A Recipe For The Best Pulled Pork You've Ever Tasted

A Recipe For The Best Pulled Pork You've Ever Tasted

Mmmm, midway through cooking



This is my last (at least for a long while) David Chang recipe. I think even Mr.S. was getting a bit worried with my recent obsession with the Momofuku cookbook (although he wasn't fussing too much when he was shoving the cooked results into his mouth). Maybe it's Chang's love for all things pork, but I'm kind diggin' on him right now. Anyhow, this particular recipe is for the pulled pork that they use in their pork bo ssam dish at Momofuku. When I happened to mention to my friend Melanie that I was going to attempt this recipe, she referenced Chang's "Let's put pork in every f-----g dish," line in Treme. I hadn't seen it so of course when I got home I had to look it up...hilarious. If you haven't checked it out, you can catch a clip of it here: David Chang on Treme.

This recipe yielded the best tasting pulled pork I've ever made or tasted at any friend's house or restaurant. The pork has to sit overnight, but it's worth it. The inside is nice and tender and the outside has this amazing salty-sweet lacquer. It's like a bit of meatopia in your mouth.

Pulled Pork Momofuku-Style (Adapted from “Momofuku,” by David Chang and Peter Meehan)

Ingredients

4 lb. boneless pork shoulder

1/2 cup Kosher salt (don't sub in table salt, it'll come out way too salty)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. The night before: In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar, the salt and the ground pepper. Rub the mixture all over the pork shoulder, making sure you get the crevices. Put it in a pan, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

2. The next day: Heat your oven to 300 degrees F. Transfer the pork out of the pan and discard the juices and any excess sugar/salt mixture. You can either place the pork in a roasting pan or a cast iron skillet. Place in the oven and cook for 5-6 hours. Baste the shoulder with the fat in the pan every hour, after the first 3 hours.

3. Remove the pork from the oven, drain off the fat. Let it rest for up to an hour.

4. Ok now, open the windows to your house because there's going to be some sizzling and smoking going on....Crank the oven up to 500 degrees F. Stir together 1/2 tablespoon of salt with 3 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Press the brown sugar into the top of the pork shoulder, make it into a nice even layer. Return the pork to the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until a nice crunchy lacquer forms. Keep an eye on it though so it doesn't burn.

5. Take the pork out and let it rest for a half hour.  Then use two forks to shred it up. You can use it in all kinds of dishes - tacos, sandwiches, pulled pork hash, pork ragù....

6. By the way, the crispy, cooked skin on this sucker is oh so heavenly!

Time to dig in!