pulled pork with spicy coleslaw

One of my earliest memories of family dinners is of pork chops with mustard and veges. I think we used to have chops quite regularly (thanks Mum!) and I remember I loved them – perhaps it was because it was “OK” to suckle the meat off the bone and give my knife and fork a rest.

ingredients

Pork

• 1.5kg pork shoulder
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• Another 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes (or 1 can)
• 1/4 cup white vinegar

Coleslaw

• 1/4 white cabbage, shredded
• 2 carrots, roughly grated
• 4 shallots, sliced (including green parts)
• 1 cup shredded greens (kale, spinach, lettuce)
• 2 heaped Tbs mayonnaise
• 4 Tbs white vinegar*
• just enough paprika that you can handle*
• salt & pepper*

method

1. Heat the oven to 150 C.
2. Heat a heavy-based oven-proof crock-pot on the stove to medium-high (or you could use a slow cooker).
3. Rub the pork all over with 2 Tbs of the oil.
4. Sear the meat on all sides until caramelised, then take out of the pot and set aside.
5. In the same pot, reduce the heat to low/medium add the other 2Tbs oil, onion, garlic, oregano and paprika cook, stirring until the onions are translucent.
6. Add the tomatoes & vinegar and scrape and stir loosening any caramelised bits caught to the bottom of the pot.
7. Return the pork (and juices) to the pot and top it up with water until the pork is half covered.
8. Cover the pork with some baking paper (to keep it moist), put on lid and in the over for 4 hours, turning the pork over every hour.
9. After 4 hours, remove the pot from the oven and let is stand for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the pork from the pot, discard the bones (the flesh will fall away quite easily), and pull the flesh apart with 2 forks (You have to be patient as it takes a while to shred all the flesh. I have uber heat-sensitve hands but I guess t would be easy to shred with your hands if you’re tough.)
11. Meanwhile, put the pot back on the stove, bring to the boil then lower the heat and reduce the sauce by half.
12. Once shredded, add the pork back into the sauce and stir to combine.
13. For the coleslaw – mix all ingredients together until the sauce coats all the ingredients

My usual eating method is to fill half a bowl with the coleslaw and whack a big slap of the meat on top and eat the 2 together as is, but some might like to put a little of each between 2 mini buns, call it a ‘Slider’ and serve it as a canapé or entrée.

* When I’m lazy I replace the vinegar, paprika and S&P with a good lug of ‘Franks Red Hot, hot cayenne pepper sauce’ (which is essentially spices, vinegar, garlic and aged cayenne peppers). It’s the perfect spiciness for me.