2010 Cooking Club Week 48: Pulled Pork

Satriale

feylya wrote: »

Just put my dry rub covered pork into the fridge. I'll be popping it into the slow cooker in the morning, and having pulled pork for Paddy's Day!

aw damn, i dont usually do envy, but that just did it...

dipdip

feylya wrote: »

Just put my dry rub covered pork into the fridge. I'll be popping it into the slow cooker in the morning, and having pulled pork for Paddy's Day!

SO JEALOUS

feylya

It is complete. Need to pick up buns, coleslaw and pickles tomorrow. The meat was just falling apart as I took it from the pot. The sampler I had was vinegary but delicious.

shinikins

Pulled pork for dinner this evening, I'm not sure himself will allow much to be left over for dinner tomorrow though!

Satriale

Came across this Amazons Addon and remembered there was people on this thread searching for it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stubbs-Hickory-Liquid-Smoke-148ml/dp/B0011BPCVO/ref=pd_sim_grocery_10?ie=UTF8&refRID=09PAJJTMNNCR64FMX5G1

also this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stubbs-Mesquite-Liquid-Smoke-148ml/dp/B000R411OI/ref=pd_bxgy_grocery_text_y

Kenjataimu

Got a 1.8kg leg earlier Today, rub is on & wrapped in the fridge.

Gonna leave it there until Saturday Morning... Can't wait.

Northern lassie

Hi there, delighted thati've found this thread. Ok so have doing this dish over the weekend. It's now cooked but don't want to eat it until later. What's the best thing to do? Should I pull it and sauce and put back in slow cooker or just leave it in slow cooker until later, turn it off and then turn back on when ready to sauce. Help!

yankinlk

Great thread - someday i might even follow the recipe - but to all that say you CANT pull pork loin - leave it out.
Its cheap, easy to get, cooks faster, and pulls very easily. Might not be as moist (or as fatty) as traditional - but don't tell me it don't taste good in a nice brioche bun. And IMHO the amount of times i had to eat my inlaws awful dried out stuffed pork loin... when i showed them what could be done in the same amount of time with the same cut of meat... well lets just say the hungry boys make the choice on the preffered way to cook loin a no-brainer in my house.

herisson

I had this today. It was absolutely gorgeous!

I cant believe its taken me this long to make, but 100% id be making it again!

Sparks

Northern lassie wrote: »

It's now cooked but don't want to eat it until later. What's the best thing to do? Should I pull it and sauce and put back in slow cooker or just leave it in slow cooker until later, turn it off and then turn back on when ready to sauce. Help!

Depends on how long until you'll be eating it. I always pull it once it's done regardless of how long it'll be; if it's only going to be an hour or two, I sauce it there and put the slow cooker on the "keep warm" setting and stir it every half-hour to keep an eye on the sauce and make sure it's not drying out. More than that, I'll sauce it, put it in tupperware and pop it in the fridge and nuke it to reheat when ready.

Thing is, you can leave it cook for so long that I almost never have to worry about this.

yankinlk wrote: »

Great thread - someday i might even follow the recipe - but to all that say you CANT pull pork loin - leave it out.
Its cheap, easy to get, cooks faster, and pulls very easily.

Never had that experience. Not saying it can't be done - if you're good enough you can pull anything, phnarr, phnarr - but (a) it's not as easy as with a cut that has more connective tissue (it's not the fat that makes this taste good, it's the collagen), (b) it's not going to be as tastey as the cut that has more connective tissue, (c) pound for pound, it'll be more expensive than the cut that has more connective tissue, and (d), it'll be a horrible waste of a good pork tenderloin.

Slice the tenderloin in half along its length (but not all the way through), line the inside with diced dried apple (you can get the dried apple ring snacks from healthfood stores and use those) and fold it back together, wrap in prosciutto, then in puff pastry and cook at 200C until the puff pastry is golden brown and perfect.

That's how you cook pork tenderloin, and it's a damn sight better than the pulled pork most people will make from it.

the amount of times i had to eat my inlaws awful dried out stuffed pork loin...

It's an oldschool problem - your mammy and her mammy and her mammy, all overcooked pork until it was shoe leather, because trichinosis sucks. But we've eradicated trichinosis from our food supply through better farming, and you don't have to overcook to be sure anymore because we have good instant-read thermometers and the bug's killed off (if it's even in there, which is unlikely) less than a second after getting to 63C (and that's before medium rare for pork, which many people dislike anyway for texture). So even pink pork can be safely eaten, but by this stage, we just all think pork's meant to be that tough shoe leather crap even though we'd send back any sausage that tasted like that!

Bawnmore

I have a 2kg piece of shoulder in the slow cooker all last night that I'm ecstatic to get home to sauce. I should get out more.

Sparks

You say that like it's a bad thing

Plazaman

Trying this out today/tomorrow. Can't wait.

However I'm not a great chef but I'm excited that my rub has come out looking like the one Sparks done so that Step 1 done. Now for the rest.....away we go!!

applehunter

Ok made this for a second time. Sorted my work lunch for the week.

1 tablespoon of vinegar in the end sauce was plenty. Sharpened up the sauce. 1/2 cup in the opening post is too much.

Sparks

applehunter wrote: »

1/2 cup in the opening post is too much.

