Pull Pork Shoulder

By Gibby

Have tried various recipes and have come up with this personal version that has been well received by family and friends. It takes time but it's worth it...

Ingredients

• Minimum 4kg bone-in shoulder of pork, skin on
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 celery stick, coarsely chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup thyme leaves removed from stems
• 1/4 cup fennel seed
• 4 tbsp Canola Oil
• 1 bulb of garlic, top cut off exposing bulb flesh
• 6-8 fresh bay leaves
• litre of Chicken broth or stock
• Bottle of White wine
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 can ( 398 mL) good tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Chipotle Chili powder or flakes.

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare shoulder by cutting through skin and fat just down to meat with a sharp knife using a crisscross pattern across complete surface of roast. Preheat oven to 450 F
Remove thyme leaves from branches and add with the fennel as well as tsp of coarse salt and tsp of coarse ground pepper to a mortar and pestle and grind until fennel has been broken down. Mix with 1 tbsp of Canola oil and then rub mixture deep into the cuts in the roast.

Rub bottom of roasting pan with 1 tbsp of canola oil. Place the onions, carrots and celery into the bottom of the roasting pan. Place rack in pan over the vegetable. Dizzle 1 tbsp of canola oil over the garlic bulb and place on the rack or with vegetable if not using a rack. The rack will help remove the fat from the meat. Place the roast in the pan on the rack or the bed of vegetables. Place roast in oven and reduce heat after 15 minutes to 220 F and cook for 12 hours or until skin pulls away easily and roast can be shredded with a fork. Let cool and shred the pork into chunks using your fingers to pull the meat apart.

When ready remove roast from pan. Remove all vegetables from the pan and place in a sauce pan. Squeeze garlic pulp from the bulb into the sauce pan. Place roasting pan with drippings over burners on stove and reheat over medium high heat. Add bottle of white wine to deglaze pan. Loosen all bits and then remove from heat. Let it cool off to room temperature. Add tray of ice cubes to drippings and stir until all fat is congealed on the ice cube. Remove and dispose of them. Pour dripping into sauce pan, add chicken stock and and then puree mixture in blender or with hand blender until thick gravy. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. When ready to serve place desired amount of pork in a new sauce pan. Add enough sauce to cover and serve with and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes and serve on buns.