Pulled Pork Sandwiches

In the late 1980's, I went on a trip to Tennesse in my pre-diagnosis of celiac.  While there my favorite thing besides the wonderfully hospitable people, their slow way of life, and the beautiful surroundings, was their pulled pork sandwiches.  Oh my gosh they were to die for delicious! 

Traveling around Memphis, Shilo and Lake Pickwick there were tons of little roadside dinners with barbeque. You could literally smell it just about anywhere you drove. Their pulled pork sandwiches were boiled to make the meat tender and then slow roasted or smoked for what seemed like days. But the aroma came wafting about and would draw you in.

The pulled pork sandwiches were stacked

high with pulled pork and there was always

a huge side of cole slaw. While there I was

instructed to place the cloe slaw on the

pulled pork. It sounded weird, but tasted

incredible. There was just enough sweet-

ness and crunch to balance out the spciey,

smokey pork.

Unfortunately, these delectable masterpieces were also loaded with gluten.  I had longed for those sandwiches for many years, and finally decided that no task was to great, nor any recipe.  So I went to my on-line resources to research recipes that sounded plausible for me to attempt.  I found hundreds, but settled on two different versions.  Either way the results are similar.  Since it was too cold and rainy we opted not to try the b.b.q. recipe; that will have to wait for summer.

Being that I am not one to leave a recipe well enough alone, I added lots of onions and garlic, a little oregano, and bay leaves to the crock pot, while the meat was simmering. 

When I drained off all of the liquid, I added more garlic, onions, and Bone Sucking Sauce (which is gluten-free), and put it in a pan to raost in the oven for hours.  It sure brought back memories of Tennesse.  The aroma was amazing!  I had to fight my daughter and husband off so that they wouldn't sneak the pulled pork before it was time.  The crock pot recipe came from About Southern Food and the recipe for the oven roasted one came from Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network.  You deicde which one is your favorite recipe.  I served mine with cole slaw on Udi's whole grain bread as we have yet to find any decent gluten-free buns. This is the perfect recipe to make for a crowd.  If you serve this for your Super Bowl Party it will surely be an instant hit!!  All of the products used in this recipe were purchased by me and are our personal favorites.

Crockpot Pulled Pork



Delicious pork shoulder, cooked with barbecue sauce and onion, then shredded.


Ingredients:


pork shoulder roast, about 4 pounds
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups water
1 bottle (16 ounces) barbecue sauce, or 2 cups homemade sauce
1 cup chopped onion

Preparation:

Place half of the thinly sliced onions in bottom of slow cooker; add pork and water, along with remaining onion slices. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or 4 to 5 hours on HIGH heat setting. Drain liquid from slow cooker; chop the meat coarsely and discard excess fat. Put the pork back in the slow cooker. Add barbecue sauce and chopped onion. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours longer. Stir occasionally. Serve with warm split buns and coleslaw.


Serves 8 to 10.

Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches
 
Ingredients



Dry Rub:
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard

3 tablespoons coarse salt
1 (5 to 7 pound) pork roast, preferably shoulder or Boston butt

Cider Vinegar Barbecue Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup yellow or brown mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 hamburger buns

Directions


Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork and marinate for as long as you have time for, as little as 1 hour or up to overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.


Put the pork in a roasting pan and bake for about 6 hours. Basically, roast the pork until it's falling apart and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170 degrees F.


To make the barbecue sauce: combine the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirring, for 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves.


Remove the pork roast from the oven and transfer to a large platter. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While still warm, take 2 forks and "pull" the meat to form shreds. Using 2 forks, shred the pork by steadying the meat with 1 fork and pulling it away with the other. Put the shredded pork in a bowl. Pour 1/2 of the sauce on the shredded pork and mix well to coat.


To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom 1/2 of the hamburger bun, and top with the spicy slaw. Serve with pickle spears and the remaining sauce on the side.