no bark.

The flavour was great, but a little too 'spicy'. Not too hot for me, but not to everyone's liking.

The great thing was that I ended up with delicious pulled pork sandwhiches with only a tiny portion of the fuss. Indeed, after putting the pork on I went out and did the shopping.

Next time I'm going to use just sweet paprika and no mustard powder, apple juice in the ramekin and a couple of drops of liquid smoke.

Does anyone have any tips on getting a bark - or is it even possible with this method? Frankly, it doesn't bother me too much. Like crackling for Sunday dinner, bark is nice, but to me it's almost a nice by-product rather than what I like about the pork itself. But it'd still be nice to have.

I'm not for a second suggesting anyone abandons their smoker! I just think it's nice to know you can have delicious and tender pulled pork without the agro.

Steve W

I think you need to add sugar to your rub to get bark. IMHO, nothing wrong with cooking it in the oven either

As I've posted before, I've done PP in a roasting bag in the oven. Granted there is no "crust" but what you do get is loads of meat juices which come in handy when freezing "proper" PP from the smoker. Yes there are such things as leftovers when there are only two of you

SWMBO stole one of my bone in butts and put it in the crock-pot (grounds for divorce on both counts!) with some veggies and other strange stuff (don't know any of the details) and let the cooker do it's stuff for a lot of hours (about 10 or more I think) End result was a very tender and juicy piece of pork (and I must confess, somewhat tasty) I love my grilled and smoked goodies and would cook every day if time allowed, so, sometimes I have to remember that perhaps there is another way (smoked is still better)

Try a whole chicken or a leg of lamb in the slow cooker, makes delicious sarnies

Keith, a while after I began smoking meats, I decided to try pulled pork in the oven, to see whether I was wasting my time and money doing these mammoth cook sessions in the freezing cold.

My findings were broadly similar to yours - no bark, and the lack of smokiness made the spice rub too pronounced. I decided not to bother again!

However, I have since tried the following with a small piece of shoulder. I chopped it into rough steaks, and braised it with scrumpy cider, some chopped onions and chopped apples. Wowzer! It was very tasty. Made the most of the texture, whilst imparting a much more preferable flavour than the misplaced spice rub.

Horses for courses I guess. The rub works so well in combo with smoke, but personally I think the pork shoulder cut needs something else to make it palatable for oven cooking. If you find yourself in a pinch again, give the braised shoulder steaks in cider a go - leave the meat poking out of the liquid a little, and go for a 1-2-1 method (adjust timings as per the weight), allowing a crust to form but the 2 hours of covered cooking ensure moist meat.

Braised shoulder steaks came first, I've been cooking for around 40 or so years and only low-n-slowing on a bbq(I'd say properly but I know better ) for the last couple. Yes I've tried the braised pork lots of times, a dash of cider vinegar "brightens" the sauce (note flagrant use of chefy terms) and a good slow cooker has, for the last 20 or so years, been a staple in our house. A slow cooker is not just for braising, a whole leg of lamb, or shoulder of pork or lamb all cook well, a whole chicken left to meld nicely gives fantastically moist breast meat for sarnies, but thanks for reminding me of oven braising and the "crust" that gives you. I think we all need a reminder of what we can do every now and again

Yes, a very good point about the cider vinegar - I used that too myself as a finishing touch (and a small dash of Henderson's Relish), it really does brighten the sauce!

I must try chicken in my slow cooker - a crock in the crock pot! Do you just add a little liquid in the bottom rather than braising?

Depending on what your crock-pot allows don't add liquid. I've a silicon trivet which raises the chicken out of the liquid so it's an oven-like dry heat and the lid keeps the moisture in. If your lid isn't a particularly good fit then use foil under it or make a flour and water paste to seal it. You can still get a good seal even with the wire from a probe going into the pot.

Ah, so a seal is required - to cook it like a pressure cooker? If I didn't have leftover smoked chicken in the fridge to eat up today I would be trying this now!