Pulled pork (slow cooker recipe)
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| Pulled pork (slow cooker recipe) | |
|---|---|
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| Oh - how I love pulled pork! | |
| Servings: | Serves 6 |
| Ready in: | 18 hours 15 minutes |
| Prep. time: | 12 hours 15 minutes |
| Cook time: | 6 hours |
| Difficulty: | 
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Pulled pork (carnitas) is a classic American barbecue-style dish that can just as easily be cooked in a normal domestic oven.
This recipe is basically my standard pulled pork recipe, slightly adapted for a slow cooker. I've added 150 ml of cider and the flesh of 1 grapefruit, otherwise it's the same.
Lots of recipes suggest adding a tablespoon of liquid smoke over the meat at the final stage. I prefer to leave chemicals like that in the garage! However, if you have your own smoker, I would smoke it for an hour or so before you start the cooking process.
If you like this, you will also love Cochinita pibil and Beer pickled belly of pork!
Note: This recipe needs to be prepared 24 hours in advance.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 1.3 kg (3 lb) boneless pork shoulder.
- 2 level teaspoons sea salt
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons paprika - smoked paprika if you have it.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder, freshly ground if possible - see Chef's notes
- 2 teaspoons mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns, ground to a powder in a coffee grinder
- 2 teaspoons chilli powder or a bunch of your favourite dried chillies, powdered
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, ground to a powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 250 ml cider
- 1 grapefruit, peeled, and roughly chopped
Mise en place
- If you are lucky enough to have a smoker, smoke the joint for an hour or so.
- Mix all of the spices together in a large baking tray.
- Remove and discard the rind.
- Make random slashes in the meat.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to a large Lock and Lock box together with the pork joint. Replace the lid and shake like mad for a minute to mix the ingredients.
- refrigerate for 24 hours or so, shaking the box now and then.
Method
- Add the contents of the Lock and Lock box to your slow cooker.
- Cover and slow cook on low for 8 hours
- When the pork is cooked, remove from the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the pork into tiny pieces.
- TO BE CONTINUED
Serving suggestions
Serve on toasted buns with cole-slaw and buttery corn on the cob.
Chef's notes
The spices in this are not an exact science. If you don't have a certain spice, use something else. Look at the individual spice links on this page or our main spice category to find similar spices that you may have instead. If you favour a certain flavour, add more of it. Mess around, be bold!!
Having made this five or six times now, I would be inclined to leave out the cinnamon as I find the flavour somewhat overpowering. However, it does seems to be included in most traditional recipes.
I have also started to coat the pork with a good splash of lime or lemon juice before I add the rub.