what cut of meat for pulled pork
Discussion
Tuvra said:
Pork Shoulder as said.
Costco do massive boneless shoulder joints two for around £8 all in, one would make upwards of 10 "filled to the max" standard rolls.
I have recently got into this and love it, shame there's so much waste as there's only two of us though
Waste? I've read a few times that pulled pork freezes well, try that with the left overs. Never a problem in our house, it all gets eaten!Costco do massive boneless shoulder joints two for around £8 all in, one would make upwards of 10 "filled to the max" standard rolls.
I have recently got into this and love it, shame there's so much waste as there's only two of us though
Actually I've found that nearly any form of pork works if you cook it long enough in the slow cooker, I used a gammon joint recently and it worked just as well.
And waste?! Just use it again the next night and have it with rice or something, personally whenever we have it, we make up all the stuff you need to have Burrito's, so guacmole, sour cream, cheese, salad, refried beans, rice, its a winner.
And waste?! Just use it again the next night and have it with rice or something, personally whenever we have it, we make up all the stuff you need to have Burrito's, so guacmole, sour cream, cheese, salad, refried beans, rice, its a winner.
We cooked a lovely free-range pork shoulder a couple of weeks ago. From memory, it was about 5Kg (bone in).
Started it on Sunday morning about 8am and tucked into Sunday dinner around 12 hours later (two of us).
On the Monday I had a big fat pulled pork sandwich for lunch and froze the rest of it into 6 x 2 portion vacuum bags.
So that's 7 dinners for two and 1 lunch from a shoulder.
And we had crackling most days for the rest of that week
Started it on Sunday morning about 8am and tucked into Sunday dinner around 12 hours later (two of us).
On the Monday I had a big fat pulled pork sandwich for lunch and froze the rest of it into 6 x 2 portion vacuum bags.
So that's 7 dinners for two and 1 lunch from a shoulder.
And we had crackling most days for the rest of that week
Last time I made it I froze the leftovers but when they were de-frosted they went a bit watery and were not really much use for anything.
Anybody had any experience of this happening? Maybe I used poor quality pork, it was a while ago but this has left me a bit reluctant to do it again as there was a bit of waste.
Anybody had any experience of this happening? Maybe I used poor quality pork, it was a while ago but this has left me a bit reluctant to do it again as there was a bit of waste.
FurtiveFreddy said:
On the Monday I had a big fat pulled pork sandwich for lunch and froze the rest of it into 6 x 2 portion vacuum bags.
These vacuum bags. Are they food bags that you can vacuum seal? Where did you get them from, and do they work well? I've always thought they were a good idea, but never knew you could get them for food.OpulentBob said:
These vacuum bags. Are they food bags that you can vacuum seal? Where did you get them from, and do they work well? I've always thought they were a good idea, but never knew you could get them for food.
There are food bags you can get which are like zip lock bags but designed to be used several times. You can use a straw to suck the air out and it can be good enough for keeping some foods fresher in the fridge or for sous vide cooking. If you want to prevent freezer-burn though, you need to get as much air out as possible and ensure the vacuum is maintained, so I use one of these for refrigerating, freezing and for sous vide cooking some foods:
http://www.andrewjamesworldwide.com/Product.asp?Pr...
You need to use the proper vacuum bags/rolls with them, but they're widely available in various sizes. If you want to try sous vide, you need to make sure they are safe to use in a water bath at higher temperatures. Any bags you use for food should be certified food-grade.
I've been through a couple of these vacuum sealers. JML do one too. They're a bit plasticcy, but my current one has been in service for a couple of years now and is still going strong. I looked around for something a bit more professional/heavy duty but the price gap between this type of product and the professional vacuum chambers and bag sealers is huge.
I did recently see this has just been announced, however:
http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/Shop_Online/SousVid...
Still a bit pricey at £650, but it would be much more efficient and allow me to vac pack liquids, which is pretty tricky to do with the low cost units. I suspect I'll get one eventually (if I can negotiate a place to put it with my 'kitchen supervisor').
OpulentBob said:
If anyone's got a decent pulled pork recipe, feel free to share...
I insist
Probably minimal help, but this is the recipe I follow when smoking it on the BBQ.I insist
http://virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html
Hugh F-W said:
"Aromatic shoulder of pork ‘Donnie Brasco’
This dish gets its name because you can “fugeddaboutit” while it cooks ever so slowly overnight in a low oven. Actually, versions of this dish have already been enthusiastically championed by both the River Café and Nigella Lawson. I include it here, shameless to be third in the queue, because not only is it a wonderful dish but it is also an incredibly elegant solution to the problem of feeding twenty or more people with minimum effort.
All I can do to claim a stake in it is offer a personalised version of the sweet spice paste (a combination of chilli, garlic, ginger and the classic Chinese five-spice mix) that is rubbed into the rind – and to give it a new, slightly silly, name. But I do urge you to try it.
