Pulled Pork

I know some of you make pulled pork and I just wanted some advice. I've looked online for recipes and they call for a pork shoulder. Can you get that cut of meat here? If not, what cut do you use? Also, if anyone wants to share their barbecue sauce recipe, that would be good to!

I've never used a shoulder - I usually buy a pork "fillet" (loin, I think?), then boil it until it's fully cooked before I pull it apart with a fork and my fingers. Don't have a barbeque sauce recipe, unfortunately - using mine for pork, ale, and pumpkin soup on Sunday - yum!

Ex-jerseygirl posted her recipe several months ago on the What's for Tea thread, but not sure if I can find it. I think this is the general gist of it: Unsmoked gammon trimmed of excess fat, tossed in the slow cooker with some barbecue sauce. Then shredded with two forks toward the end and add more sauce. OK, yeah, that may be a bit more basic than what she said.... lol. But this is pretty much what I did. I don't make my own sauce yet, but I can say I prefer the HP barbecue sauces to many others I have tried. I like to mix the spicy HP bbq sauce with the honey HP bbq sauce to get a sweet and spicy sort of blend, and might add a bit of crushed red chiles to make it a bit spicier, as the spicy bbq sauce here still isn't very spicy. But it depends on what you like.
Just be sure you use an UNSMOKED gammon, if you choose to use gammon, because I made the mistake of using a smoked one and it was ridiculously salty.

I know some of you make pulled pork and I just wanted some advice. I've looked online for recipes and they call for a pork shoulder. Can you get that cut of meat here? If not, what cut do you use? Also, if anyone wants to share their barbecue sauce recipe, that would be good to!

Yes!  I made pulled pork this summer for a party and it turned out fab!  I even made my own BBQ sauce.  The party peeps all said it was good in any case.  I have been promising them to type up the recipe ever since, but as I think Bmore_2_UK knows, I have serious procrastination issues.  

I'll make an effort.  What I did - I cobbled together from about 2-3 different t'internet recipes (and one I got from my niece - her boyfriend is in chef's school & they made it for us when we were back visiting in May), and I did it in the oven & on the hob because we don't have a slow cooker.

The BBQ sauce sold here is pants, IMO, so I made my own.

I went to the butcher and asked for X amount (pounds or kg) of pork shoulder.  No problem!  Actually I contacted him ahead of time, so he got the shoulder in for me (that is one enormous piece of pork btw & it was funny watching him wield it about like a caveman with a big club of meat), and then cut off the amount that I wanted.

Jewlz - Isn't gammon the same as ham?

Mrs R - I don't have a slow cooker either so I'd be making it on the hob and oven. I'm afraid shoulder would make too much, but like CellarDoor said, I guess I could use a fillet instead.

I'm afraid shoulder would make too much...

Oh yeah - a whole one would!  I didn't use a whole pork shoulder - lol!  I just told my butcher how much I wanted & he cut a hunk off for me.  I wanted meat from the shoulder because I knew it would have some fat.  If you're doing a loin, make sure it has the crackling with it because you don't want it to be too lean or it could end up kinda dry, I would think?

Oh yeah - a whole one would!  I didn't use a whole pork shoulder - lol!  I just told my butcher how much I wanted & he cut a hunk off for me.  I wanted meat from the shoulder because I knew it would have some fat.  If you're doing a loin, make sure it has the crackling with it because you don't want it to be too lean or it could end up kinda dry, I would think?

Yeah, it probably would. But the sauce would help keep it moist! I'll have to head over to the butcher and see what they can do for me!

Jewlz - Isn't gammon the same as ham?

Um, I think it's the same cut. It is cured, so yeah, I guess it's ham.  The smoked gammon tastes more like ham to me. The unsmoked gammon was fine for the slow cooker with some barbecue sauce, and it was easy to trim off the fat to keep it within the range of my diet (before I fell off the wagon!  )

But, Mrs R, get to typing that up, because inquiring minds want to know! 

Yeah, it probably would. But the sauce would help keep it moist! I'll have to head over to the butcher and see what they can do for me!

That's my recommendation - see your local butcher & tell him what you want.  I didn't sauce mine until after the pork had cooked & been pulled, then I sauced it & simmered it in the sauce.

But, Mrs R, get to typing that up, because inquiring minds want to know! 

I will!  I will!  Crossing things off my to-do list & hoping I'll get time a bit later today. 

You can get pork shoulder at most supermarkets, its a common cut of pork here.

I cook my pulled pork in a sort of "brine" I slow cook it in water, onions, peppercorns, a clove or two, and a few teaspoons of liquid smoke. I give it 8-10 hours, take it out, let it cool a bit, and then pull it. THEN I put it in BBQ sauce, and eat it. Last week I made lovely quesadillas with the leftovers from my freezer. Yummy!!!