Pulled Pork and Cabbage Bowls
A pulled pork and cabbage bowl is a low-carb way to keep all the flavor but skip the sandwich.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker / Crock Pot
Ingredients
Dry Brine Marinade
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- ¼ cup salt
- 1 tbsp Paprika I use sweet paprika, not smoked, for this because I'm smoking the pork. You could use smoked if you are not smoking the pork.
- 1 tbsp Ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp Ground cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp Ground dry mustard
- 1 tbsp Ground dry ginger
Main Ingredients
- 4-5 lb Pork shoulder roast I used boneless but you could use bone-in as well. Don't use one that has been pre-marinated, which are older cuts of meat.
- 1 head Green Cabbage
- 1-2 tbsp Your favorite barbeque sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
The Day Before You Cook This
- For dry brine marinade, combine and blend all ingredients in jar. You can save half of the dry brine for another day! If you plan to oven roast the pork instead of smoke it, then use smoked paprika instead of regular.
- Remove pork roast from packaging, rinse in cold water and dry with paper towels. Place in gallon plastic zipper bag and coat with half of the dry brine mixture. You should get the roast nearly completely covered but you don't have to be too worried about it.
- Place roast in bag on a plate or large bowl (in case it leaks) and refrigerate overnight. Turn the roast over every few hours and before you go to bed as the salt will cause the meat to release moisture and will create a wet brine that will marinate the meat.
The Day of Cooking
- Remove roast from fridge, remove from bag and gently pat dry. You don't want to remove any brine stuck to the meat. You just want to remove large pockets of moisture. Set it out to warm up and air dry for a bid.
- Preheat smoker or oven to 220°
- Once smoker or oven is up to temperature, place roast in center and cook, uncovered, for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, remove roast from oven and place in crock pot on high for 1 hour. Then turn temperature down to low for another 2 hours. After it cooks this long it should come apart easily if you try to move it. If not, go another hour.
- Remove pork from slow cooker and place in large pan or bowl. Shred the meat with two forks. VERY IMPORTANT: Season the meat at this stage with a couple of tbsp of drippings in the slow cooker along with salt, and pepper. You also can use barbeque sauce or vinegar, but not too much.
- Shred cabbage and place at the bottom of a bowl. Top with pulled pork and any other condiments like barbeque sauce, sliced jalapenos, etc. At this point I throw the whole bowl into the microwave for a minute or two so the cabbage softens a bit. If you are having leftovers with this, add all the ingredients to a bowl and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes.