Alton Brown's Pulled Pork - Adapted

I moved! Everything is in boxes and just everywhere. But folks need to eat! So we are in the grocery store trying to think of what to cook.  Ah-ha! Pulled pork! Easy to make and creates a lot! We should try a new recipe and actually follow it!

And thus, we buy the meat, go home, start to brine the pork, and then realize… it’s a recipe that is actually cooked in a smoker and not a crock pot. Remember, read the recipe first! Don’t just check for the correct ingredients!

So, now we sort of follow the recipe. Brine the pork in the fridge overnight, 12 hours, in 1 ½ cups of non iodized table salt (what is pickling salt anyways???) and enough water to submerge it in the crock pot bowl. The next morning we drained it, covered it in the spices, and then put it in the slow cooker. We had it on low for an hour then on high for the remaining time. I wanted it to heat up slowly since we took it right out from the fridge.  

Note on the spices: I actually had fennel seeds and was able to grind them up! The grinder (a small spice/coffee grinder) doesn’t work very well if you just push down and pulse it because the seeds are so small. I actually shook mine a little to toss the seeds around while it was grinding them up.

After 7 hours I tried to shred it, but it was still too tough. I just cut the fat off and then cut it off the bone and put it back in for another 2 hours. After 9 hours some pieces were starting to shred but some pieces were not. Nate was leaving so we just took it all out and cleaned up. I think 11-12 hours were needed.

We were worried about leaving it in the pot with on water so I added about a cup of water to it. Don’t do that! So much liquid cooks out of the pork that it ended up basically in a broth.

This pork rub has some kick to it! I would use that again for sure. I would adjust the piece of meat (smaller, no bone, less fat), and I don’t think I would brine it again and maybe cook it longer depending on the size of meat.

The cut of meat! Whole pork shoulder roast!

Brine Bath Over Night!

Dry Rub

Getting there!

Bone removal

Put it back in to cook more

Shredded!

On a grilled bun!

In a quesadilla!

Scamblette! Aka scrambled omelet!

 Alton Brown's Pulled Pork

Rub:

1 teaspoon whole cumin seed

1 teaspoon whole fennel seed

1 teaspoon whole coriander

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon paprika 

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.

Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. Put into crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours.

Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve!

Pulled Pork Sandwich:
Put a little butter on a roll and then griddle on med - med high until browned. 

Quesadilla:
Heat some oil on a pan
Put down one tortilla, add the cheese, pork, let it cook until it melted.
Top with additional tortilla, flip and cook until browned.
If you are not good at flipping (the edges aren't sealed so it all falls out)...
heat another tortilla until browned and then put it on top of the other one!

Scramblette:
Heat meat and veggies in a pan, pour 1-2 beaten eggs over the top, scramble until done!