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08 October 2009
It Turns Out That....→[More:]
....in my mind, I still need a place to go.
Elsa, cook the pork for several hours in Coca Cola. Not Diet Coke, you have to have the sugar. Two cans should be enough, if you're using a crockpot or a dutch oven with a tight lid. Seal the lid with foil anyway. When the meat is tender, take it out of the crockpot or whatever you've cooked it in, pour the liquid into a jug, shred the meat on a platter, add it back to the pot with a jar of BBQ sauce and a little of the Coke liquid if it needs it, and give it another hour or two. All of this on a low heat. Delish.
Jan, I actually used my brother's Beachday Pulled Pork recipe, which has three ingredients: pork shoulder butt, a cup or two of gooooooood storebought BBQ sauce, and time.
Put the pork and sauce in a heavy casserole with a tight-fitting lid, put the casserole in a 300F oven, and go to the beach for the whole afternoon. If someone stays home, have them turn down the oven to 250F after a couple of hours; cook for a total of 4 to 5 hours. Pull it apart (though you won't really need to pull it; it all falls apart into a delicious tangle.)
Because we were using it as burrito stuffing, I wanted something more acidic and less sweet, so I cut the BBQ sauce with some red wine, added some chiles, oregano, cumin, and garlic.
Because it's October in Maine and because I am largely immobile, I also didn't go to the beach, but lounged on the sofa with some movies, an icepack, and a bottle of muscle relaxants. This variation has not at all diminished the recipe's effectiveness.
We bought ten pounds, the smallest cut we could get without waiting in line at the butcher counter, to serve three meat-eating diners. I was a little worried we'd have a pile of leftovers, but NO. It is insanely good. I'm about to finish up the last of it tonight with a crusty roll and a salad.