By Matthew Luca
Pulled pork is all about impact flavours and impact cooking, I wanted to create my own Italian version of this popular versatile roast. After around 10 hours and two attempts it was insanely good. The idea came from a balsamic braised lamb shank dish that I used to make in the restaurant but wanted to keep the smokiness that pulled pork is famous for. Plan this dish ahead of time and pop in the oven while you carry on with your day.
Ingredients
1 Pork shoulder (off the bone) 3.5kg weight
500ml Balsamic Vinegar
500ml Water
100g Caster sugar
1 Whole Garlic Bulb (cut down the middle)
3 sprigs rosemary
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or one red chilli chopped)
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 heaped tablespoon Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Method
Score the top of the pork shoulder with a sharp knife and place in a deep oven proof dish (as pictured above).
In a mixing bowl add the Balsamic, water, sugar, chilli flakes, salt, pepper, oregano and smoked paprika then stir to combine all ingredients. Pour the mixture over the pork shoulder in the dish.
Scatter in the rosemary sprigs and garlic then cover the dish tightly with 2 layers of kitchen foil to ensure no moisture can escape when cooking.
Place in a preheated oven at 225c and leave to cook for 4 hours. When ready remove the dish from the oven, keep covered and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the foil from the dish and transfer the pork to a baking tray or carving dish ready for pulling.
With the balsamic stock/juices in the cooking pan, transfer through a fine sieve into a pouring jug or saucepan, pressing the garlic through then set aside.
Using two forks start pulling the pork apart, it should look a little bit like string and remove any fat/cracking/skin.
Place the pulled pork into large containers or bowl and when ready to use just pour over a little of the balsamic stock and mix back into the pork. reheat if required in a saucepan.
Note: you can also remove fat from the stock by leaving it to cool and removing from the top but some fat left in will add more flavour to the pork.
You can store the cooked pulled pork in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days and is very versatile in a number of dishes, see my other recipes for some amazing ideas.
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