Jerk Style Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw & Jalapenos

Now that fall is at hand, it is time to share a recipe for Jerk Style Pulled Pork sandwiches. These are ideal fall and winter cooking as they cook for a very long time in the oven and suit the season. We will be making it with coleslaw and pickled jalapenos for toppings. It is simple to make, and very flavourful. It is a terrific party or sport's gathering dish.

This is also the easy version in that many of the ingredients are store bought. In some future posts we will look at homemade vinegar and barbeque style sauces. 

To start you need a 4-6 lb. pork shoulder. Try to get one with a good fat layer on the one side. A couple of bones in are fine. You remove them at the end. 

Then you take Jerk Seasoning (Mr. Goudas makes one, among others) and spread it all over and rub it into all sides of the shoulder other than the fat side.. You want the shoulder fully coated. You do the same with a Jerk paste like the one made by Grace, again rubbing it in to the pork on all sides thoroughly, again other than the fat. 

Place the coated pork shoulder in a Dutch Oven and, lid off, into an oven, preheated  to 275. 

You let the pork cook for 6-7 hours. You don't need to do anything at this point. Just leave it be.

After 6-7 hours, remove the shoulder and put it on a large plate. At this point you take off the fat layer and discard. 

You take two forks and start to pull the shoulder apart. It will fall apart into threads very easily. Discard any bones. 

Once you have pulled the entire shoulder apart you are ready to put it back in the dutch oven. Before doing that you should scrape off and remove any residue from the bottom of the dutch oven. Put the pulled pork back into the dutch oven and cover it with between one and two full bottles of Jerk style BBQ sauce. The amount depends on how large the shoulder was and how saucy you want it. For a larger shoulder you will need two full bottles. Grace makes a Jerk BBQ sauce, as do some others.

Stir all the sauce and pulled pork together and put it back in oven. Heat for about  another houroven set to minimum, stirring once or twice.

Serve on rolls or hamburger buns. I think it tastes best topped with a nice creamy style coleslaw and I usually add a few jalapenos (but it is already a bit spicy, so this depends on taste of course.)

This exact method, of course, can be used to make pulled pork of different styles. You can use different seasonings or BBQ sauces, including homemade ones. Watch for a future post on doing a spicy North Carolina style vinegar sauce.

Coleslaw is a great topping for pulled pork

 
With the leftovers you can try making Jerk Pulled Pork Tacos. Take hard-shell style tacos, put in the pulled pork as the base filling, top it with creamy slaw, then salsa or salsa verde, some sour cream and, if you like, hot sauce or jalapenos. This will be a big hit!

Jalapenos, sliced, with some carrots in vinegar...hot!