Easy Slow Cooked Beer Braised Pulled Pork

If you’ve never heard of pulled pork before, well where have you been?! It’s basically pork that’s been cooked low and slow, braised or stewed until it’s so ridiculously tender that it practically falls apart on its own, and where the sauce kind of melts right into the meat. The result is this incredibly flavorful, juicy, pull-apart pork that you can use in a thousand different ways. And yes, a thousand is barely an exaggeration! Hehehe ;D

Now, as you’d expect with this kind of recipe, there are about as many variations out there as there are cooks who’ve made it. This one here leans a little more South American in its soul, it was originally created to fill some classic Argentine empanadas, a lot of recipes go for plain seasoned ground meat, but the most authentic empanadas I ever had were always filled with beautifully braised, heavily seasoned meat, pork, beef or chicken, never just ground meat. Long story short, I ended up eating this with fried rice, stuffing those empanadas, and still had enough left over for some sandwiches the next day, just to prove a point! 😛

And that’s the real beauty of this recipe, not only is it absolutely delicious, it’s also really versatile. You can serve it just like a soft, rich pork stew straight from the pot, or you can shred the pork and pile it into sandwiches, stuff it into burritos, use it as a fantastic filling for all kinds of pies and empanadas, honestly the possibilities are endless. So let’s get to the recipe!

Easy Slow Cooked Beer Braised Pulled Pork

Servings: 8
Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
Print

This one's not complicated at all, it's more the type of recipe with quite a few ingredients that takes time to cook, but it's not complicated at all to prepare, you'll just want to keep an eye on the seasoning as you go. But... but but... the end result speaks for itself!

Ingredients

Pork – 1kg (Pork Shoulder or Pork Neck)
Chorizo Sausage – 1/2 (150g)
Onions – 2 Large
Garlic – 4 Cloves
Carrot – 1
Beer – 330ml (1 Can)
Miso – 1 Tablespoon
Beef Stock – 1/2 Cube
Olive Oil – A Drizzle
Soy Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
Oregano – A Pinch
Thyme – A Pinch
Smoked Paprika – A Pinch
Cayenne Pepper – A Pinch
Ground Cumin – A Pinch
Pepper – A Pinch
Salt – A Pinch

Directions

Start by cutting the meat into cubes, you can of course cook the whole piece, but it will take way longer and it will get much drier.

Place the cut meat and chopped skinless chorizo in a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil, fry the meat over medium heat for a little while, you just want to caramelize the outside of the meat a little so that it tastes better after it is fully cooked.

When the meat is completely browned, remove it to a plate. You will see that some of the meat will stick to the bottom of the pan, but that’s okay. Now add the beer, return the pan to the heat, and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom. Those burnt bits on the bottom just add more flavor to the sauce! 😀

Julienne the carrots, finely chop the onion, and roughly chop the garlic, then add them to the pan.

Next, add the meat and chorizo, season with a tablespoon of miso, 1/2 meat bouillon cube (meat stock cube), about two tablespoons of soy sauce, a pinch of thyme, oregano, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper (adjust these two if you want it spicier or not), ground cumin, salt, and pepper.
Cover and cook over medium/low heat for 2 hours (you can go up to 3 hours depending on the cut of meat) until everything is tender.

Occasionally stir, taste and check if the meat is tender, adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Finally, shred the meat, you don’t need a machine it should just fall apart with a fork and it’s ready to serve. You can also store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days without any problems. Bon appétit!

Notes & Tips: The right cut of pork matters. You want something like a pork shoulder or pork neck (Boston butt works great too), cuts that have a good amount of fat and collagen running through them. They might not be ideal for pan frying into steaks, but when you cook them low and slow like this, all that fat and collagen breaks down and makes the meat incredibly tender, juicy, and rich. As a bonus, these are usually among the cheaper cuts of pork you can buy its a… win-win! 😉

Adjusting the spice level. If you want a spicier version, add more heat at the end of cooking rather than only at the beginning, long cooking times tend to mellow out even a lot of spice. Feel free to add chili flakes, hot sauce, or fresh piri-piri right at the finish. Everything goes well with pork! And yes the meat i used for the empanadas i took back to a frying pan to add a little more heat and to dry out a bit the meat, because filling that is too wet will not make good empanadas!

No beer? No problem. You can swap the beer for white wine, or simply use water with a whole beef bouillon cube instead of just the half cube that my recipe calls for, but between us… its best to use a nice beer, it’s just adds way more flavour to the end result and i feel it kinda helps break down the meat a bit more!

Make please make it ahead of time. This recipe actually tastes even better the next day once all the flavors have had time to hang out together overnight in the fridge. It’s a perfect make ahead recipe for meal prep, parties, or a week of insanely good lunches.

Serving Ideas: Serve it as a soft pork stew over rice or mashed potatoes. Shred it and pile it into a crusty sandwich roll with coleslaw. Stuff it into burritos or tacos with some pickled jalapeños. Use it as a filling for empanadas, savory pies, croquettes, or pasties. Honestly, this pulled pork goes pretty much everywhere and makes everything better! 🐷 yums!!!!!!!

This recipe for Easy Slow Cooked Beer Braised Pulled Pork was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Porco Tenro Desfiado Pulled Pork foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.