| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 40 minutes |
| Servings |
sliders
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- 3 lbs pork ribs boneless (or pork butt)
- 1/2 can brown ale (about 1/2 cup)
- 1.5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 8-10 slider buns
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 medium green cabbage trimmed & shredded
- 1/2 small red cabbage trimmed & shredded
- 1 large carrot peeled & grated
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- dash of cayenne pepper
- salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Cole slaw
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- Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large pressure cooker or pressure skillet over medium-high heat.
- Trim the excess fat from the pork and generally season with salt and pepper. Sear the pork for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned all over.
- Once browned, add the ½ can of brown ale, stock, and liquid smoke over the pork. Cover with lid and seal. Continue to braise the pork over medium heat for about 30 minutes, regulating pressure as necessary somewhere around 1-2 notches. Be sure not to cook too high of heat or you’ll burn the meat.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the onion until caramelized.
- Add the garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, dry mustard, salt and pepper, and sauté together for another 1-2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix together the remaining sauce ingredients (tomato paste, ketchup, Jack Daniel’s, water, molasses, ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, worcestershire, and liquid smoke), then pour over seasoned onions.
- Simmer on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Purée with an immersion blender or food processor, season with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the green cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, scallions, and fresh parsley.
- In a small bowl, using a fork or whisk, mix the seasoning and wet ingredients (mayo, cider vinegar, honey, celery seed, dry mustard, cayenne, salt and pepper). Pour over greens. Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least an hour to let flavors develop.
- Be careful with the skillet and release all of that sweet, sweet pork steam fragrance throughout the kitchen to return the pan to normal room pressure.
- The pork should easily melt apart now-- transfer to a bowl and let cool before trimming excess fat and liquid.
- Once cool, shred the pork with two forks, your hands, or a tiny chainsaw. Mix in a small amount of the barbecue sauce, just enough to coat the meat.
- If you’d like, feel free to warm the slider buns in the oven for 2-3 minutes or until toasty. Pile your pork, drizzle more sauce, top with rainbow slaw. Take a bite and ponder on the beauty of the earth.
Don’t let this list of ingredients intimidate you: 1) this recipe is ABSOLUTELY worth it and 2) it’s really not that complicated once you just sit down and do it. Repeat this to yourself at least 10 times out loud or until indoctrinated.
When cooking the pork, you really have 3 different options here:
a) QUICK BUT PRICEY: Sear the pork in a large pressure skillet, add the goods, then cover, seal, and regulate over medium to med-low heat for 30 minutes. The meat comes out incredibly tender, the bad news is that pressure skillets run in the ballpark of about $150-$200. (A less costly option would be to sear the pork in a skillet, and then use an Instant Pot to braise the meat.)
b) SLOW BUT AFFORDABLE: Sear the pork in a large oven proof pot (e.g. dutch oven), add the goods, then cover and braise the meat for at least 3 hours. The meat will still be good, but the bad news is that you have to find 3 hours of time to occupy before you can eat sweet, sweet meats.
c) CHEAP TASTE, CHEAP PRICE: Sear the pork in a skillet, then add the meat to a crockpot with all the goods on high for 4 hours or low for 8. As long as you sear the meat prior, you won’t sacrifice much flavor since the meat will have gone through the Maillard process. Food cooked in crockpots sacrifice a lot of complex flavor profiles due to the lack of caramelization via Maillard browning. So if you don’t feel like washing an extra pan, be sure to apologize to your tastebuds for lackluster cooking.
You’re more than welcome to prepare this in batches--make the BBQ sauce the night before and prep the slaw while you wait for your sauce to thicken. This recipe isn’t so complex that you have to though. I found that as long as everything was mise en place, it’s still very easy to manage all at once--especially while the pork is braising and the sauce is thickening.
