There are lots of ways of cooking pulled pork, but I just cook it traditionally in the oven. Pulled pork shrinks quite a bit in the oven so allow more weight per person than you would if you were cooking a pork fillet

Ingredients

1 shoulder of pork (around 200g per person) preferably organic or free range, off the bone

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil

Seasoning

4 teaspoons sweet or smoked paprika

2 teaspoons cumin

2 cloves garlic, crushed or ½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon. chili powder

black pepper

½ teaspoon sea or Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Method

1. Heat oven to 180°C, fan.
2. Score the fat around the pork shoulder to create grooves or ‘diamonds’.
3. Mix all the seasoning ingredients together in a bowl and rub the seasoning over the meat so that it gets into the nooks and crannies.
4. Heat the coconut oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan and sear on each side of the pork for one minute per side.
5. Place the meat on an oven tray with a rack. Add one cup of water to the base of the oven tray. This should not come into contact with the meat; wrap tin foil around the meat and the tray so that it will not dry out during cooking.
6. Place in the oven at 180°C for the first 30 minutes and then turn the temperature down to 150°C and cook for a further four to six hours depending on the size of the shoulder (800g would take around four hours). Check the water a few times during cooking and add another cup half-way through if necessary.
7. Remove the foil, half an hour before the end of the cooking time to crisp up a little.
8. When cooked, take out of the oven and leave covered in tin foil to ‘rest’ for around 30 minutes.

I like to cook my meat for a long time so that it really flakes and falls apart. It also allows much of the fat to render out of the meat.

Once cooked, flake with two forks and serve with cauliflower mash, rainbow salad and apple sauce.

Apple sauce

I tend to use eating apples as then there is no need to add extra sugar. As a note of caution, avoid using red apples unless you like your apple sauce to be pink!

Ingredients

750g eating apples, cored and chopped into cubes. There is no need to peel if you are going to purée, but do peel them if you are going to mash by hand.

2 tablespoons lemon juice

50ml water

Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a pan.
2. Fit a tightly fitting lid and simmer for around eight to ten mins until soft.
3. When cooked, purée in a food processor or with a puree stick or mash by hand with a potato masher.