1 whole shoulder of pork on the bone — it will weigh about 5-8kg
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
5cm piece of fresh ginger root, peeled
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp flaky salt
1 tbsp sunflower or groundnut oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
For the five-spice mix:
2 star anise
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
Score the rind of the pork shoulder with a Stanley knife in parallel lines about 1cm apart, to a depth of 4-1cm (or ask your butcher to do this).
Grate the garlic and fresh ginger into a small bowl and mix to a paste with the chilli flakes, ground ginger, brown sugar, salt, oil and soy sauce. Pound the five spices in a pestle and mortar (or grind in a coffee grinder) and mix 1 tablespoonful into the paste (any left over will keep in an airtight jar; you could make larger quantities, if you like, and store).
Place the pork shoulder, skin-side up, on a rack above a large roasting tin. With your fingertips, rub just over half the spice paste into the scored rind of the pork. Place the joint in the centre of a very hot oven (230C/gas mark 8) for 30 minutes (for what I call the “half-hour sizzle”).
Then remove from the oven and, using oven gloves or a thick, dry cloth, carefully turn the joint over to expose the underside. Using a knife or wooden spoon this time (the meat will be very hot), smear the remainder of the spice paste over the underside of the meat (now facing uppermost).
Pour a glass of water into the roasting tin, turn the oven down to 110C/gas mark 2 and replace the joint. Leave for anything from 16-24 hours, turning it skin-side up again, and basting with the fat and juices in the tin, about half way through. About 45 minutes before you want to eat, whack up the heat to 230C/gas mark 8 again to crisp up the crackling. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.
To serve the pork, remove the crackled skin in a single piece and break it up to hand around your guests. Don’t so much carve as scoop the tender, melting, aromatic meat on to warmed plates. Serve with a simple starch, such as noodles, plain buttered macaroni, boiled rice or even mashed potatoes. I prefer to serve a salad after, rather than greens with, the pork."
We've tried a couple of variations with the cooking method. Last time we covered the whole thing with a foil 'tent' with a view to keeping theThis dish gets its name because you can “fugeddaboutit” while it cooks ever so slowly overnight in a low oven. Actually, versions of this dish have already been enthusiastically championed by both the River Café and Nigella Lawson. I include it here, shameless to be third in the queue, because not only is it a wonderful dish but it is also an incredibly elegant solution to the problem of feeding twenty or more people with minimum effort.
All I can do to claim a stake in it is offer a personalised version of the sweet spice paste (a combination of chilli, garlic, ginger and the classic Chinese five-spice mix) that is rubbed into the rind – and to give it a new, slightly silly, name. But I do urge you to try it.
1 whole shoulder of pork on the bone — it will weigh about 5-8kg
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
5cm piece of fresh ginger root, peeled
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp flaky salt
1 tbsp sunflower or groundnut oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
For the five-spice mix:
2 star anise
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
Score the rind of the pork shoulder with a Stanley knife in parallel lines about 1cm apart, to a depth of 4-1cm (or ask your butcher to do this).
Grate the garlic and fresh ginger into a small bowl and mix to a paste with the chilli flakes, ground ginger, brown sugar, salt, oil and soy sauce. Pound the five spices in a pestle and mortar (or grind in a coffee grinder) and mix 1 tablespoonful into the paste (any left over will keep in an airtight jar; you could make larger quantities, if you like, and store).
Place the pork shoulder, skin-side up, on a rack above a large roasting tin. With your fingertips, rub just over half the spice paste into the scored rind of the pork. Place the joint in the centre of a very hot oven (230C/gas mark 8) for 30 minutes (for what I call the “half-hour sizzle”).
Then remove from the oven and, using oven gloves or a thick, dry cloth, carefully turn the joint over to expose the underside. Using a knife or wooden spoon this time (the meat will be very hot), smear the remainder of the spice paste over the underside of the meat (now facing uppermost).
Pour a glass of water into the roasting tin, turn the oven down to 110C/gas mark 2 and replace the joint. Leave for anything from 16-24 hours, turning it skin-side up again, and basting with the fat and juices in the tin, about half way through. About 45 minutes before you want to eat, whack up the heat to 230C/gas mark 8 again to crisp up the crackling. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.
To serve the pork, remove the crackled skin in a single piece and break it up to hand around your guests. Don’t so much carve as scoop the tender, melting, aromatic meat on to warmed plates. Serve with a simple starch, such as noodles, plain buttered macaroni, boiled rice or even mashed potatoes. I prefer to serve a salad after, rather than greens with, the pork."
meat as moist as possible and skipped the 45 minute 'blast' at the end. Instead, I removed the rind at the end of the cooking and then cut off as much as we wanted for that first helping and crisped it up on its own in a hot oven. The rest of the rind was put in the fridge and then you can cut pieces off and crisp them up as and when you fancy some crackling. Or you can just do what I normally do and eat all the crackling in one go.
muppetdave said:
FurtiveFreddy said:
froze the rest of it into 6 x 2 portion vacuum bags.
Exactly that - works really well in stir-frys tooRe the cut, we tend to wait until Sainsbo's have a huge discount Saturday 7pm on their value pork shoulder and bulk buy. To be honest it tastes just as good as the much more expensive shoulder that the village butchers refers to as blade (bone in).
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