I've made Pulled Pork before, the regular kind we all know and love, but this time I wanted something a little different that would offer super taste while giving us the BBQ satisfaction that only comes from traditional recipes, so looking in my pantry I realized I could do American BBQ Sauce except with a twist, and boy, was I right!
I always keep a selection of dried chiles: Ancho, Guajillo, Chile de Arbol, Pasilla, so out they came, along with Laurel Leaves, Thyme, Allspice, Black Peppercorns, Kosher Salt, Piloncillo, Garlic Cloves, Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar, the pork stock from cooking the meat, onion.... This would work!
The work begins: First, whenever you're using dried chiles, they must be split, deveined so they can be toasted in a dry pan before being put into boiling water to soften, this adds to their flavor believe me (same preparation for any mole by the way, very traditional technique), then you roast the onion, garlic and add it to the hot water. You bring to a boil, then lower the heat and leave it simmering for 30 minutes or so or until they get really soft and you are able to blend them. This will be the base to the sauce.
Since I had to wait for the chiles it was a good time to put the meat to cook and it should be ready by the time it was the sauce's turn once more, so I brought out the pressure cooker ("the bomb" I grew to love, I have a write up in my other blog about what happened to another "bomb"), anyway, I put about 6-8 oz water, Laurel Leaves, Allspice, 1/4 onion, 3 garlic cloves, some thyme leaves, threw in 1 Kilo of Pork Butt and then salted and put a generous helping of fresh ground black pepper on top. I closed the pressure cooker, waited for the pressure to build up and the valve to seal before putting on a timer for 45 minutes. I lowered the heat once the valve closed.
Checked on the chiles and they seemed pretty soft, a BIG advantage to using in Mexico vs US is they are fresh and soft and not hard and brittle like in the US plus the flavor is superior too. So I turned off the heat and left them in the hot water resting until I was ready to use them.
When my timer went off, I released the pressure on the cooker to check the meat and found it was ready and would be easy to shred. So took out the meat, placed it in a bowl to cool and put the stock from the pork through a sieve so I could use it clean. It would be a little time before the meat was cool enough to handle so I decided to make the sauce first.
Removed 3/4 of the liquid from the chiles and set it aside just in case I should need some additional water. Took out my immersion blender and still in the pan the chiles were cooked in blended the chiles. There were still some little tiny pieces of skin on the chiles so I placed the sauce in the glass contained that came with the blender and blended it really hard more, until it truly looked smooth. Placed a sieve on the pan where the chiles were and ran the blended chile mixture through the sieve really well so I would have a smooth sauce. Once I was done it was time to taste the sauce and see what I needed to add and started doing my additions, tasting, adding, tasting until I was satisfied. Pretty good.
Took the now cooled meat and shredded the whole thing, put it into the sauce, put it on the stove over medium high heat and brought it to a boil. It needed to be reduced so I lowered the heat to a steady boil and left it cooking. It reduced for at least 30-45 minutes.
Here are approximate measurements for the Pulled Pork: All this was placed in a Pressure Cooker for 45 minutes.
1 K Boneless Pork Butt, cooked whole6-8 oz water
1/4 onion, no need to chop
3 garlic cloves, peeled
6 Allspice berries, whole
Salt and Pepper
For the Mexican Pulled Pork Sauce:
2 Chile de Arbol, deseeded
3 Chile Anchos, deseeded
1 Chile Guajillo, deseeded
2 Chile Pasilla, deseeded
3 garlic cloves, peeled
Once soft, all this is blended together in a blender or immersion blender. Run through a sieve and return to the pan to finish the sauce, then you will add:
2-3 Tbl Yellow Mustard
1/3 - 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
The clean pork stock
Salt and Pepper
1/4 - 1/3 cup Piloncillo or brown sugar or cane sugar
With a whisk, blend all ingredients really well so they incorporate. Taste and decide if you should add more or not. If the flavor is to your liking then shred the pork meat and add to the sauce.
You will notice that the sauce is somewhat thin, I like mine a little thicker so put the pan back on the stove, bring back to a boil, then simmer for about 30 min. Check on the sauce every 5-10 minutes. Once it gets the texture you like, you're done!
CARROT PICKLES.- I needed a topping for the Pulled Pork and came up with this
4 large carrots, peeled
3 green onions, white and green separated, sliced
1-2 Tbl Cilantro leaves, chopped
6-8 oz water
6-8 oz white vinegar
1/2 - 1 cup sugar (any kind and to your liking)
salt and pepper
In a food processor or box grater, grate the carrots. In a sauce pan, put the water, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper and bring it up to a boil while you grate the carrots. Once grated, add to the vinegar and lower the heat to a simmer. Add the white portion of the onions. Keep the green parts and cilantro separate until the end.
Cook the carrots for about 15-30 minutes and then taste them, they should have softened up a little but still have a little crunch. This will be a salad like topping for the Pulled Pork so should be easy to eat. Once done, drain the liquid (or you can leave the carrots in the liquid and store like regular pickles) just drain what you will be adding to the pork. Add the reserved onion and cilantro. Mix.
We use this in tacos, tortas or sandwiches and everyone loves them, hope you will too! Enjoy!
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