Korean Pulled Pork Sandwich

I ordered this for lunch recently in a hipster cafe-bar that had a very tempting variety of dishes on the menu. I thought it was amazing so decided I would try to recreate it myself.

I’ve roasted pulled pork before in my electric slow cooker, but hadn’t really created anything I could call a Korean sauce.

After a bit of reading up, I treated myself to a couple of specialist ingredients I hadn’t bought before, but which seemed to be quite key to the whole concept: rice vinegar and Gojuchang paste. The rest of the ingredients, such as dark soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and so on, are things that I tend to have in usually.

I’m glad I invested in the specialist foods – particularly the Gojuchang paste, which has a distinctive dark and smoky taste with a chilli kick. I found both in the Asian aisle of my local Sainsbury’s.

Servings

A meal for 4 with some left over for lunch the next day.

Timings

20 mins to prepare the pulled pork, then 6 hours in a slow cooker. It took me about 25 mins to make the sauce while the pork was finishing off.

You Will Need

For the Pulled Pork

• Joint of shoulder of pork between 1kg – 1.4kg
• sea salt and black pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 500g carton of tomato passata
• 60ml cider vinegar
• 1tsp paprika
• 1tsp ground cumin

For the Korean Sauce

• oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, chopped into fine rings with seeds removed
• 60ml dark soy sauce
• 2tbsp rice vinegar
• 50ml runny honey
• 1tbsp Gojuchang paste
• cornflour
• water

To Serve

• Brioche rolls
• spring onions
• half a carrot

Method

1. Switch on the slow cooker and turn to a high setting.
2. Heat a little oil in a wok or large frying pan and sear the pork on all sides. When nicely browned, transfer to the slow cooker bowl and season with a few twists of sea salt and black pepper.
3. Put the other ingredients into the wok or pan, and stir to combine in the heat. When warmed, pour over the joint of pork. Put the lid on the slow cooker and leave on a high heat for 30 mins. Then reduce to medium setting and leave for 5 and a half hours more.
4. Start making the sauce about 40 mins before the pork is due to finish.
5. Heat some oil in a saucepan and add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. Leave until sizzling and softened.
6. In a jug, combine the soy, rice vinegar, honey and Gojuchang paste, then pour into the saucepan. Give it all a stir and leave to simmer.
7. When the pork has completed its 6 hours, remove it from the slow cooker and leave to rest in a rectangular serving dish.
8. Tip the juices from the slow cooker into the saucepan and stir.
9. Add a paste of 2 tbsp cornflour and 1 tbsp water, stirred so it forms a creamy liquid. Stir it in and watch the sauce thicken. Do this again until the sauce has a thickish consistency so it will cling to the pork when poured over.
10. Using 2 forks, dive into the pork joint and pull it apart from the centre. You should have lovely soft, flaky fibres of tender meat. Pop one in your mouth to appreciate how good it tastes.
11. Pour the sauce into a jug and serve alongside the dish of pulled pork.
12. Serve with the rolls, halved and lightly toasted on the inside, with a garnish of chopped scallions and carrot sticks.

Customise It!

I will be posting other recipes that use the Korean Sauce, but which will be vegetarian or vegan. For these, don’t add the pork juices, and use water instead.

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