Pulled Pork Fiesta – Murray Valley Pork

Foodies, what would be the best dish to have when friends are coming along over the weekend in the Winter? My suggestion is having a pulled pork fiesta so everyone can enjoy their favorite way of the pulled pork. The cooking method is believed to originate in the United States, but around the world, there are many different forms of pulled porks. In most of recipes of pulled pork, it requires low temperatures and an extensively long period of time to cook (6 hours ish). It is both not economical and not convenient for home cooks, especially when there are guest to come to visit. Hence, I developed this easy recipe myself using a combination of electric pressure cooker and a cast iron casserole, so everyone can get a satisfactory pulled pork dish in less than 90 minutes.

If you are still in the hunt for a good pork, I recommend you to try Murray Valley Pork. Being one of Australia’s best pork producers, the pork products from MV Pork is of top quality. I’ve used their products for a number of my dishes. MV Pork do special products that will suit many events such as Easter, Christmas and Australian Day. Murray Valley Pork products are available in Feast Fine Foods in Adelaide Central Market.

So now, let me start my first recipe – Pulled Pork and Egg Breakfast

Pulled Pork Brekkie Egg Skillet

 

 

 

Ingredients

To make the paste

2                                    Onion

6-7 Cloves                    Garlic

2.5 tbsp                        Sugar

1 tsp                              Cracked pepper

3 tbsp                           McCormick Smoked Paprika

1 can                             Double concentrate potato paste

2 tsp                             Ginger powder

2 tsp                             Dried coriander

2 tbsp                           McCormick Vintage BBQ sauce

2 tbsp                           Chilli paste (optional) – only if you like spicy stuff like me 🙂

—————————————————————————————————

2 Kg                              Murray Valley Pork Scotch Fillet （as shown above)

2                                    Eggs – free range

4 Cups                          Water

 

Steps

1. Place all ingredients listed in the “To make the paste” section into a mixing bowl.

 

 

 

2. Cut the pork scotch into 3 equal pieces and place in the bowl.

3. Now get your hand dirty and mix all ingredients as well as the pork with your hand. Make sure you scrub a generous amount of the paste onto the pork so that it takes most of the flavours. See below for my messy result 🙂

 

 

 

4. Transfer the content in the mixing bowl into an electric pressure cooker and add the 4 cups of water. Cook for 45 minutes.

5. At the end of the 45 minutes mark, allow the pressure cooker to cool and release the gas if you wish to accelerate the process.

6. Transfer all the content in the pressure cooker into a cast iron casserole. Season to taste. This is purely to suit your preference so you can put the appropriate amount of salt according to your liking.

 

 

 

7. Now, put the casserole on high heat and cook for about 30 minutes until the sauce is quite concentrate and the oil is separated out a bit as shown below. During this time, you may smell some charred smoky flavours but that’s absolutely normal and you can easily get the charred mark off the cast iron by using sodium bicarbonate.

 

 

8. Take the 3 pieces of porks out into a bowl and using two forks to carefully separate the meat. Have a look below, the meat is very easy to be separated or pulled apart and it is also indeed very soft and tender with plenty of aromas on the nose. I tried to take a piece and tasted myself – it is delish!

 

 

9. After pulling the pork, it should look something like the photo below. The pork is now very flavoursome but if you like more flavours, you can dip the meat back into the sauce.

 

 

 

By now, the pulled pork is cooked and you are ready to use it for any other dishes. You can store the meet in the fridge separate from the sauce and can reheat in a pan whenever you need to use it.

So for the following, they are purely some ideas on how you can serve your pulled pork.

 

11. In a cast iron skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil and reheat the pork with some sauces. Once the pork is warm, dig two holes and crack the eggs into the wholes. Cook until the egg is fully done on the white but the yolk is not, according to your preference. Add a pinch of cracked pepper on top of the egg if you wish and add extra sauces if you like spicy food. 🙂

 

Here you go, my Pulled Pork Breakfast Egg Skillet with Murray Valley Pork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you notice that I used a cast iron skillet that is a little different to others available in the market? It is from AUSfonte Tough Love and I will put a post and competition up for it soon. Watch this space. 🙂

 

 

Recipe No. 2

Pulled Pork Burger with Asian Salad 

 

 

 

Ingredients

To make the Ranch dressing

1/2 cup             Sour cream

1/2 cup             Buttermilk

1/4 cup             Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise

2                        Garlic cloves – minced 

1 tsp                  Salt

1/4 tsp             Pepper

2 tsp                 Fresh lemon juice

———————————————————————————————————————-

To make the Asian salad

1                       Carrot (organic) – sliced

1/2                   Continental cucumber – sliced

1                       Apple (organic) – sliced

5-10                Preserved Jalapeño rings – finely chopped

 

Steps

1. To make the Ranch dressing, mix well all ingredients listed in the “To make the Ranch Dressing” section under ingredient. Season to taste.

2. In a bowl, mix all ingredients listed in the “To make the Asian salad” section and add enough ranch dressing as you wish.

I sometimes get emails asking about where to get real organic vegetable and fruit produces. Apart from my regular ones in Adelaide Central Market, I recently found a organic veggie and fruit delivery service, Family Organics, which delivers certified organics on regular basis. I will have a full post out in future to let you know about this service.

 

3.  I have a fantastic recipe to make the bread bun but I will leave it for future to write. Otherwise this post will be endless :P. Anyway, to make up the burger, place generous amount of the pulled pork on the halved bun and top it up with some sliced veggie and apple as listed above. Then, give it a good splash of the ranch dressing and serve.

 

 

I also served the burger and salad with Sidewood Adelaide Hills Basket Pressed Apple Cider, a local cider which has plenty of fresh apple flavours and I didn’t quite taste the alcohol. 😀 It has also won the Champion South Australian Ciders in the 2014 Royal Adelaide Cider Competition. Adelaide Hills is famous for its cool climate and apples in the region are definitely sweeter and tastier. I recommend all cider lovers to give it a go :).

 

 

 

I hope you all enjoy this quick and easy pulled pork recipe and will try to cook some for you next event. If you are craving for a tastier pork than your ordinary daily ones, Murray Valley Pork is definitely the way to go. Their products are suitable for many different cuisines. You can get them from Feast Fine Foods in the world acclaimed Adelaide Central Market.

 

PS: If you had charred black marks on the cast iron casserole, the easiest way to get rid of them and clean your casserole is to use baking soda. Put 2 tbsp baking soda into the casserole and add enough water to cover the black mark. Boil the solution and add detergent to soak and wash. Do this a couple of times until the black mark disappears completely.

 

If you like reading this recipe and would like to receive my future updates, please like us on Facebook and Twitter (@Adelaidefoodies).

 

Until the next post, enjoy!