Let me start off by saying I have made this controversial American classic exactly three times before today. My first personal encounter with this dish (as the chef as opposed to just a simple spectator) happened almost exactly three years ago. I was the Head Chef at a Christan children's camp at 20 years old and waaaay over my head. Although we didn't have internet access for quick inspiration and research in case of emergencies, I did get cellphone service if I stood very still in one very specific spot by the back door of the kitchen. I was also fortunate enough to have an amazing family back home with endless knowledge (and internet access) whom I could call if I got in a tight spot. (This brings up memories of the Too Many Bananas dilemma, but that's a story for another time.) I'm not totally sure how I got in the position of needing to have a pulled pork recipe for about 75 people the morning of (most likely my own procrastination and donated pork loins) but whatever the case, I was in a majorly sticky situation. Luckily my Aunt Nancy came to my rescue and gave me a brief rundown of the basics so I wasn't heading in totally blind. With a newly found confidence I charged into the pantry to find one very small, very sad, half empty container of Sweet Baby Ray's (be still my beating heart) and definitely no hope of having enough for a dish that, where I am from, is basically Barbeque Sauce ft. "Pork".
So I stood there, Sweet Baby Ray's in hand, mind racing. There was only one solution: dive into the realm of homemade barbeque sauce with the help of the ever sweet, forever my baby, Ray. Looking to the ingredients list I realized that condiments weren't like elements or primary colours; pure matter that can't be recreated. It was actually just a bunch of stuff I had plenty of all around the kitchen, thrown together into one glorious combination. I'm going to take some time for another aside here because I personally am not actually a huge barbeque sauce fan. I know, I know, from the way this post reads it probably sounds like I bleed barbeque sauce (and to be honest, like any self respecting American living in Europe, I will forever deny any question to that fact) but honestly I find most barbeque sauces quite cloying, sweet, needy. Like ketchup has finally reached young adulthood and is trying to skip straight to some complex condiment but instead tastes like desparation and tears. With the exception of Sweet Baby Ray's. With Ray's guidance, I managed to make enough barbeque sauce to feed the 5,000. (Ok, not quite 5,000, but to 19 year old me, it might as well have been.) And a sauce that not only I found suitable, but about 75 children and adults did as well. That leads me to where I am now, making pulled pork in the Netherlands for people who probably have never experienced true barbeque in their life, and I am their first introduction. No pressure or anything. The first step was finding the meat. I was looking for bone-out pork shoulder (don't scoff, I know bone-in is superior, and keeps the pork much more moist, but I'm not a huge fan of bones and didn't want to scare anyone away from trying it because of a big old socket chilling out with our dinner) and thought it would be relatively easy to find at the local supermarket. While I know the Albert Heijn is no Wegmans, I figured a big chunk of meat wouldn't be too out of place. Boy was I wrong. I didn't realize that basically all meat sold in grocery stores here are pre-portioned and butchered down to basically one portion sizes. Once again, the realization that I wasn't in America anymore hit me. Where do these people go for meat? How do they make large, family style dishes? Do they even sell pork shoulder?
Nicky explained that I was going to cook an American dish and needed pork shoulder but we didn't know how much we would need. I stood there, gaping like a fish, with my hands out in front of me trying to show him the approximate size I thought I would need. How many kilograms? I have no clue, I barely know what a kilogram is. The man turned and asked if I was making pulled pork, to which I replied yes. This astonished Nicky to no end. I tried explaining that pulled pork is probably the most popular American dish with pork shoulder, so it was a relatively easy assumption, but I didn't want to ruin his dreams so I let him be amazed. With pork shoulder in hand (or rather, in bag) we picked up some more bits and pieces and headed home. Nicky had to leave for school early this morning, which left me the whole day without him to focus (wallow in loneliness) on the slow cooking of this pork. I started at about 9:30 in the morning, figuring I would want to give myself at least seven hours cooking time on the pork and an hour for pre-prep. Before I could even think about the actual meat, I had to make the precious barbeque sauce that it would be immersed in. (Warning: I did make my barbeque sauce too spicy for most people, so in the ingredient list below I have halved the amount of black pepper I put in, but if you like it spicy like I do, go ahead and double that.) I use ketchup for a base, which some might consider cheating, but that's the easiest and fastest way to give yourself a solid foundation. I am sure like myself everyone else is relatively picky about their barbeque sauce preferences, as well as having access to different things, so I am going to also list some alternative ingredients below. Once my barbeque sauce was finished (who am I kidding, I've literally been tweaking the batch all day) I poured some down in a deep cassarole dish. Ideally I would have used something with more depth and slightly less diameter than what I ended up using, but it was the best I had. To be honest, it worked out totally fine, so don't worry too much about having the perfect pan. I placed the pork shoulder down and liberally coated it with my barbecue sauce, then sprinkled garlic and onions over top because how can you go wrong with that combination? Unfortunately, it turned out so well that everyone ate it before I had a chance to take a picture of the finished product. I started the oven out at 200°C (that's Celcius NOT Farenheit) for 30 minutes to just get that browning flavour, and them nudged it down to 125°C for the rest of the time. The pork ended up going in around 10:30 in the morning, and remained relatively undisturbed until about 13:30. At that point I took it out to check on it and basted it with some of the drippings and the caramelizing barbeque sauce. (If you could smell it, you would know what it meant to truly be American.) I drizzled just a little bit of the maple syrup I brought from home on top, since I did use so much pepper initially. I placed it back in the oven, covered to make sure all the steam and moisture stays in there, and left it for another three hours or so. At that point this little piggy had been baking for about six hours and was basically begging to fall apart, which it did with ease. It taksted, looked, and smelled amazing. It was so amazing that everyone ate it up before I got a chance to take a photo. Even when Nicky asked me halfway through the meal if I wanted to take one, I was enjoying it so much I couldn't be torn away. So take that as you will. We out the bit that was left over (enough for another sandwich or two) in a container and biked it over to Nicky's brother-in-law about 10 minutes away. He made us dinner a few days ago and was so interested in tasting pulled pork once I explained it that we just knew we had to save him some. Overall my fourth attempt at pulled pork was a success. It brought back good memories, made some new ones, took all day, and was totally worth it. Not pulled yet, but ready and waiting.
Directions:
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