So my old mate Brett, AKA Bretty B, sends me a message asking what the hell pulled pork is. I explained that my understanding of pulled pork is that it is a slow cooked piece of pork, with some kind of juicy marinade, that ends up being so damn heart meltingly tender that you can shred it up with a fork for easy consumption. Brett was excited to say the least, but he was afraid that he would not be able to find it in the country town he now calls home. I suggested that he should make his own and he was very receptive to the idea. We spoke of a few flavours, but in the end he was down for the Chinese styles… even if it was because he is a devoted student of kung fu.
“Share with me the culinary skills that will make my peers weep with flavours of pure porky goodness”, said Brett.
So Chinese pulled pork it was!
Well. It was for him anyway. I kinda just made the recipe up on the fly and I thought it about time I tried it out for myself… just to double check I’ve got the minimals. As it turned out I do have the minimals, and even if it did taste like shit and/or I did need to change the recipe I would still be sitting here right now telling you that I did anyway. Smiley face.
I like the way a smiley face or indeed any form of emoji can be used to replace full stops these days. I truly think it is genius, but that is irrelevant.
We had our pork in home made gua bao (steamed bun things) with coriander slaw, pickled radish and cucumber, mayo and chilli. It was pretty effing good PS.
PULLED PORK with CHINESE FLAVOURS (serves as many as you do or don’t want to share it with)
2kg pork shoulder
¼ cup light soy sauce
¼ cup oyster sauce
1 brown onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumbsized knob ginger, finely sliced
1 tablespoon Chinese five spice powder (or a couple of star anise, a cinnamon stick, a cardamom pod and 2 cloves will do the trick)
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ cup Chinese black vinegar
¼ cup shao-xing Chinese cooking wine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cups chicken stock or water
• Mix everything, except pork and stock/water, to make a marinade
• Rub that shit all over the pork and put it in the fridge to do its thing. Over night is ideal but at least 3-4 is good. If you don’t marinate it it will still work out A-OK. Yes, you may stop your blubbing now
• Whack the pork and all the sexy marinade juices in an oven dish and cover that bad boy. A stock/water and cook at 150C for 3-4 hours, or until the meat will push away from the bone very easily… a slow cooker would also do the job here (get it on first thing in the morning for dinner that evening)
• Pull the meat out of the juices and into a bowl for the shredding action. All going according to plan the meat will be so tender it will yield under the pressure of the tongs or your tough-guy hands and you will end up with many smaller chunks
• Let it cool a little, but while it is still warm shred the meat up with two forks, or a fork and some tongs, or your fingers if you really want me to love you
• Strain juices and pour over pork
• Eat this one with rice, or in a sandwich, or how ever you want to really… it is your pork after all!
foodisthebestshitever 
31 responses to “Pulled pork Chinese styles for my ol’ mate Bretty B”
I am so going to do this….the wee lads are fast becoming great consumers of that which we call ‘cooked pig’. I love the keeping it real ‘ain’t no food stylist here for dinner tonight’ scenario. Hot food, take a quick photo, get it in ya gob…
Hells yeah to all of that Mrs Cheer 😁
You know how you don’t realize you’re hungry till you look at a picture of food and do that long swallow?
The one that works your entire jaw?
Story of my life right now.
Cheers to this G, looks fucking delicious!
Bahaha, I know it all too well. Cheers to you my friend.
I’m so glad you posted this. Been wanting make make pulled pork sandwiches for months! Now I have a recipe to follow that I know will be spot on. Seriously good photo’s in this post!
Good luck my friend and cheers for the photo kudos… That’s not something I hear often but I’m more than happy to take it 😜
Dee-licious!
Cheers my friend. It certainly was some tasty tasty goodness 👌
Thank you for sharing this with us, can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Thank you for the appreciation. I hope it goes well for you 👌
That pork has a beautiful colour. Very nice to pull it Chinese style.
Pull it Chinese style kinda sounds like something you’d see on the dance floor… Gagnam style?? Maybe not.
Cheers Conor
You could marinate pulled pork in bleach and I would still try to eat it. This looks awesome though. I’ve never used Chinese Black Vinegar before. I’m really interested in the homemade gua bao though. Did you make that yourself?
We did indeed. Packet steamed bun mix from the asian supermarket. Pretty simple – just require a lot of kneeding 😁
I’m sure Bruce Lee would have loved it! And Jackie Chan, surely, lives of it. The veg on top look kind of intriguing, too – is it a slaw? Red cabbage or red onions? Questions over questions …
Red cabbage and coriander slaw. I love questions over questions 😜
Cheers G
That sounds amazing, especially with the radishes. You speak to your mum to get that adoption sorted.
The papers arebeing filed as I type 😁
oh boy, this post drives my asian licking going crazy now and i’m blame you Connor for that….
i need to find a pork shoulder now!!!!
Damn kid. You better find a pork shoulder before you get yourself in trouble 😜
Please direct this Chinese girl to your gua bao recipe. I’ve never made them and I feel ashamed.
I’ll get a recipe up soon. Actually, I just used a packet mix and followed the instructions 😜
Oh yeah? I’ve seen them in the frozen section of our Chinese grocery but I’ve never bought them because I feel like it’s something I could make. Which is weird because I buy pre-made dumpling wrappers all the time. No qualms.
Nah. Not pre made. Just the dry mix. Add water and stuff and kneed for way too long if you don’t have a kitchenaid 😁
Never seen mixes before. Is that at asian grocer or regular supermarket?
Asian grocer
Ahhhhhh … one of my ALL TIME FAVOURITE things to eat!! I LOVE to put my shoulders into the smoker at 225 for 4-5 hours then, finish, covered in a low oven until fall apart tender. Steamed Bao … oh my *insert mouth watering*
Stay hungry friend 🙂
Hungry is my middle name!! Glad you likey 😜
Indeed 🙂
Your slaw is haunting me. I’ve made a first attempt today, adding radishes and sour apples, but forgetting about the coriander. Any other clues?!
For the slaw? Cabbage, apple, radish, coriander and a bit of green chilli. Dressed with mayo soured up with a little natural yoghurt. That’s all I got 😁
I think I am addicted to your nutty Chelsea buns PS