RECIPE: Pulled pork

I'm sorry to be predictable and start this post off by talking about the weather.. but I need to vent my spleen about it, and as this is my very own little corner of the internet I can I write what I want.  I also have a slightly different take on it from everyone oohing and ahhhing about how friggin' wonderful it is... I am fucking LIVID about it. I mean seriously, what could be worse than sitting in a stiflingly hot office surrounded by (albeit lovely) people and computers all giving off serious amounts of heat while every other BASTARD is on Brighton beach, wearing bikinis, eating BBQs and quaffing beers!! It's also around this season of bitterness and HUGE unfairness that I start thinking I need some new friends, ones with "real" jobs, jobs that don't allow them to indulge in the aforementioned activities whilst instagramming the shit out of them.

It's PISSED with rain almost every day of annual leave I've taken this year, and I now can't take anymore until at least September because I am up to my eyeballs in a horrendously intense and time consuming project at work. And guess what, the weather's going to be shit again just in time for the weekend. Raaaah.  Sick of my whinging yet?

On a happier note, Mr P&P and I are getting kittens.. we only went to get one, but Mr "I'm reluctantly saying yes to one babe, don't you dare try and talk me into two" turned into the mushiest pile of mush you've ever seen and insisted we get two, and not even the one we set out to get!  I would post a picture of them but A) I don't want to be one of those nauses that goes on about their pets all the time and B) One of my mates has bet me £100 that I post 5 photos of them them by the end of the year and I hate losing.  Anyway, one is lilac and the other is stripy and they're going to be called Bernard and Frank or Bernard and Leonard, we haven't decided yet, I would say I'll keep you posted, but again I don't want to sound like some mental cat lady with nothing better to talk about.

Sooo, pulled pork.  One of the yummiest things I've made recently and also pretty easy- until you slosh the marinade ALL over your pristine Ugg boots (don't judge me, they are too comfortable to care about the fact they are hideously unfashionable) and then it is infuriating.

I  combined two recipes to create this triumph, one by the Fabulous Baker boys (despite loathing their TV show) the dry rub from a random blog I discovered.

Ingredients:

1 large joint of pork, mine was a shoulder, I've no idea how much it weighed but it cost about £9 from Morrisons

• 
  
• For the marinade
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, crushed by hand
• Plenty of fresh thyme
• Plenty of fresh rosemary
• 2 big pinches of salt
• 1 big pinch of pepper
• 330ml bottle American pale ale
• 
  
• For the rub
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
  1 tbsp garlic powder
  1 tbsp onion powder
  1 tbsp chili powder
  1 tbsp cayenne pepper
  1 tbsp salt
  1 tbsp ground pepper
  1 tbsp paprika
  1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 
  
• It looks like a stupidly long list of ingredients, but most of them are just dried herbs and spices, mainly for the rub actually which I'm sure wasn't strictly necessary, but seeing as I had all bar one of the ingredients in my spice collection (I was pathetically please) I thought why the hell not.

• Remove all the annoying stringy bits around the pork and score along the skin as if to make crackling, then place in a snug fitting baking tray.

• Put all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and mix to combine.

• cover the pork in the marinade. Rub the sauce and the garlic into the scored slits in the meat, cover and leave the to marinate overnight.

• Mix all of the rub ingredients together and make sure they are thoroughly combined too.

• Pour away the marinade and then pat dry with kitchen towel.

• Cover with the rub and pat down to make sure it's compact.

• Preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9. Put the pork into the oven for 20 minutes or until it gets a great colour. After 20 minutes take the meat out, cover it in tin foil and put it back into the oven at a cooler 140°C/gas mark 1 for 8 hours to slow roast. 

• Eight hours later it should pull from the bone and be lovely and tender.

I shredded the meat and served it in baps with coleslaw, chips and corn on the cob.  There was plenty left the next day and I had it with rice and peas. (Apologies for the poor quality iPhone photos of the finished products)