Topic: Slow Cooked Chipotle Pulled Pork Sandwiches

[Naga]

...obviously the chipotle are key ingredient...

Don't know if this info is any good, but all the big supermarkets sell some sort of chipotle paste and the usual online Asian spice shops also sell dried chipotles which can be rehydrated before use.

[Malc.]

Topics like this aren't doing my diet any good!

I am certainly going to try this one.

Jerry this may be of use which I bumped into by accident. When we do roast pork shoulder we normally wrap it in foil and place it in the oven for it's usual cooking time. However 1 day we decided to use the cookers auto cook function and set things in motion while we popped out for the afternoon. I set the oven low Fan 140c and left the oven to switch on at the preset time. Now we actually came back late and the pork had sat cooking for 3.5 hours.  When we opened the foil and removed the pork, it simply fell apart. You couldn't carve it as it just broke away in chunks. This would be perfect for making pulled pork.

For smokiness I know that some American establishments add smoke flavour using liquid or powdered products. I watched America's greatest eats with Adam Richmond the other day and was surprised to learn of an ingredient which was powdered hickory smoke flavouring.

[fried]

Dangerous stuff, especially since I just discovered Man vs Food!

[natterjak]

I made this tonight, substituting the Discovery Chipotle paste for the canned chipotles listed in the recipe.

Verdict...?  Highly delicious and deceptively simple to cook.  Deceptive because at first glance with such a long cooking time it seems like it might be lots of hassle, but actually after making the spice rub with just a few ingredients and coating the pork you just put it in the slow cooker and forget it.  No stirring. No turning. No peeking until 8hrs later. And then it's just shred and add passata and chipotle and back for a 30 min stew. Very easy!

The one change I would make next time is to halve or maybe reduce by a third the chilli powder content. I just found the chilli heat overpowered the other flavours at the end and having waited 8 hours for the meaty delicious flavours to concentrate together I wanted them and the chipotle smokiness to come through more strongly rather than being "stomped on" a bit by the power of chilli powder. There was a bit of acidity present from the passata too, maybe I will add more sugar at the start to balance it.

But these are details. Overall it was a rock solid recipe and technique and with pork shoulder at

[Malc.]

Hi NJ

That looks delicious. Did you find the pork dry in any way or did it work out perfectly?

It was funny as last night, after having read this topic that day, Adam Richmond was on Man v. Food Nation with a guy who attempted 25 pulled pork sliders. A mean feat which weighed in at no less than 5 pounds of food! No chance of me doing that ever, but it did make me chuckle at the coincidence.

I looked at the pork shoulder in ASDA yesterday but didn't a nice joint and was later disappointed as I couldn't find the discovery chipotle paste either. But i'll be trying this as soon as I can get the paste.

[timeless]

Had one of these in New York to say the the portion was big was an understatement

[natterjak]

Hi NJ

That looks delicious. Did you find the pork dry in any way or did it work out perfectly?

It wasn't dry. It does shrivel up a bit but the slow cooker preserves the moisture as it doesn't let the steam escape (unlike a normal oven). You end up with the fully cooked pork joint in a small lake of "gravy" which is the fat from the pork and the condensate from the moisture in the pork, with the spice rub dissolved into it. After you lift the pork out onto a plate to shred it, decant the "gravy" into a pint pot and let the fat settle to the top. After the shredded pork goes back into the cooker, pour the fat of the top of the liquid and then you pour the rich, dark gravy with meat, sugar, garlic and chill flavours back into the slow cooker, so the pork is now far from dry, it's actually almost soggy with the cooking liquor and the passata and chipotle paste.

The end result is moist and delicious.

[Malc.]

It sounds like heaven! I don't have a slow cooker but will definitely try this using the foil, I will report back. 

[Naga]

Wow, NJ! Your description of the cooked pork is making my mouth water - and it's not even 8am yet! I might just have to nip out for a cheap slow cooker and a big joint of pork shoulder!

[JerryM]

After the shredded pork goes back into the cooker, pour the fat off the top of the liquid and then you pour the rich, dark gravy with meat, sugar, garlic and chill flavours back into the slow cooker, so the pork is now far from dry, it's actually almost soggy with the cooking liquor and the passata and chipotle paste.

Axe,

in my past attempts this is the stage that i failed on. it's key.

ps the oven baking tin covered in foil does work. the 5 hrs at 140C is not long enough. i know 225F is ball park "smoke" target. given 976bar info going to try say 120C for the 8 hrs. i've added apple juice to make good any "oven" evaporation escape.

will also look out for any local chipotle. Aldi do a very nice 1kg shoulder too.