Classic pulled pork, cooked sous-vide

Would you like to make classic pulled pork yourself without having to spend hours monitoring the temperature in the smoker? By combining sous-vide cooking with a final roast in the oven, you can prepare this BBQ classic with minimal effort. The pork neck is first gently cooked in a water bath and then develops a crispy crust in the oven.

For this pulled pork recipe, we use Spanish Iberico pork neck, a spicy rub and BBQ sauce. The result: tender meat that pulls apart effortlessly and has a particularly intense flavour thanks to the reduced cooking liquid.

Which cut of meat is best for pulled pork?

Pork neck is particularly well suited to pulled pork, as it has a lovely marbling and plenty of intramuscular fat. During the long cooking time, this makes the meat particularly tender whilst keeping it juicy.

This recipe uses Spanish Iberico pork neck. Iberico pork is renowned for its distinctive marbling and aromatic flavour, making it ideal for a particularly juicy pulled pork.

How do you make pulled pork particularly juicy?

When it comes to classic pulled pork, time and a consistent cooking temperature are key. This is precisely where the sous-vide method really comes into its own. The seasoned pork neck is vacuum-sealed and cooked very gently at a constant temperature.

The oven then creates the typical, rich pulled pork crust.

Another advantage is that the liquid produced during sous-vide cooking doesn’t go down the drain. It is collected, reduced and then mixed with BBQ sauce. This ensures that none of the rich flavours of the meat and spices are lost.

Ingredients for 4 people

For the pulled pork

• 2 kg Spanish Iberico pork neck
• 350 ml BBQ sauce

For the rub

• 2 tbsp fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp cane sugar or brown sugar
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp chilli flakes or ground chillies
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 pinch of cumin (cumin)
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground mustard seeds

Required accessories

• Vacuum sealer
• Sous-Vide set XXL
• 1 Vacuum bags

Method: Step-by-step guide to making classic pulled pork

1. Prepare the rub and season the pork neck

First, mix all the ingredients for the rub together thoroughly. Then rub the Iberico pork neck generously and evenly with the spice mixture on all sides.

2. Vacuum-sealing and sous-vide cooking pork neck

Place the seasoned pork neck into a vacuum bag that is large enough. Then use a vacuum sealer such as the V.300 Premium X to create a vacuum and seal the bag securely. At the same time, preheat the sous-vide bath to 74 °C. Next, place the vacuum-sealed pork neck into the sous-vide bath and cook for 15 hours.

3. Roasting pork neck in the oven

Once the 15 hours are up, preheat the oven to 160 °C (top and bottom heat).

Remove the pork neck from the vacuum bag and collect the liquid that has accumulated inside. Then place the meat on a baking tray or in an ovenproof dish. Roast in the oven for about 3 hours until a crisp crust has formed on the outside.

4. Enhance the BBQ sauce with the cooking juices

Whilst the pork neck is browning in the oven, use the cooking juices that have collected in the tray.

To do this, pour the juices into a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat until they have reduced by about half. Then add the 350 ml of BBQ sauce and mix everything together thoroughly.

Tip: The reduced cooking juices give the BBQ sauce even more flavour and go particularly well with the shredded meat.

5. Shredding the pulled pork

Remove the roasted pork neck from the oven. Now comes the step that gives the dish its name: use two forks or meat claws to pull the meat apart into fine fibres. Thanks to the long cooking time, the pork neck should now be particularly easy to shred.

6. Mix the pulled pork with the BBQ sauce

Finally, add about a third of the prepared BBQ sauce to the pulled pork and fold it in thoroughly. You can serve the remaining sauce separately with the pulled pork – that way, everyone can add a little extra BBQ sauce to taste.

Conclusion: Enjoy pulled pork without a smoker

Whether in a burger bun, served with coleslaw or simply on its own: this classic pulled pork combines controlled sous-vide cooking with a crispy crust from the oven, making this BBQ classic easy to prepare even without a smoker.

Have fun trying it out and enjoy!