Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce

I've recently had to adopt a fairly strict meal planning regime - Sunday night is my night to cook slow and experiment. Tonight is Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce.

We're having American for dinner tonight

BBQ Sauce (from scratch)

I found it very interesting that a lot of recipes for BBQ sauce claim to be made "from scratch" but are just a mixture of ketchup, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar. Here is my attempt. It's spicy and smoky. I like that it has some texture from the pureed vegetables. I've used rum instead of bourbon because that's what was in my booze cupboard. 

THIS RECIPE from A Life From Scratch illustrates all the steps beautifully.

Makes 3 cups

1 red onion

1  diced carrot

1 mild red chilli

1 apple

1 kiwi fruit (because it was there)

1/2 capsicum (red or yellow)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp each minced garlic, ginger and hot chilli paste (sambal oeleck)

1/2 tsp each of dried thyme, oregano and basil

1/4 cup brown sugar

400g tinned tomato

1 tbsp treacle

3 tsp spanish sweet smoked paprika

2 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp mustard seed

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

90ml Bundaberg rum

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup (250ml) water

Peel and dice the fruit and vegetables. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add the salt and gently sweat the fruit and vegetables until soft. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Bring to the boil, and then simmer until reduced by at least half. Remove the bay leaf and blend until smooth, then allow to simmer until thickened. I made this the day before so it had 24 hours to sit in the fridge and further develop the flavours. 

Pulled Pork

1.5kg Pork Neck (scotch fillet)

Spice Rub

• 2 tsp spanish smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp white peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp of cumin seed
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano, basil and thyme
• 1 tsp garlic granules

Grind the spices in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Cut the pork neck into 2-3 large pieces so it will fit into your pot. I am using my pressure cooker. Rub the  meat all over with olive oil and the spice rub. Allow the meat to marinate for 4 hours or longer. Heat the oil in the pan and brown the meat, taking care to avoid burning the spices. Add 1 cup of water, and 1 cup of BBQ sauce. Mix well to coat the meat. Seal the pot and bring to pressure, then reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and allow the pressure to slowly release. Carefully remove the meat from the pan and shred using two forks. It should be very tender.

To serve, cut a roll in half and add a generous portion of pulled pork, caramelised onions, warm bbq sauce and coleslaw. You will need a napkin :)