Nigella

Epic Pulled Pork Lunch

2/05/2010 07:09:00 PM

Pulled pork, crackling, potato salad, gherkins, coleslaw, bun.

You may remember my slow-roasted pork dinner, which saw me buy 2 gorgeous yet incredibly expensive pork shoulders, only to stash one in the freezer without cooking it. I have a bad habit of carefully storing meats and leftovers in the freezer, only to forget about them completely. It is usually only several months later that I re-discover them, frostbitten beyond recognition, and shamefully chuck them out. I was determined not to let this happen to such a lovely piece of meat, and rapidly organised another lunch!

I'd been wanting to make Southern-style pulled pork for a while, (i.e. slow roasted pork served with BBQ sauce and coleslaw in a bun!), and thought this would be a good opportunity to try it. About a week before the lunch, I kinda invited another 6 people (oops), so ended up buying another pork shoulder and getting everyone to chip in $10 towards the cost of said pork.


Pulled Pork for 12

Pulled Pork with Crackling
(Homemade) BBQ Sauce
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Mac & Cheese
Cornichons and White Baps

Coffee Frappuccinos
Cherry and Apple Pie


Traditionally, pulled pork is slow cooked, then pulled apart and mixed with barbecue sauce. The saucy pork pieces are then eaten in white buns with coleslaw. (This is what my google research told me - I'm sure different places in the States have their own traditions). However, for some reason that I cannot fathom, when researching pulled pork nowhere did I ever find reference to crackling. I didn't want to miss out on crackling, so I cooked the pork exactly the same way as last time (see here), and made some of Tyler Florence's Ultimate BBQ sauce to go with. It is so delicious.

The table:

And now for some closeups!
This is the crackling. Although I love making crackling, I'm not that into actually eating it, and never have more than one or two bites. My friends and family, however, are craazy about it!


These pork shoulders had a much higher fat-to-meat ratio than the previous one, hence the rather alarming amount of crackling above. No-one seemed to be complaining though, haha.

And now the sides:

Above: Mac & Cheese, below Coleslaw

"Tolan's Mum's Potato Salad"

All the sides are from Tyler's Ultimate, and both the mac & cheese and coleslaw have been made before and are family favourites. (And no, Duncan, I do not have a secret crush on Tyler - It's not my fault his recipes are just awesome!!) I'd never made his potato salad before, as I usually prefer the mayo-free and bacon heavy Kartoffelsalat that is famous throughout Lampertheim. I really liked this one though - it has a tangy mayo dressing and contains grated hardboiled eggs which give a great texture.

After we demolished the lunch (I cannot believe we ate all of that meat!), Sandra & I started working on some refreshments. It was a hot day, about 37C from memory, so realising that it would be too hot for coffee, we made frappucinos!

We had brewed a pot of coffee in the morning and let it cool in the fridge all day. Into the blender went the cold coffee, ice-cubes, milk, sugar and ice-cream. Ta-dah! Refreshing and reviving slushy goodness.

Then it was time for dessert, the cherry and apple pie that I previously posted about. Silly me, thinking that people wouldn't want much dessert after a huge lunch, only made a thin 24-cm pie. This meant enough for one slice per person, with one slice left over. (I have one crazy friend who doesn't like cherries, wtf, so he didn't have any).


I totally misjudged my friends' appetites, because we absolutely ripped through the pie, and only the fastest person got that lucky last slice.

On the other hand, we had heaps of coleslaw and potato salad leftover (even though the recipe says they'll serve 6-8 people). Crazytown!

Note to self: Halve the salads, double the pie.

You Might Also Like

18 comments

  1. Hoooray for Pulled Pork sanwhiches. The tastiest one I've had was in Crescent City somewhere in Northern California - but my oh my yours look mighty tasty!

    Really good post - now I'm hungry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gosh. You guys have a big appetite. But I guess it was so good that one cannot stop eating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG - that crackling! It all looks absolutely superb.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post. Roast pork is always awesome. Do you have a recipe for Kartoffelsalat you can share?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I still desperately want to try pulled pork. Yum! All that food looks fab

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sarah!! To die for!!!
    The Lee Bros. would be proud, girl.

    ReplyDelete
  7. would love to eat at your place! what's your recipe for coffee frappucinos? they'd be perfect for this weather!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm like you in not being able to stomach much crackling, but my family love it! Also, I'm leaving the US in two days after two months here, and I'm desperately going to miss my Starbucks frappuccinos....

    ReplyDelete
  9. That was one ultra delicious lunch Sarah. That pork was so soft and full of flavour. And the crackling...mmmm I want some now.

    As for the coleslaw, thanks for the take away, it went so well with some lamb cutlets I had the next day.

    The pie fight was epic, and I lost the fight for that last piece.

    Thanks for the lunch, you and Sandra are excellent hosts as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Red - I would love to travel to the states to have some good old fashioned pulled pork! So jealous.

    Penny - My friends have even bigger appetites than me! Hehe.

    Su-Lin - Thank-you!

    Mark - Thank-you, I agree. I'll see if I can find my recipe.

    Esz - Thank-you thank-you. Definitely have a go making it yourself if you can find a good pork shoulder!!

    Lisa - Thank-you!

    Panda - We didn't really use a recipe, just poured cold coffee (filter coffee, but you can use plunger) into a blender with some sugar, vanilla ice-cream, ice and milk!! We had to adjust sugar to taste.

    Hannah - I hope you had a good time in the States! I love a good frappuccino on a hot day!

    Thanh - Thanks!! You're an awesome guest, heheheh. I was eating potato salad and coleslaw for the next 3 days hahaha

    xox Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  11. Karen6:01 AM

    Sarah, that looks fantastic.
    You can get pulled pork sandwiches like that at barbecue restaurants all over the U.S. but it is specifically a North Carolina specialty. There, they just call it barbecue. And they pile the cole slaw onto the bun with the pulled pork.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love pulled pork too, and who needs convention? I have made some in my slow cooker and it is always delicious. That said, adding crackling to a pulled pork sandwich must be fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is making me want macaroni cheese SO bad. Loving the look of that crackling - sounds like an amazing day! Must check out this Tyler guy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love pulled pork - would very happily have eaten a lot of this!

    Gemma x

    ReplyDelete
  15. your pulled pork looks tasty! The recipe I had wasn't very good, so I'll give yours a try!

    ReplyDelete
  16. that WAS truly an epic lunch!!! i would not have dreamed of going head to head with val over that last piece of pie LOL she certainly earned it! thanks again sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  17. ayayaye! So this was the porky feast you were twittering about! Dang, it def looks worth the effort.

    Um, have you got a pic of the mac and cheese opened up? hehe

    ReplyDelete
  18. Karen - thanks for the tip!

    Katerina - My mum has an old crockpot; I should totally dig it out!

    Laura - Tyler Florence's recipes are fantastic!! He can be quite annoying on TV though, always barking at people hehehe.

    Gemma - Thanks!

    Suzanne - Thanks! I really like Jamie Oliver's slow-cooked pork shoulder recipe.

    retireddramaqueen - Hahaha, next time I'll make double dessert!

    Adrian - Yes, yes it was. Hmm I don't have a pic of the inside of the mac & cheese, guess you'll have to make it yourself, hehe! (It's worth it).

    xox Sarah

    ReplyDelete

CONTACT ME

My email address is sarahcooks [at] hotmail [dot] com.