2010 Cooking Club Week 48: Pulled Pork

Misty Moon · 28-11-2014 1:39pm

Need to make pulled pork again soon. Actually, was thinking of inviting some people over in a couple of weeks but not feeling like making the effort of a big meal and I think this'd fit the bill just nicely. Love this so much. Although I have to admit, I gasped a bit when I saw that you get rid of the cooking liquid - that's the best bit, but then again I love onions so I use loads and then just reduce the cooking liquid a bit and use it as a sauce. Will have to see what I use for the sauce this time, though. The last year or two I've been using up some not very successful attempts at making tomato ketchup and it has been really good. I think I'll have to persuade my sister to make me some of her barbeque sauce.

rameire · 05-12-2014 7:11pm

nom nom nom

getting me some pork this weekend and going to try it in the pressure cooker this time, instead of a normal cooker.

Satriale · 05-12-2014 7:35pm

Goddamit, this thread is like the Call of The Wild for me and i've given a loan of my slow cooker to someone.

unkel · 05-12-2014 8:53pm

rameire wrote: »

getting me some pork this weekend and going to try it in the pressure cooker this time, instead of a normal cooker.

Pressure cooker? Easy lad, you want slow, not fast

DeVore · 05-12-2014 9:18pm

Ok so I bought 1.7 kg of Wagyu beef today http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu.

Its quite marbled and I figured it would be really good in the slow cooker, same approach as the pork but with beef. Any opinions?
(the lady who sold it to me said its fantastic in the slow cooker).

Also, considering using a really authentic teriyaki sauce that I got with it too as slow cooked beef in teriyaki sauce sounds amazing

Am I mad? Should I really do this with prime (super-expensive!) beef?

Faith · 05-12-2014 9:29pm

A slow cooker is designed for very tough, very fatty* cuts of meat. The long, slow cooking allows time for all the connective tissue to break down, and for the fat to slowly melt, giving flavour and a pleasant mouth feel to the meat. These cuts are usually very cheap because they're hard to do anything with in a hurry.

*As in, have lumps of thick fat.

You could cook Wagyu beef in one, but it would be an utter waste. The point of paying so much for Wagyu beef is that it's already wonderfully tender and flavourful. Marbling refers to thin slivers of fat, which melt quickly when cooked - like with a steak. I'm open to being corrected, but I'm say that there are no benefits to slow cooking Wagyu beef. My guess is that it would be less tasty than pan frying it, and it also wouldn't be as nice as slow cooked cheap cuts of meat.

Sparks · 05-12-2014 9:40pm

DeVore wrote: »

Am I mad? Should I really do this with prime (super-expensive!) beef?

You do this with that beef and I'm getting on a plane to Malta to kick your arse.

Make burgers with it, cut steaks from it, stuff that uses hot fast cooking. If you need to braise it, it's a tough cut and who buys tough wagyu beef?

DeVore · 05-12-2014 10:32pm

ok... I'm sensing a "no" from the audience...

So now I have 1.7 KG of the stuff... rock hard frozen. If I defrost it I'm going to have to cook and eat it no?

I mean, my dog Joshua would absolutely love it* but he can feck off! I'm presuming I couldn't refreeze it? I guess I can cut thick steaks and pan fry them for a few of us... would like to make teriyaki steak with them perhaps.

Any suggestions? I kinda bought it on the spur of the moment

*I bought an FX Buckley marinaded steak and thought I had put it in the fridge for dinner that evening. Turns out I had left it for TWO SECONDS on the counter and this chancer had made off with it. About 15 euros of steak!!

Sparks · 05-12-2014 10:37pm

Yes, it's a no

What cut of beef was it? Shoulder? Rib? Brisket? Sirloin? Striploin? Tenderloin? Oxtail?

DeVore · 05-12-2014 10:45pm

Topside Roast...

Sparks · 05-12-2014 10:54pm

To be honest, I'd just roast that as a sunday roast, with yorkshires and spuds and some glazed carrots and so on. Very low oven (80C or less) until the meat hit 55-60C internal, then leave it rest for a while on the counter while your oven charged up to as high as it can get and you roast the spuds, then in with the beef for 5-10 minutes for the crust.

beertons · 05-12-2014 11:54pm

DeVore wrote: »

Topside Roast...

ROADTRIP

Dizzyblonde · 06-12-2014 12:39pm

If you don't eat it all, slice up the rest and freeze it.

squonk · 09-12-2014 1:37pm

I'm going to try this later with a pressure cooker. I probably wont' develope the jelly but the PC is definitely great at quickly cooking tough cuts of meat very tenderly; I'll report back on the results!

squonk · 15-12-2014 12:41pm

Took a while for me to get back but the results were great. the meat didn't really develope the jelly covering but was very tastey and pulled apart easilly enough. I've frozen some for when I'm back after Christmas. It'll be nice to look forward to for some sandwiches. I've also reduced the cooking liquid and frozen that too. It was toodelicious to throw out and will be a great addition to a stew at some point.

