how2heroes » Pulled Pork Sandwich

Entrees » Pulled Pork Sandwich

This Pulled Pork Sandwich recipe is brought to you by J oshua Riazi who teaches his students at Kids Can Cook in Boston how to make this dish. It's a fun recipe to get the family involved in - creating the rub, zesting citrus fruits, folding up the pork in foil. Lots of fun. And what a huge reward when you're done. Don't forget to watch Josh's Coleslaw video - pulled pork's perfect companion.

Print Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the Pork

4 lbs pork shoulder, de-boned
2 limes
1 orange
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp black peppercorns, whole
1 tbsp coriander seeds, whole
2 tsp cumin seeds, whole
1 tsp fennel seeds, whole
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp smoked paprika, sweet
4 tbsp kosher salt
4 tbsp sage, chopped
3 tbsp rosemary, chopped
1 habenero pepper

For the Sauce

½ cup cider vinegar
¾ cup rice wine vinegar
1 sprig sage, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Special Equipment

5 pieces of foil cut to 2’x2’ squares

How-to

Preheat oven to 250º F
In a sauté pan over medium heat, toast the whole spices until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Immediately remove and grind with cinnamon into a course mix using a mortar and pestle. Combine with the paprika, salt, and chopped herbs to create a potent seasoning mix. Save until needed
Zest the citrus fruits using a knife or zester and reserve in a separate bowl. Remove and discard the bitter white skin coating the citrus segments. Dice the citrus segments into ½ inch pieces and combine with the zest. Roughly chop the garlic and add to the citrus mix. Add the sage and rosemary and save until needed
Place the pork shoulder in the center of one piece of foil. Rub the pork with the spice mix and be sure to coat the entire piece thoroughly. You should use most if not all of the spice mix
Next, scatter the citrus and garlic mix on top of the pork
Wrap the pork tightly in the foil by folding the foil up and over the pork shoulder. Place this wrapped parcel in the center of another piece of foil and fold the foil around to create another layer. Repeat until there is 5 layers of foil. Place the wrapped pork on a metal sheet pan and place in the center of an oven to slowly roast for 4 to 6 hours
After 4 hours, unwrap the pork and test its tenderness by pulling at the meat with a fork. When done, the pork will shred easily. If the pork seems done, be sure to test another spot closer to the center of the piece of meat. If done, skip to next step. If needed, close the foil wrapping and continue to cook. Test every 30 minutes until done
Remove the pork and let rest 15 – 30 minutes to cool. Gently, unwrap the foil, being sure not to loose any of the juices that have pooled and surround the pork. Lift the pork out of the foil and place in a bowl. Pour the juices and any of the chunks of citrus or zest that remain into a sauce pot
Add the ingredients for the sauce (sage, salt, pepper, vinegars) to the juices in the saucepot and bring to a simmer for 3 minutes. Taste a small amount of the sauce and check for a nice balance of flavors. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to your liking and let cool
Using 2 forks, shred the meat. Strain the sauce and pour over the meat. Let sit together for at least 15 minutes, and up to 3 days in the refrigerator
Serve the pork on a bun with coleslaw or as is