Brian Lagerstrom's Melted Pulled Pork (Slow Cooker)

Brian Lagerstrom's restaurant recipe centres on a long dry cure in green salt (equal parts salt and sugar, smashed garlic and chopped thyme), 45 minutes of applewood smoke on a converted grill, then 4 to 6 hours of low oven roasting at 315°F until the shoulder blade bone pulls clean. The roasting stage translates straight to a slow cooker on Low or High. The cure and the optional smoke stage are kept as in the source. After resting, the pork is shredded into large chunky pieces straight back into its own rendered fat and juices, then served three ways: brioche sandwich with slaw, banh mi with pickled daikon, or corn tortilla tacos with tomatillo salsa.

Ingredients

• 3.4 kgbone in pork butt

• 200 gfine salt
• 200 gcaster sugar
• 50 ggarlic, pressed through a garlic press until finely broken down
• 6 gfresh thyme leaves, stripped from the stems and roughly chopped

• applewood smoking chips, soaked

• 1brioche bun, split and toasted (add late)
• mayonnaise, spread on both cut sides of the bun (add late)
• 155 gpulled pork (add late)
• creamy cabbage slaw (add late)

• 1banh mi style baguette, refreshed in the oven for 2 minutes (add late)
• mayonnaise, a big spoonful, slathered on the bread (add late)
• 155 gpulled pork (add late)
• cucumber, sliced into batons (add late)
• pickled shredded daikon and carrot (add late)
• fresh jalapenos, sliced (add late)
• fresh coriander, roughly chopped (add late)

• 2corn tortillas, heated and doubled up (add late)
• 115 gpulled pork (add late)
• white onion, freshly diced (add late)
• fresh coriander, chopped (add late)
• tomatillo salsa, drizzled over (add late)
• Chihuahua cheese or queso fresco, shredded (add late)

Method

1. Strip the thyme leaves from the stems by pinching with one hand and pulling the stem with the other. Run your knife through the leaves to open up the flavour and get them small enough to stick to the meat.

   ~3 min

2. In a bowl, combine 200 g fine salt, 200 g caster sugar, 50 g garlic (pushed through a press) and the chopped thyme. Stir until the herb and garlic are evenly spread through the salt and sugar. This is the green salt cure.

   ~3 min

3. Set the pork butt on a tray. Spread about a quarter of a cup of green salt over one side and massage it in firmly so the salt and sugar macerate into the surface. Flip the pork and repeat with another quarter cup on the other side. Keep rubbing until the meat is sparkling with cure all over. There will be cure left over for next time.

   ~8 min

4. Set the salted pork on a rack uncovered in the fridge to dry brine for at least 2 hours, preferably 24 hours. The surface should turn dry and matte. That dry skin is called a pellicle and it grabs onto smoke.

   ~1440 min

5. If you have a grill or smoker, set it up for indirect heat at around 300°F (149°C). On a gas grill, lift one grate, drop a smoker chip box onto the exposed burner, load it with 2 to 3 heaping handfuls of soaked applewood chips and close it up. Turn that burner to high and the others very low or off.

   ~5 min

6. Once the chips are smouldering after about 15 to 20 minutes, place the cured pork on the side of the grill where the burners are off. Close the lid and turn the lit burner down to medium high so the inside of the grill sits between 275 and 325°F. Smoke for 45 minutes.

   ~45 min

7. For a deeper smoke flavour, load a second round of soaked applewood chips into the box once the first is spent and smoke for another 45 minutes. Otherwise pull the pork off the grill now.

   ~45 min

8. Transfer the pork (smoked or not) directly into the slow cooker pot. Do not add any extra liquid. The meat will render its own fat and juices.

   ~2 min

9. Cover and cook on Low for 9 hours or on High for 5 hours. The pork is done when the shoulder blade bone pulls right out cleanly and tongs push easily through the centre of the roast.

   ~540 min

10. Lift the pork out of the slow cooker onto a tray. Rest uncovered for 30 minutes. Keep the rendered fat and juices in the slow cooker.

    ~30 min

11. Pull the pork apart with two forks or your hands into large chunky shreds, not tiny thready bits. The slow cooked fat and collagen keep the meat tender but able to hold itself together as meatier pieces.

    ~8 min

12. Tip the chunky pork back into the rendered fat and juices in the slow cooker pot. Toss gently to coat. The juices are salty, garlicky and scented with thyme; the fat lubricates everything.

    ~2 min

13. For the classic sandwich: spread mayonnaise on both cut sides of a toasted brioche bun, pile 155 g (5 to 6 oz) of pulled pork on the base, top with creamy cabbage slaw, then close with the top bun and give it a firm squish.

    ~3 min

14. For a banh mi: refresh a soft baguette in the oven for 2 minutes to crisp the crust, slather with mayonnaise, add 155 g (5 to 6 oz) of pulled pork, then top with cucumber batons, pickled daikon and carrot, sliced jalapenos and chopped coriander.

    ~5 min

15. For tacos: heat 2 corn tortillas and stack them as a double decker. Pile on 115 g (4 oz) of pulled pork, then top with diced white onion, chopped coriander, a drizzle of tomatillo salsa and a sprinkle of shredded Chihuahua cheese or queso fresco.

    ~4 min

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