Because I was pressure cooking it I skipped the marinade stage and cut the leg into 3 pieces as well. Pressure cooking tends to push the liquid into the meat so you get marination anyway. I'll try the rub next time as well though. As was I just rubbed the spices over the meat just before putting it into the pressure cooker and adding the liquids.

Now I've got all the ingredients and know where to source leg from it's definitely something I'll try again. I might even try slow cooking it as well for comparision.

Sparks · 15-12-2014 12:45pm

If it didn't taste like you were chewing on shredded leather, then it did develop at least a little gelatine coating - it's just not like pork in aspic or something, it's a thin liquid coating, you'd have to be looking fairly close to see it (normally, it just looks like a sheen on the meat). I wouldn't have used a pressure cooker though, this is one of those dishes that just needs the time in order to cook properly. You could braise it in an oven if you checked the liquid level often enough, but really, it's just sooooo much easier with the slow cooker.

Honestly, it sounds like you missed out on the best of the recipe and just got some nicely cooked pork - which isn't horrible by any means, but seriously, try the slow-cooked version with the rub at some stage, I think you'll notice a difference.

rameire · 15-12-2014 1:58pm

made it again over the weekend,
found it impossible to find leg so had to go with pork loin,
rub was in for 24 hours before cooking, of which I did in the oven again for 5 hours.
was cooked by 3pm, so I couldnt wait another day so had a sambo at 8pm last night and just had my lunch sambo, sooooo tasty, and loads left over for freezing.

Sparks · 15-12-2014 2:02pm

When you say loin, do you mean the pork fillet? I'd be kindof surprised if that worked, it's really a cut better suited to hot fast cooking. But hey, if it works, it works

rameire · 15-12-2014 2:06pm

yes sorry, pork loin fillet.
it had some fat surrounding the piece, so that melted away into the meat upon the slow cooking. and it was good.

Sparks · 15-12-2014 2:07pm

I really am surprised, I would have thought it would have come out very tough because there's so little collagen in that cut and you're cooking it for so long. I tried it once and it came out like shoe leather.

rameire · 15-12-2014 2:10pm

maybe I got lucky.

Insect Overlord · 15-12-2014 3:03pm

I've been getting pork collar from Tesco for my last few efforts. That seems to work very well. They sell it off quite cheap every so often.

feylya · 17-12-2014 1:54pm

Just put another pork shoulder in the fridge, covered in rub. Hopefully, I'll get that into the slow cooker overnight, and have delicious pork for breakfast.

misslt · 21-12-2014 9:43am

Got a 2.5kg shoulder in morrisons yesterday for £6, it's just gone into the slow cooker. Himself was arguing with me saying it was too big and wouldn't fit in and we wouldn't eat it. He was wrong. It will be eaten!

This was amazing last time I made it so I'm very excited

Michellenman · 24-12-2014 10:18pm

Nearly 5kg of this in my fridge at the moment in its spice rub. Having it Christmas night/Stephens day and hoping to get about 25 servings for the extended family - reckon it will be perfect to break up the turkey/ham rotations. Have it divided up in to thirds and even got a lend of a second 6 litre slow cooker!

P_1 · 29-12-2014 6:56pm

Going to give this a bash, picked up the slow cooker yesterday.

Ingredients wise I have:
1 €10 pork leg picked up from FXB's
1 large onion
1 bottle of cider vinegar
1 bottle of Tesco sticky BBQ marinade
1 bottle of Lea and Perrins
Sea salt
Tesco ground cumin
Some coke
Garlic paste
Curry powder
Ground ginger
The following Schwartz powders:
Black % Red Pepper
Cayenne Chilli Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Coriander
Thyme

May spice the pork this evening and then leave it in the fridge till Wednesday and slow cook it overnight.

allandanyways · 29-12-2014 7:46pm

Mammy bought me a 6.5L slow cooker for Christmas

This is being made for New Year's Day with crispy onions, cornbread, coleslaw (wish poncy places would stop using the word "slaw") and loads of barbecue sauce... Cannot wait!

Sparks, cheers for posting this - you've completely converted me to slow cooking!

