Pulled Pork Barbecue - ? & ☺

Pulled Pork Barbecue

The recipe below from Tyler Florence of Food Network® includes a second recipe for coleslaw to accompany the pulled pork barbecue sandwiches. Pickle spears are also recommended to accompany it. The coleslaw recipe is quite different from my recipe and I am looking forward to trying it. I am also looking forward to trying the pork recipe itself. But in the meantime …

Janet and I had some great pork barbecue sandwiches last night using a section of a boned pork shoulder roast in which I cut slices about ¼ inch thick and trimmed almost all the fat off, (and I saved that for future sausage making, freezing it). I then cut very thin strips of raw pork from the lean meat, and I sized/cut them to about 2 inches long. I put the thin pork strips into a skillet and baked them for one hour at 250ºF turning them over after the first 30 minutes to assure even cooking. Then I baked them at 300ºF for an additional 30 minutes.

When finished the pork was tender, juicy and yummy even without seasoning, but for seasoning I mixed it with some of the dynamite Kansas City Barbecue Sauce that I had just made. I returned the mixture to the 300ºF oven for 30 minutes to lose some of the barbecue sauce liquid and thus concentrate the sauce. Finally we used long soft buns, warmed, and filled them with the pork barbecue and they were super. Technically the pork wasn’t pulled but frankly that made no difference at all, and I know that as I have had pulled pork sandwiches lots of times in the past. The method I used involved less labor.

Well, here is Tyler Florence’s recipe: (I will report back to you when I try it)

Ingredients:

Dry Rub:

Cider-Vinegar Barbecue Sauce:

Additional food items for the meal:

Directions:

Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 300ºF.

Put the pork in a roasting pan and roast it for about 6 hours. An instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the pork should register 170º F, but basically, what you want to do is to roast it until it's falling apart.

While the pork is roasting, make the barbecue sauce.

Combine the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirring, for 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat and let it sit until you're ready for it.

When the pork is done, take it out of the oven and put it on a large platter.

Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While it's resting, use a ladle to remove and discard excess melted fat, then deglaze the pan over medium heat with 3/4 cup water, scraping with a wooden spoon to pick up all of the browned bits. Reduce by about half. Pour that into the saucepan with the barbecue sauce and cook 5 minutes.

While the pork is still warm, you want to "pull" the meat: Grab 2 forks. Using 1 to steady the meat, use the other to "pull" shreds of meat off the roast. Put the shredded pork in a bowl and pour half of the sauce over. Stir it all up well so that the pork is coated with the sauce.

To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom half of each hamburger bun, and top the meat with some slaw. Serve with pickle spears and the remaining sauce on the side.

Cole Slaw:

Combine the cabbage, carrots, red onion, green onions, and chile in a large bowl.

In another bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss gently to mix. Season the coleslaw with the celery seed, hot sauce, salt, and black pepper.

Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator before serving.