Pulled Pork 2
Ingredients
- 2 pork chops (8 to 10 oz, bone-in blade-cut (shoulder chops); country-style ribs will do as well)
- Spice Rub:
- 1 t Sugar (Light Brown)
- 1/2 T paprika
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1/4 t Salt (Table)
- 1/2 t freshly ground pepper
- The Rest:
- 4 t vegetable oil
- 1 c minced onion
- 1 chopped bacon (slice)
- 1 cloves minced garlic
- 1/8 t crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 c Vinegar (Cider)
- 2 T ketchup
- 1 t Sugar (Light Brown)
- 4 buns (for serving)
Method
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300F / 150C / Gas 2. Cut the chops away from the bones, trim off large sections of fat, and slice meat into 1" thick strips. Combine spice rub ingredients in a bowl. Pat pork dry with paper towels and rub with spice mixture.
Heat 2t oil in a large ovensafe saucepan over medium heat until just smoking. Add half of pork and brown on all sides, 1-3 minutes; transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining pork and remaining oil; transfer to plate.
Add onion and bacon to the fat left in the pan; cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in vinegar, ketchup, and remaining 1t brown sugar, scraping up any browned bits; bring to a simmer. Return browned pork, with any accumulated juice, to the pan. Cover, transfer pan to oven, and cook until dinner fork slips easily in and out of pork, about 1.5 hours.
Transfer pork to carving board, let cool slightly, and shred into bite-sized pieces. Return pork, with any accumulated juice, to pan and toss to coat with sauce. Serve on buns.
Notes
SJ Note 22 May 2011: Very tasty! Definitely a keeper. I did think it was a tiny bit too sweet, but that's easily fixed; I've marked it to use one less teaspoon of brown sugar in this copy. Our buns must have been smaller than theirs - we'd have needed 4 for the filling. It was really filling, though, and we each only had one sandwich with sides (coleslaw for me, beans for Chris).