Epic Pulled Pork Lunch

Pulled pork, crackling, potato salad, gherkins, coleslaw, bun.

You may remember my slow-roasted pork dinner, which saw me buy 2 gorgeous yet incredibly expensive pork shoulders, only to stash one in the freezer without cooking it. I have a bad habit of carefully storing meats and leftovers in the freezer, only to forget about them completely. It is usually only several months later that I re-discover them, frostbitten beyond recognition, and shamefully chuck them out. I was determined not to let this happen to such a lovely piece of meat, and rapidly organised another lunch!

I'd been wanting to make Southern-style pulled pork for a while, (i.e. slow roasted pork served with BBQ sauce and coleslaw in a bun!), and thought this would be a good opportunity to try it. About a week before the lunch, I kinda invited another 6 people (oops), so ended up buying another pork shoulder and getting everyone to chip in $10 towards the cost of said pork.


Pulled Pork for 12

Pulled Pork with Crackling
(Homemade) BBQ Sauce
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Mac & Cheese
Cornichons and White Baps

Coffee Frappuccinos
Cherry and Apple Pie


Traditionally, pulled pork is slow cooked, then pulled apart and mixed with barbecue sauce. The saucy pork pieces are then eaten in white buns with coleslaw. (This is what my google research told me - I'm sure different places in the States have their own traditions). However, for some reason that I cannot fathom, when researching pulled pork nowhere did I ever find reference to crackling. I didn't want to miss out on crackling, so I cooked the pork exactly the same way as last time (see here), and made some of Tyler Florence's Ultimate BBQ sauce to go with. It is so delicious.

The table:

And now for some closeups!
This is the crackling. Although I love making crackling, I'm not that into actually eating it, and never have more than one or two bites. My friends and family, however, are craazy about it!


These pork shoulders had a much higher fat-to-meat ratio than the previous one, hence the rather alarming amount of crackling above. No-one seemed to be complaining though, haha.

And now the sides:

Above: Mac & Cheese, below Coleslaw

"Tolan's Mum's Potato Salad"

All the sides are from Tyler's Ultimate, and both the mac & cheese and coleslaw have been made before and are family favourites. (And no, Duncan, I do not have a secret crush on Tyler - It's not my fault his recipes are just awesome!!) I'd never made his potato salad before, as I usually prefer the mayo-free and bacon heavy Kartoffelsalat that is famous throughout Lampertheim. I really liked this one though - it has a tangy mayo dressing and contains grated hardboiled eggs which give a great texture.

After we demolished the lunch (I cannot believe we ate all of that meat!), Sandra & I started working on some refreshments. It was a hot day, about 37C from memory, so realising that it would be too hot for coffee, we made frappucinos!

We had brewed a pot of coffee in the morning and let it cool in the fridge all day. Into the blender went the cold coffee, ice-cubes, milk, sugar and ice-cream. Ta-dah! Refreshing and reviving slushy goodness.

Then it was time for dessert, the cherry and apple pie that I previously posted about. Silly me, thinking that people wouldn't want much dessert after a huge lunch, only made a thin 24-cm pie. This meant enough for one slice per person, with one slice left over. (I have one crazy friend who doesn't like cherries, wtf, so he didn't have any).


I totally misjudged my friends' appetites, because we absolutely ripped through the pie, and only the fastest person got that lucky last slice.

On the other hand, we had heaps of coleslaw and potato salad leftover (even though the recipe says they'll serve 6-8 people). Crazytown!

Note to self: Halve the salads, double the pie.

Pulled pork, crackling, potato salad, gherkins, coleslaw, bun.

You may remember my slow-roasted pork dinner, which saw me buy 2 gorgeous yet incredibly expensive pork shoulders, only to stash one in the freezer without cooking it. I have a bad habit of carefully storing meats and leftovers in the freezer, only to forget about them completely. It is usually only several months later that I re-discover them, frostbitten beyond recognition, and shamefully chuck them out. I was determined not to let this happen to such a lovely piece of meat, and rapidly organised another lunch!

I'd been wanting to make Southern-style pulled pork for a while, (i.e. slow roasted pork served with BBQ sauce and coleslaw in a bun!), and thought this would be a good opportunity to try it. About a week before the lunch, I kinda invited another 6 people (oops), so ended up buying another pork shoulder and getting everyone to chip in $10 towards the cost of said pork.


Pulled Pork for 12

Pulled Pork with Crackling
(Homemade) BBQ Sauce
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Mac & Cheese
Cornichons and White Baps

Coffee Frappuccinos
Cherry and Apple Pie


Traditionally, pulled pork is slow cooked, then pulled apart and mixed with barbecue sauce. The saucy pork pieces are then eaten in white buns with coleslaw. (This is what my google research told me - I'm sure different places in the States have their own traditions). However, for some reason that I cannot fathom, when researching pulled pork nowhere did I ever find reference to crackling. I didn't want to miss out on crackling, so I cooked the pork exactly the same way as last time (see here), and made some of Tyler Florence's Ultimate BBQ sauce to go with. It is so delicious.

The table:

And now for some closeups!
This is the crackling. Although I love making crackling, I'm not that into actually eating it, and never have more than one or two bites. My friends and family, however, are craazy about it!


These pork shoulders had a much higher fat-to-meat ratio than the previous one, hence the rather alarming amount of crackling above. No-one seemed to be complaining though, haha.

And now the sides:

Above: Mac & Cheese, below Coleslaw

"Tolan's Mum's Potato Salad"

All the sides are from Tyler's Ultimate, and both the mac & cheese and coleslaw have been made before and are family favourites. (And no, Duncan, I do not have a secret crush on Tyler - It's not my fault his recipes are just awesome!!) I'd never made his potato salad before, as I usually prefer the mayo-free and bacon heavy Kartoffelsalat that is famous throughout Lampertheim. I really liked this one though - it has a tangy mayo dressing and contains grated hardboiled eggs which give a great texture.

After we demolished the lunch (I cannot believe we ate all of that meat!), Sandra & I started working on some refreshments. It was a hot day, about 37C from memory, so realising that it would be too hot for coffee, we made frappucinos!

We had brewed a pot of coffee in the morning and let it cool in the fridge all day. Into the blender went the cold coffee, ice-cubes, milk, sugar and ice-cream. Ta-dah! Refreshing and reviving slushy goodness.

Then it was time for dessert, the cherry and apple pie that I previously posted about. Silly me, thinking that people wouldn't want much dessert after a huge lunch, only made a thin 24-cm pie. This meant enough for one slice per person, with one slice left over. (I have one crazy friend who doesn't like cherries, wtf, so he didn't have any).


I totally misjudged my friends' appetites, because we absolutely ripped through the pie, and only the fastest person got that lucky last slice.

On the other hand, we had heaps of coleslaw and potato salad leftover (even though the recipe says they'll serve 6-8 people). Crazytown!

Note to self: Halve the salads, double the pie.