Thermal Cooker Pulled Pork (Overnight recipe)

I was looking around for more overnight thermal cooker recipes and I decided to try out a pulled pork recipe so that I could make sandwiches with it.. I adopted the recipe from JamieOliver.com but made adjustments to fit my 3 litre thermal cooker. 

The pulled pork is called as such as the pork shoulder is pulled apart and shredded before serving. The recipe yields a sweet but yet savoury meat that's tender and juicy! It went really well with buns/bread and the coleslaw I did. 

I took 30 minutes to cook the dish and threw it into the thermal cooker to continue cooking overnight. I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. 

Thermal Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe

This recipe yields enough for 10 small buns 

1 kg pork shoulder

2 tbsp oil

1/2 yellow onion

1 bulb garlic

1 thumb sized piece of ginger

2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

1 cup (240ml) pomegranate juice

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup (120ml) plum sauce

Salt

Pepper

Method

Clean and pat dry pork shoulder. Season with salt and pepper

On medium heat, warm up oil and add pork shoulder to pan. 

Crank up heat to medium-high and cook pork on all sides (or at least the 2 larger sides) till it's golden brown. 

Once pork has been beautifully browned, set aside in thermal cooker pot. 

To the pan that's been used to cook the pork, add 1/4 of the pomegranate juice. Be very careful as it'll splatter! Crank the heat down to low. Scrape the brown bits in the pan.. it's all the good stuff!

Allow mixture to cook down and reduce a little. 

Add in peeled garlic that's been smashed, onion that has been sliced into chunks and ginger that has been grated into the pan. 

Add sugar and 5 spice powder. 

Add plum sauce. Allow mixture to cook for 3 - 5 minutes till the onions cook down. 

Add the remaining pomegranate juice and cook for another minute. 

Pour mixture into thermal cooker and allow it to come to a boil. Semi-cover the pot with the lid and allow the lid to warm up for 2 - 3 minutes. Transfer thermal pot into thermal cooker. 

Allow mixture to cook overnight. Because the pot is not full, the heat retention is weaker. If time permits, bring the mixture to a boil every 2 - 3 hours if you can. I cooked mine at 9pm and warmed it up at 12 mn before I slept. 

Warmed up at midnight (: 

The meat was all juicy and tender by 6am the next morning! 

Using 2 forks, shred the meat. Have it with a sandwich and coleslaw or even on it's own! It should be great with rice or even pasta! 

I had mine with buns and coleslaw... 

It was ABSOLUTELY DIVINE and my colleagues who tried the meat gave it 2 thumbs up and asked me for the recipe! Heh! I love this pulled pork and I hope you'll love it too!