Have you ever cooked with pork butt before? Apparently, it’s a common cut of pork, and can easily be found in supermarkets and butcher shops.
So I decided to make pulled pork! (The kimchi on top was an afterthought.)
I chose a cold and rainy weekend to make experiment with pork butt. To me, there is nothing worse than cooking under time constraints. Unsurprisingly, the end product is not as good when I’m not relaxed and enjoying the creative process. So during the course of my lazy day, I read a book, finished laundry, and made myself a Pumpkin Spiced Latte (recipe to follow)- all while this was in the oven, doing it’s thing.
Once my microwave timer went off, I excitedly removed the pork from the oven, then poked at the meat with a pair of tongs, I was so happy to see that the meat had tenderized beautifully, giving way to perfectly cooked pieces of delicious pork.
But then I ran into a couple of problems.
I learned that I did not have enough bbq sauce on hand. So I improvised by combining Asian sauces, giving the pork a unique flavor and a good amount of spicy heat. The sweet and sour combination between the sauces, honey and the vinegar worked really well. Problem solved, right? Or so I thought.
Then I remembered that I didn’t have any bread!!! I solved that problem by making some tortillas from a recipe found on the side of the corn flour packaging. It didn’t turn out so well, since I didn’t have any wax paper to roll out the tortilla with. But I still ate it (not like I had a choice). And it was edible.
Makes 4-6 sandwiches
Ingredients:
2.5 pounds of pork butt
1.5 cups of bbq sauce
1/2 of an onion, cut into rings (which I did not have)
2 teaspoons of vinegar
2 teaspoons of Sriracha sauce
1.5 teaspoons of Hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon of honey
5 cloves of garlic, whole
Fresh cracked pepper
Sprinkle of salt
Procedure:
1. Heat oven to 350. Generously salt and pepper the pork butt. Add whole garlic cloves and garlic. Wrap meat in foil and place on a baking tray to catch the juices.
2. Cook for 2.5 hours. Check to meat to see if it falls to the touch. If not, cook for another 30 minutes. (I would add about 30 more minutes for every pound of pork).
3. Smash the cooked garlic pieces and mix in. Discard onions.
4. Mix together bbq sauce, Hoisen sauce, Sriacha sauce, honey, and vinegar in a small pot.
5. Bring to a quick boil, then reduce to low and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Combine sauce with pork.
7. Serve with bread and garnish with greens.
October 20, 2009
I want to try my hand at making tortillas. It’s on my cooking bucket list, actually.
I like the sound of the sauce over a traditional bbq sauce. The meat looks very tender!