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2010 Cooking Club Week 48: Pulled Pork
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Hoping to make this at the weekend, just have a few questions first.
1. My pork fillet piece is 1.08, is that big enough or will I need bigger?
My slow cooker is either 3.3L or 3.5L, is it too big? Would I need more/less liquid?
I got the pork fillet in Dunnes for around E6 so hopefully it's OK, if not, I can get a different piece next week and just roast the fillet.
BTW when I say 'fillet' it's not tenderloin or anything, it's a piece like this, just labelled pork fillet.
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Pork fillet really won't cook well in this dish; but that doesn't look like pork fillet in your photo!Hoping to make this at the weekend, just have a few questions first.
1. My pork fillet piece is 1.08, is that big enough or will I need bigger?
But in general, the size of the meat is important only in terms of how much rub you make and how much liquid you put in the slow cooker. So long as the meat is covered in rub and immersed all the way in liquid, you should be okay.
I've cooked this dish in a slow cooker that was about that size (Before I got the smaller one). It's fine, just be sure you have enough liquid to immerse the meat fully.Otherwise the bit in the liquid cooks well and the rest dries out and it's not good.My slow cooker is either 3.3L or 3.5L, is it too big? Would I need more/less liquid?I got the pork fillet in Dunnes for around E6 so hopefully it's OK, if not, I can get a different piece next week and just roast the fillet.
BTW when I say 'fillet' it's not tenderloin or anything, it's a piece like this, just labelled pork fillet.
Oooo, the cheeky sods
That looks like a loin roast to me rather than a fillet. The fillet's a nice bit of meat - split down the middle, fill with dried apple, paint with mustard, wrap in spinach and then in puff pastry, bake off at 180 and you have pork wellington - but you can't do pulled pork with it, it comes out horribly nasty. The loin roast you can do pulled pork with... but you'd get a nicer meal if you roast it, with the fat scored and painted in honey and mustard and cracker crumbs to glaze at the end. For pulled pork, you really do want a tough cut of meat like shoulder or leg, you really need that connective tissue. 0 -
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The liquid level doesn't normally change much in the slow cooker; but trying this dish in the oven... it's a bit more finicky. Unless you have an aga, you pretty much don't have an oven that can do low temperatures in a stable way. On mine, for example, if I set 80C, it'll heat up to anywhere up to 100C, then turn off the heat, it'll fall back to about 70C and then it'll turn the heat back on, and so forth. Between 150C and 220C it can hold temperature a lot more closely than that, but at the low end of the dial, it's just not that great. You've got the pork in a pot; if it's cast iron (and it looks like a lovely dutch oven in your photo), that'll help a lot as it'll soak up a lot of the heat changes. But it may not be as easy as with the slow cooker.
To be honest, if you like the dish, I'd splurge the 10-15 quid in tesco or argos and get a small slow cooker
If you had 2-2.5kg of meat, yeah, its going to take longer - could be quite a bit longer in fact, because the heat's got to get all the way though to the middle of the meat and stay at temperature long enough to do its voodoo. I wouldn't up the temperature all that much though, I'd just give it the extra time.0 -
Thanks Sparks. I'll roast the piece I have to and I'll get a piece of leg or shoulder.Pork fillet really won't cook well in this dish; but that doesn't look like pork fillet in your photo!
But in general, the size of the meat is important only in terms of how much rub you make and how much liquid you put in the slow cooker. So long as the meat is covered in rub and immersed all the way in liquid, you should be okay.
I've cooked this dish in a slow cooker that was about that size (Before I got the smaller one). It's fine, just be sure you have enough liquid to immerse the meat fully.Otherwise the bit in the liquid cooks well and the rest dries out and it's not good.
Oooo, the cheeky sods That looks like a loin roast to me rather than a fillet. The fillet's a nice bit of meat - split down the middle, fill with dried apple, paint with mustard, wrap in spinach and then in puff pastry, bake off at 180 and you have pork wellington - but you can't do pulled pork with it, it comes out horribly nasty. The loin roast you can do pulled pork with... but you'd get a nicer meal if you roast it, with the fat scored and painted in honey and mustard and cracker crumbs to glaze at the end. For pulled pork, you really do want a tough cut of meat like shoulder or leg, you really need that connective tissue.
Quick question - I was gonna get a leg of pork from the butchers anyway, he is going to split it up into smaller parts as there's only 2-3 of us eating it, so a full leg is too much in one go, could a piece of that leg be used in this as long as there's connective tissue?
I don't use pork too often, so I'm a little unsure about it.0 -
The liquid level doesn't normally change much in the slow cooker; but trying this dish in the oven... it's a bit more finicky. Unless you have an aga, you pretty much don't have an oven that can do low temperatures in a stable way. On mine, for example, if I set 80C, it'll heat up to anywhere up to 100C, then turn off the heat, it'll fall back to about 70C and then it'll turn the heat back on, and so forth. Between 150C and 220C it can hold temperature a lot more closely than that, but at the low end of the dial, it's just not that great. You've got the pork in a pot; if it's cast iron (and it looks like a lovely dutch oven in your photo), that'll help a lot as it'll soak up a lot of the heat changes. But it may not be as easy as with the slow cooker.
