Hairy Bikers Pulled Pork

Five hours at 150°C turns a pork shoulder into Hairy Bikers pulled pork, because the fat and gristle break down slowly at that heat. The recipe sits in Meat Feasts, so it serves six to eight at roughly 675 calories, though the whole thing takes 6 hours 35 minutes.

Proper pulled pork is normally smoked over coals, but Si and Dave say in Meat Feasts that “you can make it without a barbecue”. The meat braises in light ale, maple syrup and tomatoes instead, so the tin fills with gravy while it cooks.

That gravy is also where it can go wrong, so the frying pan at the end matters more than people expect. Use only a few tablespoons of the liquid, because any more steams the meat instead of caramelising the edges.

Hairy Bikers Pulled Pork Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Slow Cooking Cuisine:British American Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:1 hour 15 minutesCook time:5 hours Rest time: 20 minutesTotal time:6 hours 35 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:675 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Eight spices and two tablespoons of salt go onto the shoulder an hour before cooking, which seasons the meat right the way through rather than just the outside. The joint comes out soft enough to shred with two forks, then it is piled into soft buns with coleslaw and hot sauce. Feeds six to eight.

Ingredients

For the Pork:

• 1.5-2kg pork shoulder, in 1 or 2 pieces, skinned but with a reasonable layer of fat
• 250ml light ale or lager
• 50g maple syrup
• 200g tomatoes, roughly chopped
• Flaked sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the Dry Rub:

• 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp mustard powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds, roughly crushed
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper, roughly crushed
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

To Serve:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• Soft white burger buns
• Coleslaw
• Hot sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. Coat the shoulder: Mix all the rub ingredients together, then press the mixture into the pork until the joint is completely covered. Leave it to stand for an hour or so.
2. Fill the tin: Heat the oven to 150°C/Fan 130°C/Gas 2 and sit the pork in a roasting tin. Mix the beer with the maple syrup and tomatoes, season it, then pour the lot into the tin around the meat.
3. Cook it low: Cover the tin with foil and cook for about 5 hours, until the pork is very tender and there is a well-flavoured gravy underneath it. Take the tin out and leave the meat to rest for 20 minutes.
4. Pull it apart: Shred the pork with two forks. You can eat it as it is, though it is much better after a few minutes in a pan.
5. Fry it off: Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan, add a thick layer of the pulled pork and season it, then fry gently for a few minutes.
6. Add the liquid: Ladle over a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid, so the meat stays moist while the sauce reduces and the edges start to caramelise.
7. Build the buns: Pile the pork into soft white buns, then serve with coleslaw and a shake of hot sauce if you want some heat.

FAQs

Can I cook this in a slow cooker?

The version in Meat Feasts is an oven recipe, so this is my own conversion rather than something Si and Dave wrote. It works well because the pork is already sitting in liquid, which is exactly what a slow cooker wants.

Cut the beer to 150ml, since nothing evaporates under a lid, then cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5. The one thing you lose is the reduced gravy, so tip the liquid into a pan and boil it down by half before you fry the meat off. Skip that and the whole thing tastes thin.

How far ahead can I put the rub on?

The recipe says an hour, though overnight in the fridge is better if you have the time. There are two tablespoons of salt in that rub, so it works like a dry brine and pulls moisture out then back in, which seasons the meat right through instead of just the surface.

Take the joint out of the fridge about half an hour before it goes in the oven, so it is not fridge-cold in the middle. Mix the rub in a bowl rather than straight onto the meat, since the sugar clumps if it hits a wet surface and you end up with bare patches.

Does it matter whether my shoulder is 1.5kg or 2kg?

Not much, and that is the useful thing about this cut. Five hours covers the whole range, so a 1.5kg joint will simply be ready sooner and a 2kg one might want another thirty minutes.

Judge it by feel rather than the clock. Push a fork in and twist, and if the meat gives way without resistance it is done. If it fights back, put the foil on and give it longer, since shoulder has enough fat and collagen that it does not dry out the way a leaner joint would. The same logic applies to gammon in coke, which also sits for five hours before it gets its blast of heat.

Do I have to serve it in a bun?

No, though the buns soak up the liquid, which is half the point. If you want it as a plate of food instead, something sharp works better than something creamy, because the pork is already sweet from the maple syrup and the brown sugar.

Potato salad suits it because the capers and gherkins in it are sour enough to balance the meat, though it serves four so make half as much again. If you want to go properly northern with it, pease pudding is the traditional partner for pork round here and it slices cold straight from the fridge.

How do I reheat the leftovers without drying them out?

Keep some of the cooking liquid back, because that is the whole trick. Freeze the pork with a few spoonfuls of liquid poured over it, then it thaws into something moist rather than into dry threads.

Reheat it in the frying pan the same way you finished it the first time, adding liquid a spoonful at a time. Cold pork also presses well in a hot pan between two slices of bread, in the same way the reuben sandwich works, so there is no need to shred it into anything fancy.