Monday, December 07, 2015

Pulled pork sandwiches with tomatillo salsa and crunchy coleslaw

My last post was on September 25. Have I really been AWOL for the better part of three months?? What have I been up to? Working, a LOT. Travelling. Visited one of my besties in Manhattan where we ate and drank our way through some of the most incredible restaurants and bars the city has to offer. Nursing back-to-back colds. Which had better mean I'm off the hook this winter. Planning a winter getaway to the sunny shores of St Martin. And jotting down outfits I failed again and again to photograph the day I wore them ;) 

After such an extensive absence, it's only fair I come back with a bang. Trust me, this dish is EVERYTHING. 

You know the expression, 'necessity is the mother of invention'? In this case, I needed pulled pork with the most minimal of prep. I took a bunch of shortcuts on my usual recipe, and tried new ingredients by way of hoppy beer and coffee grinds. I wound up with the most wonderfully juicy, flavourful and fork-tender meat. We served the recipe below to dear friends in town from Australia and they RAVED about it. We all went back for seconds. And by seconds I mean thirds. The long and short of it: you need to make this NOW.

To make pulled pork:
This makes enough for about four people but any leftovers can be frozen. 
Place a 5-lb bone-in pork butt in the slow cooker. Add 1 can of IPA beer, one cinnamon stick, 1/4 cup BBQ sauce, 2T regular coffee grinds, 2T of any pork rub spice mixture, 1Tsp onion powder and 1 tsp garlic powder. Cook on low overnight. 

Scoop out most of liquid, leaving about 1/4 cup. The scooped-out liquid can be frozen and reserved for another use (e.g. chili, soup, the next batch of pulled pork). Remove the bone and separate the meat using a pair of forks until it's stringy. The smaller the strings, the more sauce it can absorb. Add additional BBQ sauce and maple syrup in a 2:1 ratio until meat is well-coated. Add 2T cayenne pepper. Mix well, then cook on high for another 30 mins. 
 
To make salsa:
This recipe is adapted from my Rebar cookbook. 
Remove the husks from 4 tomatillos, then brush lightly with oil and broil for 10 minutes. Place in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade and pulse until finely chopped. Add 1/4 red onion, 2 cloves garlic, juice of 1/2 lime, 1 tsp pureed chipotle in adobo sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt.
 
 To make coleslaw:
This recipe is my own. Using a food processor, finely shred 1/3 to 1/2 head of green cabbage, 2 carrots and 1 stalk of celery. Set aside. 

In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 cup mayo, 3T apple cider vinegar, 2T relish, 2T sugar, 1T horseradish, 3 stalks fincely minced green onion, 3 or 4 finely chopped pickled green beans (I used the Matt and Steve Extreme Bean brand), about 1T of the bean brine, and 1/2 tsp celery salt. Whisk well, then pour over cabbage mixture and allow to sit for an hour before serving. 

To serve:
Layer a ciabatta bun with pulled pork, salsa, coleslaw, then top with crispy onions and fresh cilantro.





1 comment:

  1. This looks sooooo good. I do something very similar with chicken.

    ReplyDelete

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