Pulled Pork With Cider Vinegar BBQ Sauce

Not your traditional smoked pulled pork, but a really tasty and much quicker version. This pulled pork with cider vinegar BBQ sauce recipe should be served over a soft hamburger roll and with my outstanding coleslaw.

Difficulty: Intermediate Preparation Time: 20min

Yields: 16 Servings Total Time: 2hr 30min

Ingredients:

For the Pork

• 1 4-5# Boston Butt (pork shoulder) trimmed, deboned and cut into 3-4” pieces

For the Braising Liquid

• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

• 1 large jalapeno, stem removed, quartered

• 2 cups of apple juice

• 1 cup of ketchup

• 1/3 cup cider vinegar

• 1 Tbs Dijon style mustard

• 2 chipotles in adobo*

• 3 Tbs ancho chile powder

• 2 Tbs cumin

• 2 Tbs coriander

• 1 Tbs smoked paprika

• 1 Tbs kosher salt

• 2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Procedure:

For the Salad:

Combine all of the ingredients for the braising liquid in a blender (if you have a small blender, halve the recipe and blend in two batches) and blend until pureed. Add trimmed pork and pureed braising liquid in a heavy bottomed 6-8 quart pot over a high heat. Cover. Once the sauce comes to a boil-reduce the heat to a simmer and cook covered, stirring occasionally, until the meat is fall apart tender-about 11/2 to 2 hours. Once the pork has finished cooking, transfer to a medium sized bowl to cool.

With a ladle skim as much of the fat as possible from the remaining liquid. Return the pot to a medium high heat and reduce the sauce by two thirds-about 10 minutes-stirring occasionally. You may notice some additional fat collecting in the middle of the boiling liquid-skim with a ladle and discard. While the sauce is reducing, shred the pork with two pair of tongs or a couple of large forks or with your fingers if the pork is cool enough.

Once the sauce is reduced-add the shredded pork and cook over a medium high heat to fully incorporate the sauce-about 5 minutes. Taste the pork and adjust seasoning with salt and vinegar if needed.

This is best served over soft hamburger rolls (the softer the better as they will soak up the lovely braising sauce) and with a side of my coleslaw.