Braised, barbequed pulled pork with cider sauce
Course: Lunch, Dinner, picnic, BabercueCuisine: Texan, Southern, Tex-MexDifficulty: EasyServings
10
servingsPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
2
hoursCalories
300
kcalTotal time
2
hours30
minutesPulled pork is the perfect summer barbecue dish, with meat so tender that it just falls apart, served on a bed of creamy coleslaw or in a bun. Pork and apple go together like peas and carrots, simply sublime.
Ingredients
2 kg boneless pork shoulder / Boston Butt / pork neck (basically any piece of pork with a lot of fat marbling in it)
2 large onions (red taste better)
8 bay leaves
1 garlic bulb (peeled)
1 tbsp fennel or caraway seeds
4 apples (Bramley, Granny Smith)
3 large carrots
Handful of fresh herb sprigs
500 mL apple cider
100 mL apple cider vinegar
100g treacle sugar (use light brown or demerara)
Splash of water
Directions
- Peel and slice the onions in half. Place into the pressure pot.
- Peel the carrots and roughly chop them into chunks. Place into the pressure pot.
- Wash the apples, core them and cut into 8 wedges. Place into the pressure pot.
- Add the peeled garlic cloves to the pressure pot.
- Add the pork to the pressure pot on top of the vegetables
- Add the cider, apple vinegar, treacle sugar, fennel seeds, herbs and bay leaves on top.
- If the pork is not completely submerged, add some water until the liquid rises 1cm above the pork.
- Close the lid of the pressure pot and cook for about 2 hours.
- Remove from the heat and carefully open the pressure pot (follow the instructions for your pot!).
- Lift the pork out carefully – if done properly it will fall apart so support it with a large slotted spoon and set aside.
- Remove about 1/2 the liquid (reserve for step 14) and check for seasoning, adding sugar, vinegar, salt or pepper as needed.
- Use a blender to blend the remaining liquid with the vegetables.
- Return to the heat and boil down to a thicker sauce, like ketchup. Add some cornstarch mixed with water if in a hurry. Transfer into a bowl as a sauce.
- Shred the pork using 2 forks and add some of the reserved liquid to keep moist (about 4 tbsp).
- Serve and enjoy!
