Recipe: Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue, Tex-Mex Pulled Pork, Tangy Coleslaw

How about pulled pork sandwiches! Keep the pulled pork and coleslaw refrigerated until ready to serve. The sandwiches can be assembled at your event.

Open the bun and pile as much pulled pork barbecue as you possibly can on the bottom half. Add finishing sauce to taste. Place some slaw on top if you like. Press the top half of the bun into place. Eat up!

The buns, by tradition, must be the softest, whites, cheapest ones you can procure. Traditionally the buns are not adorned with sesame seeds, garlic chips, etc/. The size is irrelevant as it only affects the number you eat.

The main thing to remember when cooking pork tenderloins is not to overcook when roasting, since overcooking will cause the meat to dry out. It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to test for doneness; cutting into the meat to test for color will cause too many good juices to run out. A range of 150 to 165F is usually recommended (taking thermometer inaccuracies into account), which is well above the 137F necessary to kill any trichinae. This should produce tenderloin that's juicy, tender, and safe.

Here are a couple of pulled-pork recipes and a cole slaw recipe:
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Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue

4 lb pork roast
2 onions, sliced
1 onion, chopped
5 or 6 cloves
2 cups water
16 oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
salt and pepper

Place one sliced onion at the bottom of crock pot.

Stud pork roast with cloves and season with salt and pepper.

Place roast in crock pot on top of the sliced onion.Cover with the second sliced onion and add enough water to fill crock pot two thirds of the way.

Cover and cook on low 8-12 hours or overnight.

Remove roast. Remove and discard cloves, bone and fat as well as any water, onions and grease remaining in pot.

When meat is cool enough to handle, use a fork or your fingers to pull it apart until the entire roast is shredded.

Return the pulled pork to the crock pot. Mix in the chopped onion and BBQ sauce and cover. Heat on high for 1-3 hours or until the onions are soft.

Serve on large, crusty buns with a mustard based Carolina-style BBQ sauce. Garnish with dill pickle sprears, thinly sliced raw onion and pickled pepperoncini (Italian banana peppers). Serve with crisp, homemade slaw. Carolinians would put the cole slaw on the pulled pork sandwiches..that's up to you.

NOTE: If your chosen bbq sauce is vry thick, it is a good idea to add water to insure that your pork is moist.
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Tex-Mex Pulled Pork
Source: Woman's Day 2/16/99

Sauce

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce (1 cup)
1 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cans (4.5 oz each) diced green chilies
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp. each ground cumin and dried oregano
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
One 2 1/2 pound well-trimmed boneless pork loin roast
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Mix sauce ingredients in a 3 quart or larger slow-cooker. Add pork, then spoon sauce over pork just to cover.

Cover cooker and cook on high 3 1/2 hours or on low 8-10 hours until pork is fork-tender. Remove pork to a cutting board and, using 2 forks, pull meat into shreds.

Pour sauce into serving bowl; stir in cilantro and shredded pork. Serve on flour tortillas or on burger buns. Tip: Shredded lettuce, diced red onion and sour cream are all great toppings.
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Tangy Coleslaw

1 cabbage, finely shredded or a 16-ounce package of shredded coleslaw mix
1 medium red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

Dressing:

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 cup vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine shredded cabbage with sliced onion. Combine dressing ingredients and bring to boil. Pour over cabbage and toss. Cool, then refrigerate. A wonderful topping for bbq sandwiches.