OVEN SLOW COOKED PULLED PORK
Ingredients
- 1 pork shoulder 1.5 - 2kg will be fine
- 2 tbs salt
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tbs smoked paprika
- 1 tsp liquid smoke optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220 °C.
- Mix salt sugar and paprika together.
- Pat pork shoulder with a paper towel to dry.
- Rub half of the spice mix all over the pork and place in a Dutch oven (a big cast iron pot).
- Add half a glass of water to the pot to stop anything from burning.
- Place cast iron pot in the oven with the lid off and bake for 30 minutes, or until you have browned the meat nicely.
- After 30 minutes, remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 125 °C.
- Add the optional liquid smoke. Cover the pot with a lid and place parchment paper or foil under it. This is to seal the steam inside.
- Place the pot back in the oven and roast on 125 °C overnight, or at least 8 hours.
- Take the cast iron pot out of the oven and let everything cool down for an hour or so. Then begin to shred the pork using 2 forks.
- Season with the other half of the reserved spice rub, then give everything a good mix so all the meat gets coated in the juices and spice rub.
Nutrition
About the recipe
In our house this pulled pork recipe is often made overnight. If the meat goes in the oven on Saturday evening by Sunday morning it’s cooked to perfection. We prefer to wait and eat the meat for dinner as I find that it tastes even better if you leave shredded, tender pork to sit in its own juices and spice rub for additional 4 – 6 hours.
Traditionally, pulled pork is served in a brioche bun with BBQ sauce and coleslaw, along with sweetcorn and mashed potato. And this is pretty much how we have it in our household. We don’t always have it with coleslaw, just depends on whether we have cabbage in our fridge or not.
The leftover meat from pulled pork is so versatile that you can make a number of meals with the leftovers. Here are some ideas:
- Tacos
- Filling for wraps or burritos
- Add to pasta, or make a pasta bake
- Pulled pork enchiladas
I have come across many different pulled pork rub recipes, but I always come back to the one in this recipe as it’s very simple to make, and makes the meat taste great:
- 2 parts salt and brown sugar
- 1 part paprika
- Dash of liquid smoke
Cooking pulled pork in the oven is quite simple but you need to follow a few rules:
Cook the meat on a low heat over a long period of time. 125 °C for 8 hours is ideal for a typical shoulder joint from Tesco.
Make sure that you keep the steam in your cooking vessel while cooking. Once I cooked pulled pork with a loose fitting lid, the steam escaped, and the meat ended up dry and burnt on the bottom of the pot.
You will know when the meat is cooked, when the meat falls apart with minimum effort.
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