Pulled Pork Carolina Style
Well, I made this about a month ago because my girlfriend was craving a Pork sandwich like she used to get when we worked out east, and I changed the recipe to be as low carb friendly as possible.
Now for those that have never had Carolina style Pull pork, the sauce is kinda a spicey, vinegary thin type of sauce. It is not like the BBQ sauce that comes in a bottle. Very good for a change though, and this is coming from a person who grew up on Kansas City style Sauce served over "Burned Ends" (The crusty, "burnt" crust from a smoked beef Brisket) Arthur Bryants and Gates BBQ!!!!!!(Smoke Box up by the airport is pretty darn good to!!)
Please Read the whole recipe first and make sure we are both on the same page.... Hopefully I didn't leave any thing out!!
12 servings (Personally I cut the recipe in half and still have a bottle of sauce left)
Sauce
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup Ketchup (I used KETO brand)
1/4 cup Worcestershire suace
3 TBS Brown Sugar... So I used enough Brown Sugar Twin to equal 3TB
2 TBS Dijon mustard
2 TBS Salt (I didn't add but a pinch)
1 TBS dried crushed red pepper (Flakes)
2 ts black pepper
Dash of cloves, garlic powder
Meat
2 boneless pork shoulder halves (Boston Butt, about 7 lbs)
(I used only one roast, maybe 4 lbs, because of my small pot and that I only cook for two people)
Sauce:
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a heavy large saucepan, simmer over med heat for 5 mins, remove from heat cover and let stand for 2 hours.
Meat:
Well this is were I went out on my own. Alot of recipes wants you to cook the meat over slow fire out in the smoker/ bbq grill. Well, I don't have enough contol over my grill, or enough patience to mess with it to make it work, so I cooked the Pork the same way I would my beef Brisket, in a large heavy dutch oven. I would think that a crockpot/ slow cooker could do the same thing, But I don't use either so I can not offer much advice on how to use those.... problably just the same but with out the browning first. What we basically want to do is to braise the meat, ie cook it long and slow in a moist enviroment, meaning in a little bit of liquid. I used some of the sauce mixed with alittle more ketchup and water as my liquid, with a drop of liquid smoke, (with beef Brisket I use some homemake low carb BBQ sauce, alittle bit more Ketchup and beef broth, or Beef broth and some salsa)
So here is how I did it:
Preheat the oven to, oh lets say 325- 350 F. (My oven is so old that it just has resigned itself to just hot as the surface of the sun or off, I regulate by propping the door open alittle.) Next put the very heavy dutch oven on the stove burner to preheat, with just enought oil to "slick" the bottom. Lightly trim the pork, and dry it off with a bunch of paper towels, I seasoned with alittle bit of salt, and then ground black pepper. Once the pot is pretty darn hot, almost, but not yet smoking, (the oil will "shimmer" in the pot if you look at it just right) ( I Cook a good bit so to me this is fun) Add the meat and Brown it on all sides (maybe 3 to 4 minutes a side, depending upon your stove top heat output, mine is 30 years older than me so it doesn't get really hot) There will be some "smoke" and that great Sizzle action/ sound.
Once the meat is browned, I kinda prop it up on its side in the pot and add my brasing liquid, and kind of scrap up the "fond", ie the little browned bits that stick to the pan. You should add enough liquid to come about half way up the side of your meat once it is back in pot. Then plop the meat back down in the pot, put the lid on and place in the preheated oven. Once in the oven it will take awhile, but after 45 min to an hour check on it make sure it still has some liguid (about halfway up the side of the meat). Keep checking every once in a while, but not too often or it will never get done. How long until it's done depends upon how hot your oven is, how big the piece of meat is, and the like. Low and Slow will give you tender meat, too fast and you end up with one tough piece of meat. You may think that you over cooked it after about an hour because it will look done, but will still be tough.... just wait, if your oven isn't blazing hot you didn't mess up, just wait, the magic will happen.
You can tell when it is done by using the fork test. Simply poke a fork into the meat and if it go's in really easy and the meat kinda seperates into Strands when you twist the fork, it's ready. This might take any where from 1:30 to 2:30 to 3 plus hours. The Meat will shrink up some.
Once done, pull the meat out of the pot, place it on a cutting board and let cool some. (I sometimes use the cooking liquid as a sauce when I cook brisket, I put in an a burner and reduce it some. I use but just alittle since that is where the majority of the carbs lurk, especailly reduced down) Once cool enought to handle, then we can "pull" the pork. This is the same as if you where "shreading" meat for tacos, or other mexican food. I use two forks and just kinda pull and seperate the meat. Other people will use a cleaver and roughly chop the pork. Put the pork in a large bowl and add enough sauce to moisten.
This is usally served on a bun, but not in our Low Carb world. It also will come topped with clow slaw. I really like the Atkins Slaw, (I got the recipe somewhere on the internet, it uses green cabbage)
So I serve it on a plate, pour some more sauce on, and top it with the slaw. Really good!!!!!!!!!!! Now I know everyone is wondering what the carb count is, myself included. I'm not a regular FitDay user and only have made this once so I never bothered to plug the numbers in to get a carb count. Hopefully it is not too bad, it doesn't seem like it would be.
This recipe is a mix of several that I pulled off the web, the July 2003 Bon Appetit, page 78, some program I saw on the cooking channel and personal experience and experimentation. Hey it worked for me and I hope it does for you.
Kansas5
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