Don’t get me wrong, my husband makes me pulled pork all the time – his recipe is just ‘put a pork shoulder, a can of Coke, and a bottle of barbeque sauce in a slow-cooker and turn it on.’  Not that there is anything wrong with his recipe – it actually tastes fantastic – but, I couldn’t bring myself to blog about adding Coke to pork and cooking it.   As pulled pork was part of my 30 while 30 mission the recipe I picked had to be a bit of a challenge.  I settled on this recipe for Chipotle Barbeque Pulled Pork, as it sounded different and spicy and delicious.  Also, it’s fantastic for a working woman like myself, as it’s also a slow cooker recipe – throw it in and a few hours later dinner is done!  It came out great – certainly it has a bit of a bite, but the chipotle also brings a smoky sweet taste to the party.  Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are my new favorite special ingredient for Mexican dishes – the flavor is complex, smoky and spicy while at the same time sweet, and gives any Tex-Mex dish you’re making some great additional depth.  We served our pulled pork atop plain hamburger buns, which were perfect for sopping up the delicious sauce.  Alongside an ear of corn, this would make a fantastic summer-time dinner!

Chipotle Barbeque Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder, approximately 4-5lbs
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 canned Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (reserve the sauce) *
• 2 tablespoons Adobo Sauce *
• 12oz dark beer (I used a porter)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

* Adjust to taste depending on whether you like more or less spice!

Directions:

Rinse and dry the pork shoulder.  Season the meat with salt and pepper to taste, and sear on medium-high heat on each side in a large deep skillet, or a dutch oven.  Remove the pork from the pan to your slow-cooker.  Add the diced onions to the pan, cooking until translucent, about 5-10 minutes.  Add the spices to the pan, heating until they are aromatic.  Add brown sugar, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, beer, ketchup, vinegar and mustard to the pan.  Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.  Pour the sauce over the pork shoulder in the slow-cooker and cover.  Turn the slow-cooker on low heat for 7-8 hrs, or until the pork is tender and falling off the bone.  Remove the pork from the sauce and shred the meat using a fork.  Serve on rolls with sauce spooned over top.  Enjoy!

Tags: 30 While 30 - Lisa, Chipotle, Mexican, Pork

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 11th, 2011 at 9:34 am and is filed under Entrees, Meat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.