Meaty Mondays

The shoulder of pork was huge. Dark brown marrow, exposed in a thick shell of dense, mother-of pearl bone, was nestled in a sea of deep red meat and marbled with creamy ribbons of fat, which spread luxuriously across the top of the cut like a triumphant, artery-clogging crown. 6 lbs of pure, unadulterated pork, and it was our job to turn it into a sumptuous barbequed meal – sans barbeque. Challenge accepted.

Earlier that weekend, I had been tempted by an invitation for pulled pork, but alas, travel plans already in place, I had to decline. However, the idea of tender pulled pork, drowning in a sea of smoky, tangy barbeque sauce, lingered in my brain, and, in the midst of my celebratory culinary binge, I had the idea to try my hand at the dish. M could not be more enthusiastic – being the carnivorous mammal he is, he jumped at the chance to prepare such a protein-heavy meal, and was more than willing to handle the raw meat (something that I am still a bit squeamish about).

The first hurdle to overcome was the lack of a barbeque or a slow cooker. Unfortunately, pint-sized apartment kitchens equals space-saving appliances only- no glorious Kitchenaid stand mixer for this squid. So, we made do with an apartment oven, and thus, an afternoon of constant basting and supervision. But, about to begin our foray into pulled porkdom, we realized that the pans we owned were not nearly large enough to handle the pork’s meaty girth so, half an hour later, we returned with a large metal pan, perfect to handle large meals such as this. But naturally, it did not fit into the oven.

So M did what any resourceful person would do: he broke out the metal cutters. Fast forward 30 more minutes, and we lay on the floor, sweaty and panting, the broken handles of our lovely new metal pan lying beside the pan itself, which had been compressed to fit into the abnormally narrow oven. Take that, takeout gods.

So, dry rubbed, the pork went into the oven and 5 hours later it emerged, gloriously tender and brown with a slightly crispy, spicy coating from remaining dry rub and a smoky flavor from the “wet mop” with which we had basted with throughout its cooking journey.  And hour later, and the pork was pulled, mixed into a homemade barbeque sauce, served on crispy Kaiser buns and set on a table that creaked with the weight of red cabbage coleslaw, spicy watermelon and mixed pepper salad and red and white wine.

A lovely way to spend a Monday evening with friends, if I do say so myself.

Carolina pulled-pork sandwiches

Adapted heavily from epicurious.com

Makes about 3 lbs of pulled pork

Dry rub

3 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

3 tbsp packed brown sugar

3 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp coarse salt

1 tsp chili powder

Wet mop

1 cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup water

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 tbsp coarse salt

2 tbsp canola oil

6 lbs of pork shoulder, bone in

Barbeque sauce, recipe to follow

6 hamburger buns, to serve

Special equipment

Meat thermometer

Deep baking dish, preferably with a lid

1.     Make dry rub in a small bowl with the first 5 ingredients. Place the pork shoulder into a large bowl and coat generously with the dry rub; cover in plastic and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

2.     Preheat oven to 250 F.

3.     Remove pork from the fridge and place into a deep baking pan, fat side up. Prepare wet mop and baste shoulder generously, ensuring that the mop permeates all visible crevices. This will prevent the meat from drying out, which can be a problem when cooking in the oven for such a long period of time.

4.     Cover the meat with the lid of the pan or with aluminum foil and place in the oven.

5.     Cook for 4 ½ to 5 hours, basting every 30 minutes or so, until meal thermometer reads an internal temperature of 165 F.

6.     Remove from oven and let rest until the meat is cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, start preparing the barbeque sauce.

7.     Using two large forks, pull the meat from bone, traveling in the direction of the muscle fibers for ease. Remove fat if desired.

8.     Mix meat with barbeque sauce to desired consistency and serve on crispy Kaiser rolls with a dash of hot sauce and a lot of extra napkins.

Homemade barbeque sauce

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Makes about 3 cups, more than enough for the pork from the recipe above

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup vegetable oil

Scant cup of tomato ketchup

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup honey

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

½ cup grainy mustard

¼ cup soy sauce, plus extra to taste

½ cup hoisin sauce

1 ½ tbsp chili powder

½ tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

½ tbsp ground cumin

1.     In a large saucepan, sauté garlic in vegetable oil on a low heat until beginning to brown, about 10 minutes

2.     Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, on low heat for about 30 minutes.

3.     Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes – this will allow the sauce to thicken and the tanginess to be tempered slightly.

4.     Add desired amount to pulled pork and serve, as above. Store any remaining sauce in the fridge.

Pulled pork paradise