The previous job I had sent me to many places around the U.S. and the world. But I'll never forget my first project; I was on in North Carolina in the middle of Nowheres-ville and about the only highlight of that trip was the barbecue I sampled there. Different regions of the U.S. specialize in different types of barbecue; for example, Texas is known for brisket and North Carolina is known for pork. Since I still live in an apartment I couldn't smoke the pork shoulder but the dry rub still remains the same. The sauce I created was an apple cider barbecue sauce, much like the one I had in North Carolina. I also made spicy aioli coleslaw from the aioli leftover from yesterdays dinner.
Pulled Pork Ingredients:
1 1/2 - 2 pound pork shoulder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large shallot (roughly chopped)
4 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
1 teaspoon all spice
1 cup water
Directions:
Mix all the dry ingredients, except for the all spice, together in a bowl. Then generously sprinkle the dry rub on the pork and pat down at the end to ensure the rub stays on. In a skillet, add the olive oil and turn the heat to high. You'll want to sear in the flavors by browning the entire pork. I used a pressure cooker to save some time in cooking the pork but you can use a roasting pan and an oven as well.
If you're using a pressure cooker, add the water, shallots, garlic, and all spice to the pot. Do the same if you're using a roasting pan. Before putting your pork in the pot or roasting pan you'll want to elevate it to keep it away from most of the liquid. I used a foldable stainless steamer basket for the pressure cooker. For the roasting pan, you can use the rack that comes with the roasting pan. Set you pressure cooker on high pressure and cook for 1 hour, in the roasting pan set your oven to 275 degrees and cook for 3-4 hours. I normally, cover the roasting pan when I cook in the oven to seal in the steam and create a little pressure to help the meat cook and tenderize a little faster. This will also keep it moist. After the the is cooked you can test to see if your meat is tender by pulling on it - if it pulls apart easily, then you're ready to remove it from the pressure cooker/oven and let it cool for at least 15 minutes. After it has cooled, use your hand to separate the meat into smaller edible pieces.
Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large tomato (diced)
1 large shallot (diced)
Directions:
In a sauce pan, add the olive oil and turn the heat to medium high. Add your shallots and cook for about 4 minutes or until it is translucent. Then add your brown sugar and let it melt but not caramelized. Add water immediately after all of the sugar dissolves. Next add your paprika, cayenne pepper, and tomatoes. Bring the heat down to simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes. Now add your apple cider vinegar, kosher salt, and black pepper. Let this simmer for another 10 minutes. With an immersion blender, begin blending your sauce in the sauce pan. If you don't have an immersion blender, transfer your sauce to a regular blender and blend until all the large ingredients have broken down.
To assemble your sandwich, take two pieces of bread and layer that with your pulled pork and add about 1-2 tablespoons of your barbecue sauce on top.
The coleslaw is very easy to make. Slice 1/4 head of cabbage into thin strips and add to a large bowl. Now take the aioli we created yesterday and add that to the cabbage. Toss thoroughly to coat all of the cabbage.
This dish is a little time consuming but very worth it. Especially if you have a lot of mouths to feed or you just want to have some food leftover for the next day.
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