I forgot on Wednesday that I was going to be making this Thursday, and had a pulled pork sandwich for dinner at a restaurant. I think Thursday’s pulled pork wins, by a good margin.

Ingredients:

• 1 6-7 lb pork butt, fat trimmed
• 1 1/4 cups clover honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce, reduced sodium
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons dried basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

That seems like a HUGE amount of basil at first, and smells like it too, but by the end you’ll agree it’s actually the perfect amount.

Trim any extra chunks of fat off the pork, and put in a crock pot. Mine was still a bit frozen when I started, so I cut it into roughly centimeter-thick slices to help it cook through.

Stir together the honey, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, basil, and garlic.

Pour over the pork, and flip the pork (pieces) so that it gets well covered.

Cover the crock pot and cook on low heat for 6 hours, or until the meat comes apart easily when you try to tear it with a fork.

Take out the meat, and pour the liquid into a bowl, large measuring cup, or ideally a gravy separator measuring cup.

Set the liquid aside to cool for long enough that any grease in it separates out to the top. While you wait, pull the pork. I usually use two forks and tear apart, but I pretty quickly decided this was just going to go faster by hand.

When you’re done pulling the pork, pour the liquid, minus any separated grease, into a pot. If the liquid is warm, rather than hot, you can add the cornstarch right to it, and stir well to dissolve completely. If the liquid is still hot, add the cornstarch to some cold water and dissolve thoroughly before adding to the cooking liquid. Once the cornstarch is in, put the pot over medium heat and cook until it thickens to roughly barbeque sauce consistency, then pour back over the pork.

This stuff smells really good, and tastes it too. Worth the hassle of shredding all that pork!

Honey-Soy Pulled Pork

From Noble Pig.

• 1 6-7 lb pork butt, fat trimmed
• 1 1/4 cups clover honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce, reduced sodium
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons dried basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

Trim any extra chunks of fat off the pork, and put in a crock pot.

Stir together the honey, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, basil, and garlic. Pour over the pork and rotate the pork so that it gets well covered. Cover the crock pot and cook on low heat for 6 hours, or until the meat comes apart easily when you try to tear it with a fork.

Take the meat out of the crock, and pour the liquid into a bowl, large measuring cup, or ideally a gravy separator measuring cup. Set the liquid aside to cool for long enough that any grease in it separates out to the top. While you wait, pull the pork.

When you’re done pulling the pork, pour the liquid, minus any separated grease, into a pot. If the liquid is warm, rather than hot, you can add the cornstarch right to it, and stir well to dissolve completely. If the liquid is still hot, add the cornstarch to some cold water and dissolve thoroughly before adding to the cooking liquid. Once the cornstarch is in, put the pot over medium heat and cook until it thickens to roughly barbeque sauce consistency, then pour back over the pork.

Serve as is, or in a sandwich.