Pulled Pork Recipe - No photo's!

I've been meaning to add this recipe to a blog and share it for a while now, but every time I make it I'm in such a hurry to eat it that I forget to take pictures!

So I'm posting the recipe anyway! It's too good not to share!

The recipe is not totally my own, I adapted it from a recipe that was posted on a friend's Facebook, when she found herself kitcheless, with only a slow cooker for family meals.
Now those of you who know me will know how much I love my slow cooker! I'm proud of the fact that I've converted a couple of friends to use them too!

This recipe is an American recipe. I don't have American measuring cups so for a recipe like this when quantities don't need to be precise, just in proportion I use a tea cup as a measure and call it measuring in 'ish'. Using this method for this recipe has never let me down!

I use a 1.2 - 1.5 kg piece of Pork shoulder. I look for a piece with very little fat or skin, as unlike when I do a roast & want it all crispy, you'll just be cutting it off.
This cut is very often on offer in the supermarkets so I always buy a piece and make this recipe. It feeds 6 easily with left overs and can be stretched to feed further depending on how you serve it.

Today we had it with potato & sweet potato wedges, corn, coleslaw & onion rings.
We've also had it mixed with beans, rice & cheese in a wrap to make burrito's or in Burger buns with fries & salad. Either of the last two suggestions work really well for a crowd!

So grab a teacup and make this marinade!

Into the slow cooker dish goes

1 large onion roughly chopped
1/2 a cup ketchup
1/3 cup cider or wine vinegar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp American mustard
1/2 tsp salt
a good grind of black pepper

Mix well and put on LOW.

Take the pork and cut away any fat or rind & discard. Cut the pork into 4 pieces, no need to be fancy you just want 4 hunks of meat!

Place the pork into the slow cooker & coat thoroughly with the marinade. Place the lid on the slow cooker & leave to do it's thing for 8-10 hours, yes really!

There's no need to add any liquid, just leave it on low and walk away.

Once ready remove pork from the slow cooker and turn heat setting to HIGH to reduce the sauce. I always skim the fat from the top if there is any.
Take 2 forks & shred the pork. Once all shredded either spoon over the cooking sauce or place the meat back in the slow cooker and turn heat setting down to 'WARM'

Serve in any of the ways suggested above and enjoy :o)

If you like a little spice I suggest adding a little Harissa paste to the mix or Chipotle chilli paste but do so with CAUTION! Slow cookers intensify the heat, I'm thinking a teaspoon would be more than enough!

Slow cooked gammon in cola

The evenings getting darker and chillier tell it's time to get the slow cooker out from the back of the cupboard and put it in it's winter home, on the kitchen counter. I love my slow cooker. I usually prepare the meat and vegetables the night before and store the casserole part of the slow cooker in the fridge. That way, in the morning all I have to do is put the casserole in the outer, switch it on and off I go to work. When I return the house smells wonderful and dinner is almost ready. At the very most I may have to cook some rice, pasta or potatoes, hardly an effort.

I'm going to buy one for my very dear friend Karen for Christmas. She works shifts as does her husband, often they need to eat at different times or finish at silly o'clock and the last thing they feel like doing is cooking a meal for the family when they get home, so I thought it would be a big help for them. I run the idea by her first and she thought it would be a great idea, as long as I get her a recipe book to go with it, not a problem!

My lovely friend The List Writer was thinking of getting one and asked my advice. I'm glad to say she hasn't been disappointed and has been putting it to good use. Her recipes have inspired me to cook some different things in my slow cooker as I have to admit I was sticking to the old tried and tested casseroles and stews.

So today I cooked one of my family's favourites Gammon. I usually boil it on the cooker top in a big pan with some carrots and celery for a good couple of hours but you do have to be home for that, as if left it could boil over or the pan could run dry. Today I decided to cook it in cola, (yes you read that right!) in the slow cooker, leaving us free to come & go as we pleased without worrying about pans on the hob! The result was melt in the mouth gammon that quite literally fell apart.

Here's what I did.....

I placed the gammon joint in the slow cooker (mine was about 1.3kg)

I chopped up 4 carrots  and cut a large onion into quarters. I stuck a clove into each quarter of the onion.

I drained and rinsed a tin of mixed beans and put them into the cooker.

I popped in 2 bay leaves.

I put a litre of cola in a sauce pan with about a tablespoon of dark brown sugar, a heaped teaspoon of English mustard and a squeeze of tomato puree. I brought it all to the boil and then poured the mixture over the ingredients in the cooker.

Now usually I don't precook anything other than mince, but you want the mixture combined so that you can just leave it to do it's own thing in the cooker on the high setting.

After about 6 hours we were ready for tea. As I've already said the meat just fell apart. I separated the juices from the gammon and vegetables and put it back into a saucepan and set it to boil and reduce for about ten minutes while I mashed some potatoes and cooked some peas. My slow cooker has a 'warm' button, so while I was mashing, cooking and reducing, I left the gammon and vegetables in the cooker to keep warm.

The whole family really enjoyed their tea and there was no gammon left at all!

I'm looking forward to trying some more old favourites in the slow cooker and some new recipes too. Long Live the Slow Cooker!

(Apologies for the picture quality, kitchen lighting is dismal. Kitchen is currently being transformed and lighting is on the list!)