There was a time when many American BBQ recipes were being shared when cooking/food related shows expanded their presence on TV in the early 1990’s. Ribs we had seen then pulled pork began a thing. Basically it’s a pork butt (part of the pork shoulder toward the neck) that is slow cooked until tender then torn into smaller pieces with forks. Tossed in BBQ sauce and made into sandwiches. It was the darling of BBQ recipes.

Then it gone overdone, overplayed like a hit record that you once loved but because of radio overplay, you can’t stand it anymore. Any food trend is over when the fast food chains grab a hold it and that’s when I knew to take a break from pulled pork.

Last year, I brought it back, serving it at a couple of Christmas parties and it was a big hit! I am declaring pulled pork is back! It begins with a bone-in pork butt and as I stated earlier, this is the shoulder cut that’s below the neck. Good fat content, lots of flavour but after a good amount of cooking time, it becomes fork-tender.

You can also source boneless pork butt but I prefer bone-in as this allows you to surely know when your pork has slow-cooked sufficiently – the bone will come out of the meat effortlessly.

Pulled Pork

Recipe by Peter MinakiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• Approx. 2lb bone-in pork butt

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

• 2 Tbsp. kosher salt

• 3/4 tsp. black pepper

• 1 Tbsp. chilli powder

• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika

• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (half if using dry)

• 1 Tbsp. onion powder

• 2 tsp. garlic powder

• 1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup lager beer

• BBQ Sauce

• 2 cups ketchup

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1 tbsp. garlic powder

• 1/4 Worcestershire sauce

• 1/4 balsamic vinegar

• hot sauce to taste

Directions

• Take your pork out of the fridge and pat-dry. Set aside.
• Mix all the spices in a bowl. Now rub oil all over your pork and cover all areas with the spice blend.
• Place a skillet on your stove top over medium-high heat and add a bit of oil in the pan. Sear/brown all sides of the pork butt and take off the heat.
• Into your slow cooker, place the sliced onions on the bottom and place the pork on top and pour in your beer.
• Cover slow cooker and cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours until very tender (the pork will be ready when the bone easily comes out).
• Meanwhile, make your BBQ sauce by placing all the ingredients in a medium pot and stir over medium heat. Adjust taste to your liking. Set aside.
• Tear pork apart with two forks or use tongs to break apart for a meatier texture. Toss in BBQ sauce and onions and serve as in buns.

Notes

• No slow cooker? There’s also a slow cooker setting on Instant Pot, you can use a Dutch oven or place in a roasting pan with a cover in the oven (300F). Cooking times will vary.