Low, Slow, and Worth Every Single Hour

Pulled pork is not a weeknight recipe. I want to establish this immediately so there are no misunderstandings later. This is a Saturday morning recipe — the kind where you start cooking at 9am, go about your day, and return periodically to check on something that is filling your entire home with a smell so good it constitutes a minor inconvenience to everyone in the vicinity.

Pork shoulder — also labelled pork butt, which is confusing but correct — is one of the most forgiving, most rewarding cuts of meat available at any price point. It is marbled with fat and collagen, both of which are your allies in a long, low cook. The fat bastes the meat from within as it renders. The collagen converts to gelatin over hours of heat, creating a silky, sticky richness that holds the shredded meat together and makes each bite feel luxurious in a way that has no business coming from a relatively inexpensive cut.

The BBQ sauce is made from scratch. I know you have a bottle in the fridge. Use it on something else.

Ingredients :

• 1.5kg boneless pork shoulder
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

BBQ Sauce:

• 200ml tomato ketchup
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

To serve:

• Brioche burger buns, lightly toasted
• Coleslaw (the crunchy kind, not the soggy kind)
• Pickled jalapeños, if you make good decisions

Methods :

1. Mix all the dry rub ingredients together. Pat the pork shoulder completely dry. Rub the spice mixture over every surface — every surface — pressing it into the meat. Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible, or at least 2 hours.
   
2. Preheat your oven to 150°C (fan 130°C). Heat a large ovenproof pot or Dutch oven over high heat with the oil. Sear the pork shoulder on all sides until deeply browned — 3-4 minutes per side. Do not rush this. The crust you’re building here is flavour you cannot add later.
   
3. Add 150ml water to the pot. Cover tightly with a lid or double layer of foil. Transfer to the oven.
   
4. Cook for 4-5 hours until the meat is completely tender and pulling apart when prodded with a fork. Check at the 4-hour mark — it’s ready when a fork meets no resistance whatsoever.
   
5. While the pork cooks, make the BBQ sauce: combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, simmer for 10 minutes, adjust seasoning. Set aside.
   
6. Remove pork from the pot. Reserve the cooking juices. Using two forks — or your hands, once cool enough — pull the meat apart into shreds. Discard any large pieces of fat.
   
7. Mix the pulled pork with enough BBQ sauce to coat generously. Add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking juices to keep everything moist and glossy.
   
8. Pile onto toasted brioche buns. Add coleslaw on top — inside the bun, not on the side. The texture contrast is the point. Add jalapeños. Eat with both hands.

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Pro Tip :

The reserved cooking juices at the bottom of the pot are not to be discarded. They are liquid gold — intensely porky, rich with gelatin, and deeply seasoned. Skim the fat off the top, then stir the defatted juices back through the pulled meat along with the BBQ sauce.

This is what keeps leftover pulled pork as good on day three as it was on day one. Store the meat with its juices, always. Pulled pork that has been stored dry is a sad, fibrous thing. Pulled pork stored in its own juices is dinner again tomorrow with no additional effort.