I have been thinking about it ever since then. On a recent visit to Sydney I went to the Stuffed Beaver in Bondi, and had the Happy Pig Dam Burger....a pulled pork sandwich, served with slaw and bbq sauce, on a brioche bun, it was delicious.
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| Not so easy to photograph, but the Happy Pig oozes goodness. |
So a bit of research later I came up with a few recipes to try with the goal of creating my very own pulled pork slider. Slider meaning mini burger.
Most of the recipes marinated and then cooked the boneless pork shoulder in a slow cooker. I don't have a slow cooker so I cooked it in my favourite le creuset pot. Not quite good friday fare but a good opportunity to try the sliders out on some willing taste testers and critics.
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| The Home Made Mini Pulled Pork Slider |
I decided on using a pork shoulder with the bone in, rather than a deboned shoulder. Ask you butcher to prepare it for you by scoring the fat and also cutting through the bottom of the shoulder that will help to loosen the meat. Depending on what size shoulder you use or if you use a slow cooker you may need to adjust the liquid to suit.
This is enough to feed all your mates on a Saturday night (10-12 peeps).
Ingredients
1 pork shoulder, about 3 kg, bone in
4 small-medium red onions, quartered
4 tsp of Chipotle Chillies
2 tbsp smoked paprika
4 tsp cumin seeds
6 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp salt
100 ml apple cider vinegar
100 ml tomato sauce
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
4 250 ml Bottles of Bundaburg Ginger Beer (Full Sugar Only)
From here it's easy....
1. Mix all the spices together and rub along the surface of the pork.
2. Place the onions, cider vinegar, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar in the bottom of the pot. Add the pork. At this stage you can marinate the pork overnight, if you haven't got time, just cook it from here.
3. Cover the pork with 3 bottles of the ginger beer (or until it almost covers the pork).
4. Cook on 150 Deg C for 7 hours, or until the fat of the pork has rendered down and the meat is falling off the bone. You may need to flip the pork half way to make sure it cooks evenly. It may also need to be topped up the pot with liquid, more ginger beer or if you run our water is fine. If you prefer to use the slow cooker you can cook in the slow cooker for 8 hours on medium or 10 hours on low. The pork is ready when you can pull the pork off the bone with two forks. I found with cooking it in the oven the top of the pork caramelised beautifully, not sure this would work as well in the slow cooker.
5. Remove the pork form the juices and rest it for 30 mins, reserve the sauce.
6. Take the sauce and heat on high to reduce it. This should take 30-40 minutes. Be patient as it will caramelise and thicken. Taste the sauce as you go you may need to add some more brown sugar, cider vinegar or Worcestershire sauce. I added all of these, so that the sauce becomes bbq like in flavour and syrupy in texture.
7. Remove all the pork form the bone with the two forks so it is shredded, add back into the sauce so you get a sticker pork mixture, season to taste.
To make the Pulled Pork Slider.....
1. Mini buns or brioches (personally I find them a bit sweet with the pork which is very sweet). If you are nice to your local baker like the Brumbies baker in Albert park, he might bake you some mini white rolls (thanks ems). These just need to be warmed in the oven.
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| Mini buns...we even got to pick the sesame seeds on top! |
2. Make a simple coleslaw out of red and white cabbage, thinly sliced apple and coriander. Add some chipotle and lime to a best foods mayo (or make your own) the dressing needs to be quite acidic to cut through the fatty pork).
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| Make sure you coleslaw is simple, tangy and adds some bite to the slider |
3. Assemble the sliders with some pork, Tabasco sauce and coleslaw
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| Sweet and Juicy Pulled Pork |
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| Rated 9.2 out of 10 by a anonymous critic. |