To be honest, if you like the dish, I'd splurge the 10-15 quid in tesco or argos and get a small slow cooker
If you had 2-2.5kg of meat, yeah, its going to take longer - could be quite a bit longer in fact, because the heat's got to get all the way though to the middle of the meat and stay at temperature long enough to do its voodoo. I wouldn't up the temperature all that much though, I'd just give it the extra time.
Noted - thanks.
I'll leave Temp alone and fire it on for another 4 - 6 hours. Pot is a Creuset so its been very kind to me over the years. Plenty of great meals out of it.
Last question for today - does the cooking liquid have to cover all the meat. Mine is about 90% covered.0 -
Quick answer, definitely yes. You probably want a bit from higher up the leg, so you get both connective tissue and meat, but anywhere above the knee should be grand. Once you've done this a few times, you could try a tougher cut, but make it easy on yourself the first time outQuick question - I was gonna get a leg of pork from the butchers anyway, he is going to split it up into smaller parts as there's only 2-3 of us eating it, so a full leg is too much in one go, could a piece of that leg be used in this as long as there's connective tissue?
Also, if you're getting a cut off the butcher's anyways, try to get a chunk of shoulder (and ask him if he knows what boston butt is )
Not to worry, most Irish people are too, they just don't think they areI don't use pork too often, so I'm a little unsure about it. You should have seen my mom's pork dishes. She (like every other Irish Mammy since the Famine, it seems) was taught to cook pork until it was well done, then cook it a bit longer 'to be safe'. She had no idea what she was being safe about (it turns out to be trichinosis, but it's been a very long time since a case of that turned up in Ireland, and you don't have to turn the pork to shoe leather to avoid it anyways); but the pork was always inedible and we were always discouraged from eating it as a result. This dish is actually the first one we've ever eaten in my family where we liked the taste of the pork (I'm not counting ham or bacon here).
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Oooo, fancyPot is a Creuset
Not all of it really, yours looked okay in that photo, though I'd probably add a bit more liquid - generally when I do it, I leave the pork just barely poking out of the liquid. You're braising here, y'see, which means it has to be moist all the time. If it dries out, you're more roasting than braising and with this cut of pork, you'd get shoe leather if you roasted it.Last question for today - does the cooking liquid have to cover all the meat. Mine is about 90% covered.0 -
Thanks Sparks. I'll be in with the butcher today, will see what I can get from him. I know he said before pork legs/shoulders etc are all done on special order so it'll probably be a week or two before I get it, don't mind though, it'll be worth the wait.Quick answer, definitely yes. You probably want a bit from higher up the leg, so you get both connective tissue and meat, but anywhere above the knee should be grand. Once you've done this a few times, you could try a tougher cut, but make it easy on yourself the first time out
Also, if you're getting a cut off the butcher's anyways, try to get a chunk of shoulder (and ask him if he knows what boston butt is )
Not to worry, most Irish people are too, they just don't think they are You should have seen my mom's pork dishes. She (like every other Irish Mammy since the Famine, it seems) was taught to cook pork until it was well done, then cook it a bit longer 'to be safe'. She had no idea what she was being safe about (it turns out to be trichinosis, but it's been a very long time since a case of that turned up in Ireland, and you don't have to turn the pork to shoe leather to avoid it anyways); but the pork was always inedible and we were always discouraged from eating it as a result. This dish is actually the first one we've ever eaten in my family where we liked the taste of the pork (I'm not counting ham or bacon here).
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Aha my mammy won't eat pork she says, but she loves her oul sausages I made a white chili the other day with pork mince, my mother and some other family members (who also 'don't like' pork) tried some and said it was absolutely delicious. They don't know (and I won't tell them either) that I used pork mince rather than beef mince.
As a kid myself we never had pork chops, roast pork etc, only ever pork sausages.
I don't know what it is with some Irish mammies/family that they think pork isn't safe, it's absolutely safe if it is cooked thoroughly (like all meat), even if it is a slight bit pink in the middle, it is safe.0 -
Yup - they love it when they don't know what it isAha my mammy won't eat pork she says, but she loves her oul sausages I made a white chili the other day with pork mince, my mother and some other family members (who also 'don't like' pork) tried some and said it was absolutely delicious. They don't know (and I won't tell them either) that I used pork mince rather than beef mince.
Love adding some pork mince to my chilli actually, when I can get it (I have a mincer at home, but I'm lazy ). About a half pound of pork mince and a half pound of lamb mince to a pound of beef mince and two pounds of beef chunks and you have a fantastic pot of chilli.
Same here.As a kid myself we never had pork chops, roast pork etc, only ever pork sausages.
Horror stories about trichinosis I'm guessing (and there are some really horrid stories - getting worms in your brain because you ate an underdone sausage should just be the kind of thing kids make up on the playground, but there was a time when it was very real). But we've not seen trichinosis in a long time in Ireland or anywhere else in the western world, even in the US where their pork is produced in appalling conditions. And you can avoid it without having to cook the meat until it can be used as a building material. It needs no more caution to avoid than does salmonella or campylobacter.I don't know what it is with some Irish mammies/family that they think pork isn't safe, it's absolutely safe if it is cooked thoroughly (like all meat), even if it is a slight bit pink in the middle, it is safe.0 -
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Was in with the butcher, full pork leg is about E50-E60 :eek: so I'm going for a shoulder which is about E20, maybe a bit less.
Going to order it next week
Both Aldi and Tesco do boneless pork legs for about 8 quid.
I've only ever done this in a cast-iron casserole in the oven and it works a charm.0 -
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