Southerner

Plazaman

All went fantastically, no one was killed or poisoned and the house didn't burn down so would call it a success, thanks Sparks for the recipe.

Only differences is I used a Loin of Pork, left out the Nam Pla (couldn't find any and fish sauce freaks me out) and used treacle instead of molasses (couldn't find that either and gambled that a tablespoon of a different product won't ruin the thing).

9 hours in the slow cooker and pork just falls apart.





Pulled Pork sambos for the next day or so, yummy.

applehunter wrote: »

1 tablespoon of vinegar in the end sauce was plenty. Sharpened up the sauce. 1/2 cup in the opening post is too much.

I took a cup to be 250mls? So I did use 125mls of Cider Vinegar in Cooking Stock and Sauce. Gives it a great zing.

Sparks

Plazaman wrote: »

thanks Sparks for the recipe.

Welcome!

Only differences is I used a Loin of Pork

Why do I get a feeling that the loin or not discussion above was looking at two different cuts now?

left out the Nam Pla (couldn't find any and fish sauce freaks me out)

Worscestershire sauce works too...

treacle instead of molasses

If it's black treacle, it's not exactly the same thing but substitutes perfectly well.

I took a cup to be 250mls?

Yup, cup in the recipe means measuring cups rather than tea-drinking cups

Looks good btw!

syklops

Maybe worthy of a different thread but I had guinness pulled beef for dinner on saturday night. Was delish.

sandy_c

It's going to be a great Friday!!!!! : )

Sulla Felix

sandy_c wrote: »

It's going to be a great Friday!!!!! : )

It's going to be a good Sunday!


Anyway, have a question. Is the final saucing really, really key? I have it in my head to serve it "dry" with warm sauce in gravy boats. I've a kickass vinegary, sharp carolina style sauce recipe and a lovely sweet kansas one. Was thinking of going looking around for something else with a bit of heat to it to round out the selection?

Or is that just a wierd idea?

Creamy Goodness

Have mine in the slow cooker now a little over 40 minutes. can't wait. I made some extra cooking liquid cause the lid of my argos slow cooker doesn't look to create a great seal. i'll lash it in after about 4 hours or so.

couldn't find the exact nam pla so used fish sauce from blue dragon.
cyder vinegar smells bad, but christ nam pla is 1000x worse.

unkel

You need a lot more patience than that. Under 5 hours isn't anywhere near long enough!

Creamy Goodness

unkel wrote: »

You need a lot more patience than that. Under 5 hours isn't anywhere near long enough!

Sorry I worded that wrong,

I was worried about the cooking liquid evaporating due to the poor seal on my slow cooker. I gave it about an hour of cooking to judge how much liquid it was losing - if any - so then I just whacked the rest of the liquid in to be on the safe side. I'm cooking this for tomorrow by the way. I'm giving it a full 14 hours in the slow cooker.

Sparks

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

couldn't find the exact nam pla so used fish sauce from blue dragon.
cyder vinegar smells bad, but christ nam pla is 1000x worse.

nam pla is fish sauce, same way groundnut oil and peanut oil are the same thing (but Tesco charges twice the price for peanut oil, just in case you're ever looking for it).

And yeah, it'd stink - it's basicly fermented shrimp (read: rotting fish). Very old sauce idea, you can trace its roots back to ancient rome if not further. But it tastes oh-so-much-better than it smells

Creamy Goodness

I'll take your word on it :pac:.

I'm currently doing some work in the living room and the smell is wafting in from the kitchen, the temptation to literally pull my seat up to the slow cooker and inhale for the next 8 hours or so is so bloody strong!

unkel

Sparks wrote: »

nam pla...it's basicly fermented shrimp (read: rotting fish).

Nam Pla is typically made from fermented anchovies (they also go into Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce ). See the lable of a bottle of Squid brand fish sauce (the most common one available in Asian shops and even supermarkets these days)

Shrimp paste (made from fermented shrimp) is also popular in East Asia. I sometimes use it in Thai soups and curries. Gives it a great authentic taste. Now that stuff really reeks

Prawn crackers are made using rotted shrimps too.

Sulla Felix

unkel wrote: »

Nam Pla is typically made from fermented anchovies (they also go into Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce ). See the lable of a bottle of Squid brand fish sauce (the most common one available in Asian shops and even supermarkets these days)

Shrimp paste (made from fermented shrimp) is also popular in East Asia. I sometimes use it in Thai soups and curries. Gives it a great authentic taste. Now that stuff really reeks

Prawn crackers are made using rotted shrimps too.

The numerous girls in the numerous asian shops I was in yesterday didn't know what nam pla was. I left with a bottle of squid brand fish sauce since it was suggested as an alternative, figuring it couldn't do any harm. Glad I did now!

unkel

Sulla Felix wrote: »

I left with a bottle of squid brand fish sauce since it was suggested as an alternative

Have another look at your bottle. In big letters it says "Fish Sauce" and in smaller letters it says...



..."Nam Pla"

Creamy Goodness

at 10 hours in the cooker the pork started to fall apart. took it out and pulled it. going to let it cool then sauce it tomorrow as i'm stuffed from easter roast.

tastes as good as it looks.

unkel

Damn I'm full up with Easter roast turkey myself, but I'm nearly salivating looking at that

Must go to the butchers' sometime this week!