How to Make the Best Pulled Pork and Sauce

This is just the best thing you can make if you are having a BBQ at the weekend. It needs planning the day before but is really easy to make. Our pulled pork recipe is probably the best you can make. The pork will be soft and just pull apart so delicately, and the sweet, spicy, sticky sauce will make your mouth water. It was inspired by a fantastic butcher we know in Shropshire, whom took some encouraging to reveal his secret, but here it is…

Ingredients

For the Pork:

• Pork shoulder for 6 people - de-boned and with rind
• 2 x Chopped medium white onions
• 3 x Bay leaves
• 2 x Tablespoons mustard powder
• 1 x Tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 x Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Salt to taste (a teaspoon is good)
• 200ml water

For the Sauce:

• Olive oil 25ml
• White onion, finely chopped 1
• Garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped 1
• Spice mix (see below) 25g
• Apple juice 125ml
• Cider vinegar 125ml
• Maple syrup 135ml
• French mustard 125ml
• Blackstrap molasses or black treacle 125ml
• Apricot preserve or jam 125ml
• Chipotle ketchup 500ml
• Maldon sea salt 25g

Spice Mix:

• Fennel seeds 5g
• Cumin seeds or powder 5g
• Coriander seeds 5g
• Celery seeds 5g
• Mustard seeds 5g
• Black peppercorns 5g

To Make the Pork Perfect

You need to cook the pork really slowly. The best way to cook the pork is to use a slow cooker, but you can just as easily put it in a casserole dish in the oven on a low temperature (about 120 degrees). Mix all the pork ingredients (apart from the water) together and then rub them onto the pork, making sure to rub it into all the crevices.

Cook this on the lowest setting in your slow cooker or 120 degrees in the oven with a lid on the casserole dish. We put ours on the night before our BBQ, and in total, it was cooked for 14 hours, but it would be ready in about 6-8 hours if you need it to be.

The BBQ

All you need to do now is bring it to the BBQ and put your slow-cooked pork rind (skin) side down for about 5-10 minutes. Then turn it over and give the other side a BBQ for about 5 minutes. This really crisps up the outside. Don’t worry if it blackens; it's all good flavor. Put it on a plate and pull it apart with a fork, then drizzle the sauce all over it. It will be amazing!

To Make the Sauce

First, chop the onion and garlic and fry them in a frying pan with the olive oil for about 10 minutes to sweat them off. Let them caramelize on medium heat. While they are cooking, prepare the spice mix.

Take all the spice mix ingredients and crush and grind them in a pestle and mortar. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a large jug. Heat the mixture in the frying pan with the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.

Serving

Serve with a glass of white wine and coleslaw. This will be the best thing you have had on your BBQ in years. Enjoy!