Recipe: Elevated pulled pork

Many American BBQ recipes feature pork – the other white meat. It’s super high in protein, low in fat when you get the right cut (and when you don’t you can render the fat out) and also contains high levels of B vitamins such as B3, which is essential for getting food from energy, and B6 and B12, both of which are needed for blood cell formation, brain function and immune function.

From a cut of meat point of view, it uses pork shoulder or ‘Boston butt’ – the slightly wedged shaped portion at the top of the shoulder. Ask your butcher for it to be de-boned and to leave the skin on if you want to try our crackling and allow between 100-200g/4-7oz of meat per person.

By cooking it low ‘n’ slow you can ensure that all the nutrition stays in the meat itself, while combining it with our BBQ sauce creates the most incredible smoky BBQ meat this side of Texas.

Essentially, we are allowing the collagen present within the muscle and inter muscle tissue to naturally break down into gelatine, adding some incredible flavours and nutritional values with our house dry rub as its gently caramelises.

If you get chance then please try the ‘home smoking show’ as seen in the video… it’s fun and really adds a note of authenticity and anticipation when it perfumes the air in your kitchen.

A rough rule of thumb for cook times, at 140C/280F in a fan oven is 2 hours per 1lb (454g/16oz) of meat.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140C/280F (fan) to 160C/310F (convection)
2. Rub the meat with the rub and place on a trivet
3. If using our cheat home smoker: perforate a foil tray and place some quick ignite charcoal in it. Light and wait for it to go white, then add some food-grade whisky chips. Place under the trivet with the pork on top.
4. Cover the tray with another tray and place in the oven depending on the size of your joint (our 1kg/2lbs joint eg which serves five would take around five hours to cook).
5. Remove from the oven (increase the temperature now to 200C/390F (fan) to 220C/430F (convection) and allow to cool to a temperature you can handle. Use forks or your fingers to separate into strands as per the video. Slather in BBQ sauce and re-heat as needed
6. Thinly slice the bark (skin) if making crackling, add to a baking tray and sprinkle with sea salt. Place into an oven and remove every 2-3 minutes to decant the oil, saving it for dripping if you like.
7. Repeat until the bark strips blister and become light in texture. These little gems only really become crispy when the cool down and are perfect to freeze!