Faith · 29-12-2014 8:08pm

Cole = cabbage
Slaw = salad

So it's fine to use the term 'slaw' to refer to a salad of finely shredded vegetables, not containing cabbage, afaik

allandanyways · 29-12-2014 9:42pm

Faith wrote: »

Cole = cabbage
Slaw = salad

So it's fine to use the term 'slaw' to refer to a salad of finely shredded vegetables, not containing cabbage, afaik

Nice one! You learn something new every day

unkel · 29-12-2014 10:40pm

Faith wrote: »

Cole = cabbage
Slaw = salad

Indeed. Americanised name of a dish that Dutch emigrants brought to the US. The original words are Dutch:

kool
sla

The other thing Dutch immigrants brought to the US is Sinterklaas (Santa Claus)

P_1 · 31-12-2014 12:42am

In the slow cooker now, 20 or so hours on low should have a nice and tasty hangover cure for Thursday cooked up

Muahahaha · 16-01-2015 5:11pm

Just came home to this on its 8th hour in the slow cooker, kitchen smells delish:D

I added a couple of tablespoons of hickory liquid smoke to the cooking liquids this time so I'm interested to see how it lends flavour to the pork. Roll on dinner time

bigronnie9 · 22-01-2015 11:19pm

Trying this for the first time,went and bought what I thought were all the ingredients only to get home and find I've no paprika....any suggestions for substitutes for the dry rub?? I have everything except the paprika,would rather not wait till tomorrow to do the dry rub!

Super-Rush · 24-01-2015 5:16pm

1.5kg's of this just gone into the fridge sans dry rub.

Debating whether to smoke it, roast it or put it in the slow cooker.

bigronnie9 · 26-01-2015 1:44pm

substituted pakrika with some cayenne/brown sugar mixture, turned out unreal! will definitely be making this again (also surprised at the quantity you get out of it once its been pulled!)

Super-Rush · 26-01-2015 2:46pm

Can't find molasses anywhere.

BaZmO* · 26-01-2015 2:56pm

Super-Rush wrote: »

Can't find molasses anywhere.

It's normally in the baking section.

Won't make a huge (if any) difference if you can't find it though.

Super-Rush · 26-01-2015 3:04pm

BaZmO* wrote: »

It's normally in the baking section.

Won't make a huge (if any) difference if you can't find it though.

I checked the baking section of two Tescos and a SuperValu and nothing.

I saw on their website that Holland & Barrett carry molasses but not blackstrap.

beertons · 26-01-2015 3:07pm

Try a health shop. That's where I got mine. One that has flax seeds and all that jazz.

Masala · 26-01-2015 6:25pm

Super-Rush wrote: »

Can't find molasses anywhere.

Question..... is it sometimes called 'Treacle' ????

Neyite · 26-01-2015 6:28pm

Masala wrote: »

Question..... is it sometimes called 'Treacle' ????

No. That's for cakes really. Molasses is black.

Super-Rush · 26-01-2015 6:43pm

Neyite wrote: »

No. That's for cakes really. Molasses is black.

You can get black treacle.

Sparks · 26-01-2015 7:33pm

Masala wrote: »

Question..... is it sometimes called 'Treacle' ????

Nope, different things, different (well, slightly) taste. But you can use either (and I have) and it still tastes great...

Sparks · 26-01-2015 7:38pm

BTW, is it just me noticing this, or are home baking sections in the larger supermarkets shrinking and making these things harder to find of late?

Sparks · 26-01-2015 7:43pm

Super-Rush wrote: »

You can get black treacle.

Yeah, but black treacle isn't the same as blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap has a more aggressive sort of a taste, it's not just pure sugar. Blackstrap is made out of the stuff that comes off the raw sugar during refining; but black treacle is made from the syrup the process makes out of the sugar. So a treacle's always from later in the process and is a touch more refined. (A touch, however, doesn't mean a huge amount; if you've never made this dish before, just use either, you won't tell the difference. If you have made it with one, you'll know it's a bit different when you make it with the other, but it won't be by very much and which you prefer is personal).

Super-Rush · 27-01-2015 10:24am

Got the molasses in SuperValu.

I found it beside the fish sauce of all places. No wonder I couldn't find it yesterday.

Super-Rush · 27-01-2015 11:10am

Ok so now everything is in the slow cooker.

I followed the measurements but we've a big slow cooker and the liquid barely came up to half way so i added a bit more coke.

The smell of the meat when i unwrapped it was amazing. It was rubbed on Saturday.

Sparks · 27-01-2015 1:00pm

Super-Rush wrote: »

I followed the measurements but we've a big slow cooker and the liquid barely came up to half way so i added a bit more coke.

That's grand; some slow cookers run hotter than others as well, so check on the liquid level once or twice in case it drops. If it doesn't, no worries, if it does, just top it up a bit with more coke.

The smell of the meat when i unwrapped it was amazing. It was rubbed on Saturday.

You think it's good now, wait till it's cooked

Super-Rush · 28-01-2015 2:01pm

So after 26 hours i ended up with this.

24A4CCAB85C44FFAB04A108AD48D3285-0000324468-0003721718-00500L-5734F140A55D4C2AB45DE9AFD6A5E91C.jpg

22819680FE3947408237D14A759942F4-0000324468-0003721717-00500L-55F9501ED32A495FAF06EC108EDF1410.jpg

Fantastic recipe Sparks. It will be repeated many many times in this house.

Sparks · 28-01-2015 2:02pm

Glad you liked it super-rush!

2010 Cooking Club Week 48: Pulled Pork

Comments