Pulled pork was a very farfetched idea for me. I had no idea how to marinade, cook, or pull it until last weekend. My pulled pork came out really good and I am going to share what this first timer did in order to succeed!
I made 20 pounds of pulled pork, so this is no little task…however, for a home cooked meal in the crock pot, I’d do it again.
Supply’s: Pork butt or Pork shoulder (I had 20 pounds so five pork shoulders), marinade, sea salt, crock pot, crock pot bags, and bowl.
1. Take the pork, I had five shoulder roasts, two without bone and three with bone, place the pork in a bowl and coat with sea salt. I took the sea salt and sprinkled it on the pork rubbing it in on each side. I do not like salt very much so I went sparingly on the salt…..
2. After prepping the meat with the salt, marinade the meat. I let the meat sit in the fridge for 12 hours.
Not the best picture however, this is a pork shoulder roast with out bone.. 3.47 pounds.....
I used Morton Sea Salt and Lawry's Hawaiian marinade
My lovely roasts chillin in the bowl before I place them in the fridge
3. While waiting for the meat I prepared my crock pots. (All five of them). I placed them threw my house; each one had a crock pot bag in them and a slight film of water on the bottom of the pot.
4. Once it was time to cook the meat, I placed one roast in each crock pot put them on low and letting them cook for 15 hours.
Two of my five crock pots.. I got these two guys for my shower... LOVE THEM!
5. Next I took the roast out of the crock pot one at a time, pulling apart the pork with two forks and placing the pulled pork in a bowl. I also, examined the meat as I pulled it apart, taking fat and (what I call) gristle out.
This is one roast pulled, examined and re-marinaded. Also, I got this bowl for my shower too... Talk about big and roomy and able to hold a lot. This is a MUST NEED on everyones list.
6. After taking out each roast and pulling it, putting the pulled pork in the bowl, I re-marinade each roast. I let the meat sit in the bowl while I cleaned out my crock pots. Once I had two crock pots relined and cleaned I replaced the meat into them and placed them on low for another hour.
7. Time to serve!
Lessons I learned:
1. I had bought five bottles of marinade, thinking one bottle per roast. However, once I started the process I only used two bottles. This lead to the meat tasting a little bland, which made me re-marinade and let sit a while before serving. (#6)
2. I also think I put too much water in the crock pots while cooking. I did not want the meat to dry out but I did end up having half the roast covered in the water I added plus the juices it produced.
Must do’s and Don'ts:
1. A big must do, I found was to use crock pot bags. This made clean up so much easier. Instead of trying to get rid of the juices while in a hot pot, you just pull the liner and boom! I was able to pull the liner and replace the liner in order to replace the pulled pork into two of the crock pots. The other ones I pulled the liner and let the pot cool until I could give them a fast wash.
2. DO NOT! I repeat DO NOT put the juices the roast produces down the drain. There is a lot of grease in them and they will clog up your drain... Do not ask how I know.. just understand its not pretty!
I hope my little adventure will be able to help guide you through when you make pulled pork. I would like to state that no matter how intimidating a food item might be you definitely should try to make it! I love to cook, however I can be very intimidated behind the stove. But sometimes you just have to let your inner chef come out!
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