How to Cook Pulled Pork

Posted on September 10th, 2009 by Marck

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Barbecue is a famous and celebrated tradition all over the United States. Many people agree that barbecued meats are best eaten with the hands, and the scrumptious and delicious recipe of pulled pork started from there. If you want to cook pulled pork for friends and family, here’s an easy recipe.

What is Pulled Pork?

Slow-cooking methods are great ways to impart a unique flavor to many dishes. Braising and crock-pot cooking is often used for meat dishes because it breaks down collagen and connective tissue, resulting in tender, flavorful meat. Pulled pork is a variation of barbecue that is slow-cooked over a grill. Slow-cooking achieves that chewy, fibrous consistency in the meat, with all the flavor concentrated in the fibers.

“Pulled pork” gets its name from the fact that the meat is so soft that it can be literally pulled out with the fingers with little to no pressure. In some dishes a whole pig may be slow-roasted and diners can pick the meat off the animal. In most cases, though, the pork is shredded with a fork before being served as is, or with sidings of potatoes, rice, or as a filling for a sandwich.

Ingredients

To make pulled pork, you need the following ingredients:

Three pounds of pork (preferably a fibrous, meaty boneless cut, like pork shoulder)
Spice rub (a mixture of your favorite dried herbs and powdered spices like cumin, paprika, cinnamon, mustard, coriander, nutmeg, rosemary, annatto, powdered ginger root, ground dried chilies, or garlic and onion powder)
Brown sugar
Coarse sea salt
Ground black peppercorns
Apple cider

Steps

Follow these steps to make pulled pork:

Mix the ingredients of the spice rub together with brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
Rub the powder all over the pork shoulder.
Allow the powder to set into the meat for at least 24 hours. Keep the meat refrigerated.
Prepare the grill by setting slow-heating briquettes at the bottom of the grill. You may also want to add hickory chips or other aromatic hardwood wood chips to give your pulled pork a lot of flavor.
Fire up the grill to the lowest heat setting possible.
Pour apple cider into a roasting dish, and place a cooking rack on it.
Place the pork on the rack, and cover the grill. Allow the pork to cook for at least 4 hours until done.

Once the meat is cooked, you can then break it apart with a fork and serve it with any sidings or complements you want, or you can serve the hunk of meat on its own with people picking at it.