Pulled pork: Cook at home, no smoker required

The Hog is a big fan of pulled pork and has been begging me to make some for months. I recently read Felicity Cloake’s “how to cook perfect pulled pork” article, so I got to work one evening!

The ingredients are very few and the technique simple, it just takes time and patience to cook in a low oven.

Ingredients

1.6kg shoulder of pork from the neck end, bone in
2tbsp salt
2tbsp dark muscovado sugar
1tbsp smoked paprika
2tsp liquid smoke (optional)

I was unable to find a bone in shoulder and also didn’t use the liquid smoke. It tasted quite smokey already with the paprika, so I don’t think it needed any extra ‘smoke’.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Line a roasting tin with sheets of foil big enough to fold over the top of the pork, dry the meat with a paper towel and put in the tin. Mix the salt, sugar and paprika together and rub about half into the meat.

2. Put the pork into the hot oven for about 40 minutes to brown it up. Remove from the oven and turn temp down to 125C. Fold the foil over the top to make a sealed parcel. Return to the oven and cook for about 6–7 hours, until it’s soft enough to spoon. Pour off the juices and reserve.

3. Turn the heat back up to 220C and cook the pork, uncovered, for 10 minutes to crisp up. Take out, cover with a tent of foil, and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

4. Use two forks to pull into shreds. Stir in the rest of the seasoning and reserved meat juices from the tin. Ideally you should leave to soak for 24 hours before reheating in a warm oven to serve.

We found that the meat was slightly too salty so would definitely use less salt next time. Overall, we were very pleased with the result and hopefully it will deter the Hog from buying a smoker :-). It was delicious in a bun with barbecue relish and pickles.