SLOW COOKED PULLED PORK

I have cooked Pulled Pork before but it was more barbecue style and not in the slow cooker. After the success of the Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb last week, we thought we should use the slow cooker to cook some pulled pork again. I found this recipe on the Internet and chose it because it didnt require too many ingredients and is very very easy. It does take quite a while as you have to marinate it for at least 12 hours, I did this over night, and then you need to cook it for 8-10 hours. As you will see below I made a bit of an error in my cooking and did not read the recipe properly (old habits die hard) so follow the instructions more than the pictures! 

I cooked a smaller pork shoulder as it was just Pascal and I, but here is the full recipe.

Ingredients for 8 baps:

1.35kg boneless pork shoulder
Around 750ml water or as needed
Around 2 litres of white wine vinegar or as needed
4 tbsp salt
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground mustard / mustard powder
1 tbsp chilli powder (we left this out as we hate spice)
110g dark brown soft sugar (I just used any brown sugar)

To serve:

Cheese slices
Coleslaw
Soft white baps

Place the pork shoulder into the bowl of the slow cooker. Pour enough water and white wine vinegar into the slow cooker to cover the pork completely - you want more vinegar than water, at least a third more (you dont need to be completely accurate).

Add the salt to the water. Then put the bowl in the fridge to allow the pork to marinate for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. We did this over night.

When the pork is marinated, drain enough of the liquid from the bowl until about 1.25cm of pork is left exposed (I so did not read this recipe properly and by mistake drained far too much away and just left 1.25cm at the bottom - whoops - so ignore my picture - I blame it on being half asleep as I did this early this morning)! Add the onion to the remaining liquid.

Season the exposed surface of the pork with a tablespoon of cumin.

Then a tablespoon of mustard powder.

Then the chilli if you are using it. Finally add the 110g of brown sugar.

Place the bowl in the slow cooker and cook on high for 8-10 hours until the pork is tender and falls apart easily.

When the pork is ready, shred the meat and remove and discard any excess fat (you can see from my picture of the pork the bowl had far too little liquid in!).

Finally serve in soft white maps with cheese and coleslaw.

Yum! Despite the mistakes I made, this was delicious. The pork was slightly dry where it hadnt been covered in liquid, but we did not really notice it too much due the the delicious coleslaw and cheese! I really do love pulled pork and cooking it in the slow cooker makes it so so tender. I have already picked out my next slow cooker recipe - I am on a roll - so watch this space!!

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SLOW COOKED ROSEMARY AND GARLIC SHOULDER OF LAMB

I am sure in past posts I have mentioned my love of Greece and especially Greek food, although Pascal is the exact opposite regarding the food and so it has been knocked off our holiday destination list…I guess I overdid it by dragging him there 3 summers in a row. Therefore I was dicing with danger when I suggested cooking a Greek lamb dish in the slow cooker which I had messed up completely when I tried to use it a few weeks ago (raw lamb anyone?)!!

This time I made sure I read all the instructions 3 times before attempting to do anything - luckily this slow cooking recipe was much more successful than my pressure cooking!!

Ingredients for 4 people:

3 garlic cloves
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
Salt and Pepper
750g boneless lamb shoulder
500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm slices (roughly)
1 small onion, chopped (we had shallots in the cupboard so used those instead)
300ml hot lamb stock

To serve:
Feta or halloumi cheese (or both)
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Hummus
Flat breads or wraps or pitas

Cut one of the garlic cloves in half and rub it round the slow cooker basin, then chop it finely along with one of the other garlic cloves and slice the onion (shallots in this case).

Mix all the dry herbs, rosemary and a crushed garlic clove together in a bowl and then rub over the lamb and season well.

Line the slow cooker basin with the potato slices, making a few layers.

Place the lamb on top of the potatoes and surround with the chopped onion/shallots and garlic.

Pour over the hot lamb stock.

Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours until the lamb is easy to pull apart (we did 7 hours).

Once it is ready slice the lamb.

Put the potatoes in a bowl.

Finally serve in a wrap - I had hummus, feta, tomatoes, lamb and cucumber with potatoes on the side - yum!!

This was an incredible meal!! The slow cooker has got the big thumbs up and we devoured everything. Even though I only like potatoes covered in melted cheese, these were exceptional and Pascal pronounced it the best Greek food he has ever had!! It was so easy too - great for any type of meal, I think we will will be doing this for our next dinner party and next weekend we will try slow cooked pulled pork. 

I thank my friend Sally very much for buying me this fabulous cooking contraption!!

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