The Week 2 Le Detroit French Toast recipe was clearly a winner so I will take the same approach to this Week 3 recipe. Like Detroit, Carolina’s Panther mascot is not a great source of recipe inspiration. With the current state of the Carolina secondary (their best player on D is unfortunately injured), the hope is that Geno will be able to Shred the Carolina defense so that the Seahawks can Pull out a victory.
So, obviously, Pulled Pork sandwiches are the menu of the day, with some fabulous slaw.
I have cooked pork shoulders many different ways: all day on the Q, in the oven (in winter), and, dare I confess it, in an Instapot (which actually does a pretty good job). My friend
challenged me to cook it sous vide in a comment in last week’s recipe, so that’s what we’re going to do here. Bowing to tradition though it has to be served with an authentic Carolina red sauce, hot and vinegary, with a homemade coleslaw.Looking around at sous vide pulled pork recipes left me a bit confused. The whole point of sous vide cooking is to ‘dial in’ the right temperature for cooking the meat that will give it the right consistency and not dry it out. That makes sous vide the perfect choice for lean cuts like chicken breast, pork loin, and steak among others. For pulled pork, the goal is to break down the connective tissue into gelatin, and flavor and keep the meat moist, and that will require “low and slow” like the BBQ but with no babysitting involved.
So here is what I don’t get: the sous vide recipes I have seen involve cooking the meat sous vide and then sticking it in the oven (or a smoker) to finish it. For a lean cut of meat, you definitely want to sear it after the sous vide process mainly for plating appeal but here we are going to shred it and douse it with the fine Carolina red sauce, so why risk drying the meat out in the oven or smoker? This version takes the meat from sous vide to sandwich in one easy step.
Victory Pulled Pork with Carolina Red Sauce and Honey Slaw
Ingredients
Carolina Red Sauce
There are a lot of versions of this sauce out there, but I have made this one published by Epicurious at least 20 times. So easy, so good. The ratios here work if you want to double or triple the quantity.
1.5 Cups apple cider vinegar
.5 Cups Ketchup
1 Tablespoon (packed) brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.
This has to be made before you prepare the pork, just combine the ingredients and cover and into the fridge.
Victory Pulled Pork
1 pork shoulder roast
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons of Carolina red sauce (see why you have to make it first?)
The size of the shoulder roast is up to you and is governed mostly by how big a crowd you have watching the game with you, and how big your cooking vessel is, and how big your vacuum sealer is. Since it is just my wife and I, a 2lb roast will do perfectly, trimmed of excess fat.
(I am taking the cooking guide of 145 degrees for 18-24 hours from this recipe, and I will comment on how it all turns out. If you want to use the liquid smoke and risk drying the meat out in the oven, fill your boots but that is not what I am going to do.)
Pat the roast dry, salt and pepper the outside and put it into your sous vide bag Saturday afternoon to have it ready by game time. Set the temp to 145 and fuhgeddaboutit. After at least 18 hours, take out the roast and use two forks to shred the meat.
Honey Slaw
Yeah, you can buy the slaw but when it is so easy to make your own why would you?
Dressing
I love this recipe but I don’t add the celery seeds to the dressing. I add some finely chopped celery to the slaw mix instead.
1/2 Cup mayo (any kind)
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste (+/- 1/4 teaspoon of each)
Whisk and refrigerate
Slaw
3 Cups shredded red cabbage
1 Cup shredded carrots
1 stalk of celery 1/4 inch dice.
Combine Slaw and enough dressing to make it work with the pork (you may have leftover dressing).
While the red sauce and pork have to be started a day ahead, the slaw can be made ‘the morning of’ so everything is ready for the 1 pm kickoff.
Oh, and you need buns. These I will buy from my local grocer but yes you can make your own brioche buns to serve this and I have done so, but not today!
Let’s just see if this all works (I will post an update).
Update from Gameday (with pics)
I got the pulled pork going yesterday on schedule. My 2lb pork shoulder cooked for about 21 hours altogether and it turned out PERFECT. Very moist and shreddable.
Those “bear claw” shredders are fantastic btw—I make enough pulled pork and pulled chicken that they were worth acquiring.
All that was left to do was to finish the slaw and assemble the sandwich using some store-bought cheese panini buns:
SOOO good, and I will be making this again, and likely before the next Seahawks-Panthers game. I was very happy about how the pork turned out and may do it that way again.
Glad to see the update! Nothing like a great pulled pork sandwich, wherever you may be.
Let me know how it turns out! There's a guy on YouTube who influenced the way I do it now. 3 hours on the smoker, then the rest in the bath. Check out his channel if you get a chance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjnhHrZDKCQ&ab_channel=SousVideEverything