Spicy Pulled Pork

This is the first roast pork I've ever made. Yes! I know…hard to believe, right!? I've never been a huge pork fan and will only eat if when visiting my parents as Dad is a fabulous cook and his pork is amazing. Anyway recently a girlfriend brought over a Pulled Pork for a get-together we were having. It was so delicious it was devoured within minutes. I didn't quite eat all of it - there were about 15 people here lol but I did enjoy a huge serving.

I decided I would try to cook it myself. Having never cooked a roast pork before, I was apprehensive. I found an easy recipe online and adapted it to suit my needs and made it tonight. It was TO DIE FOR!!! The recipe is pretty spicy so if you don't like it hot, reduce the cracked pepper and the chilli quantities for a more subtle hit! This served 8 with vegetables on the side. I served ours with roast potatoes and some greens.

You will need at least 3 hours marinating time to begin with, but I marinated ours overnight so it's up to you how long you want to leave it in the lovely marinade for, but I recommend at least 3 hours. The longer the better.

Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 2 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 4 whole cloves
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 125ml (½ cup) lime juice
• 80ml (⅓ cup) orange juice
• 2kg boneless pork shoulder roast, rind removed, excess fat trimmed

Method:

• Combine the garlic, paprika, oregano, pepper, cumin, allspice, coriander, chilli, cloves, cinnamon and the combined juices in a large bowl
• Season with salt and add the pork and turn to coat
• Cover and place in the fridge for at least 3 hrs. The longer the better.
• Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius (fan forced) and place pork and marinade in a large flameproof casserole dish
• Loosely cover the surface of the pork with foil and also cover with lid
• Roast, turning half way through cooking and basting occasionally, for 3 hours or until pork is very tender
• Set aside, covered, for 30 minutes to rest
• Transfer the pork to a serving dish and using two forks, gently pull apart the flesh into shredded strips
• Pour over the sauce and serve with whatever you like because it is so damn good that nothing else matters!

D-E-L-icous  XD

 This is the pork prior to cooking

This is the pork once cooked, prior to being pulled apart