Pee Wee’s BBQ Pork Perfection

PEE WEE’S BBQ PORK PERFECTION

Servings: 15-20

There are a LOT of BBQ pork recipes out there. Literally thousands of ’em. So how/why to find a new take? Riff one of the best BBQ foods AND do it pretty quickly and easily?

I make a great shredded pork using my Komado, BUT it’s a lot slower, longer process.  I was looking for something that has all of the authenticity of a good slow-cook pulled pork, with the speed and convenience that most home chefs need when they don’t have hours and hours to make food.

When I create an original, I like to honor one of the greats of Jazz with the dish. This one is so good that I wanted it to celebrate an artist who has been, sadly, all but forgotten by modern audiences… Pee Wee Russell.

He’s a guy whose career may be less celebrated, but, like the great Louis Armstrong, it spanned every era and style of the music, from Dixieland to Free Jazz,and his unique style saw him featured at gigs with Bix Beiderbecke in the Jazz Age of the roaring 1920s all the way to the Bop era with Thelonious Monk  and others in the 1950s.

Pee Wee was a clarinet genius. Check him out if you have a minute, since I just freed up fourteen hours of cooking to get to this quality of pork.

MISE-EN-PLACE

• Instant Pot, Instant Pot Ultra (Or similar) 6Qt Multi-Function Cooker  or Fagor 8 Qt Pressure Cooker
• Two work bowls. One large (For cooked shoulder); One small (For shredded pork)
• Tongs
• Fork
• Silicon Spatula

WHAT YOU NEED

• 1 3-5 lb pork shoulder (Must fit in Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker)
• 2 cans Muir Glen organic tomato sauce
• 1 can Muir Glen organic tomato paste
• 1.5 cups India Tree muscovado sugar (1 Cup US brown sugar may substitute)
• 2 tsp hickory smoked sea salt
• 1.5 tbsp Himalayan Pink Salt
• 1 tablespoon ground Tellicherry black pepper
• 2 tsp fenugreek leaves
• 1.5 tsp allspice berries, ground
• 2 Bird’s eye pepper pods, dried
• 2 bay leaves, dried
• 2 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika
• 2 tsp powdered mustard
• 1/4 cup onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ground Saigon cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground sumac
• 100ml (1/3cup) Organic apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp Tabasco spicy worcestershire (Or regular Worcestershire and 1/4 tsp cayenne)
• 1/2 cup water

THE STEPS

• Add the pork shoulder to the Instant Pot. You may have to cut it to fit it in the bottom of the pot.
• Add all ingredients EXCEPT the tomato paste to the instant pot:

• Stir and coat the pork shoulder.
• Lock on the Instant Pot lid. Press the Meat button, then add time to 90 minutes using the PLUS button. Set the pressure cooker to HIGH. It will start automatically.  (If using a Fagor pressure cooker, lock the lid set to 2 slower cook on the steam knob, bring the pot to a boil, and, once the steam locks the lid, with the button up, set to med. low or low and cook for 90 minutes.)
• When the meat is done, remove it from the Instant pot with tongs. Leave the pot on its warming cycle. Let it drain before placing in a work bowl. Using your fingers and/or a fork, shred the pork, discarding any heavy fats or cartilage, and put the meat into a second work bowl.
• Finished meat should look like this. Leave a bit larger chunks for good mouth feel. The meat is so tender you don’t need to shred it to bits.
• Add the shredded pork back to the BBQ base and stir in.

• Add the tomato paste.
  
• Stir in the tomato paste. Run the video so you can see the proper thickness.

• Cover the pork and keep warm until serving.
• Plating – Take your bun of choice, and heap a little on with tongs. Let the sauce drain off a bit to keep the bun from swamping. Serve with some BBQ beans and a vegetable side. For a nice riff, make some mayo-free spicy coleslaw and add a bit to the top of the pork before topping with the bun.
• Freezing – If you’re not feeding a bunch of people, store and freeze smaller batches. It freezes great!