smoky pulled pork

Pulled pork is just magical.

The juicy meat slow cooked for hours until it falls from the bone and then smothered in spicy, smoky sauce and piled high onto soft burger buns.

To. Die. For.

When Kitchenware Direct contacted me and offering to give me a slow cooker of my choice to review on this blog, their email couldn’t have come at a better time.

Jonas and I had been discussing the idea of getting a slow cooker just so we could make pulled pork sliders. We’d eaten them recently at Porteño and had not recovered from their marvellous flavour. We wanted to replicate the magic at home.

So here I was being offered a slow cooker and all I had to do was use it and tell you what I thought about it.

I love my life.

I selected the NewWave 5 in 1 MultiCooker because it’s not just a slow cooker but also a pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer and soup maker. It’s Kitchenware Direct’s most popular model and after trawling through some online review sights it ranks right up there among the best of its type.

It arrived promptly in a well packaged box, safely cushioned in plastic air bags and styrofoam. When we took it out we cooed and sighed, stroking our shiny baby with all the love of proud new parents.

Once we were ready to use it, we got a bit scared that it might be broken, because the vacuum seal on the lid was wobbly freakishly and didn’t seem too stable, but then we realised we were complete idiots and that once you use the pressure cooking function the valve sucks into place perfectly.

Crisis averted.

We plonked the meat and sauce inside, hit the slow cooker and walked away for a few hours. At the end, we vamped up the intensity with a few minutes of pressure cooking and we were left will a sweet sauce and meat so tender it just peeled away from the bone.

The results were so good that even the highly critical Fabio let out an involuntary exclaim of satisfied praise.

This cooker is definitely easy to use (one couple cooking together, zero arguments) and even easier to clean (good work Jonas).

All the residual fear I had from my high school friend’s horrific pressure cooker accident was dispelled by the quick vacuum seal and the easy steam release valve. No explosions, good times.

My rule when accepting free gifts or meals is simple: if I don’t like it, I won’t write about it.

Well, I love my NewWave 5 in 1 MultiCooker and I’m not afraid to tell the world! Without the crew at Kitchenware Direct we might never have been introduced, and that would have been a tragedy.

Spicy Pulled Pork

Based on a recipe by Feast on the Cheap. Makes 10 buns.

Ingredients:
2kg pork shoulder, bone in
1 medium brown onion, diced
1 cup carrot, grated
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 chipotle chillies in adobo sauce*
800g can crushed tomatoes
250ml (1 cup) passata (tomato sauce)
250ml (1 cup) ketchup
250ml (1 cup) BBQ sauce
125ml (½ cup) red wine
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from chipotle chillies)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Olive oil, for frying

To serve:
Hamburger buns
Aioli
Fresh coriander, chopped
Coleslaw

Method:

1. Trim the pork shoulder of skin and excess fat to prevent congealing in the slow cooker.

2. Over medium heat, sauté the onion, carrot, garlic and chipotle chillies in olive oil until the onion is translucent.

3. In a bowl, combine the sautéed vegetables, BBQ sauce, ketchup, crushed tomatoes, passata, adobo sauce, red wine, cider vinegar, dried oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Stir well.

4. Back in the frying pan, sear the pork shoulder and brown on all sides.

5. In the slow cooker, pour a cup or so of sauce into the base to completely cover the bottom.

6. Put the pork shoulder inside the slow cooker and cover completely in sauce. Cover and cook at 100’C for 5 hours.

7. Switch to your pressure cooker setting and cook for another 20 minutes.

8. Remove the pork from the sauce, cool then shred with a fork. Set aside in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap to keep moist.

9. Pour the sauce into a pan and check seasoning. Adjust balance of sweet and sour according to your tastes, then reduce the sauce by simmering for 10 minutes over medium-low heat. Blend into a purée.

10. In a bowl, add enough sauce to pork to allow for a sticky but not soupy mix.

11. Serve on soft hamburger buns topped with aioli, coriander and sides of coleslaw and dill pickles.

Note: If you don’t have a slow and pressure cooker in one, buy one from Kitchenware Direct! Or you can cook it in a slow cooker for 6-7 hours or a large oven pot at 175’C for 4-7 hours, depending on your oven.

* In Australia, chipotle chillies in adobo sauce are sold in cans in Latin American sections of specialist supermarkets like Fiji Markets in Newtown, Sydney. You can buy them online at Fireworks Foods too. Otherwise substitute with Chipotle Tabasco.

This post has been featured on the wonderful slow cooking blog: