Spicy Pulled Pork in the Slow Cooker / crockpot

Noms, Ramblings / September 17, 2014 / John / 1

[EDIT] So, I’ve found that it’s generally easier to get a 2kg chunk of shoulder than a 3kg one, so I’ve tweaked the recipe over the last few months. It turns out that the only thing that changed, other than the pork-weight, was the amount of salt – reduced from 3tbsp to 2tbsp. Results are awesome.

So, you have a 2kg lump of boneless pork shoulder in your fridge and you want to do something awesome with it. Here’s what to do. Combine the following.

• 50g/2oz soft dark brown sugar
• 5 tbsp smoked hot paprika (I use pimenton)
• 2 tbsp sea salt flakes (Maldons)
• 2 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp ground fennel seeds
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp dry mustard powder

Rub about 50% of this into the pork, getting it into all the nooks and crannies. I usually remove the skin and untie the pork first, just to make sure I get as much of the rub on as I possibly can.

Dump it in a big bowl and cover with tinfoil then put in the fridge to marinade. A couple of hours will do, but if you can do overnight that’s even better – particularly as you’re going to be doing it in a slow cooker.

Once you’re marinaded, put a couple of roughly chopped onions, some garlic cloves and about 150ml of boiling water in the bottom of the slow cooker and set it on high.

Rub the rest of the marinade into the pork, stick it in the slow cooker, put the lid on and leave it alone for 8 hours.

After the 8 hours are up, lift out the pork (you may need a spoon to do it :)) and put it on a chopping board. Cover with foil and leave for half an hour to rest.

Use a couple of forks to pull the pork.

Eat.

Repeat.

John

UNIX geek, wannabe cook, musician, book-lover, and all round good-guy.