Pulled pork has numerous culinary uses

Once in a while, it’s nice to have some type of meat in the fridge to play with. I bought a round of pork shoulder the last time I went grocery shopping and, instead of roasting it and serving it with vegetables as I had intended, I slow-cooked it and turned it into pulled pork.

I turned to “The Joy of Cooking” for the guidelines for cooking pulled pork. If you’re going to be home for a few hours, put in the oven and just let it do its thing.

The great thing about pulled pork is that you can do a variety of things with it. You can cover it in barbecue sauce and toss it on a roll or make a sandwich out of it. You can use it to make tacos. Or, you can just eat it by itself. I like that flexibility.

Ingredients

2 to 3 pounds round of pork shoulder or butt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

1 cup barbecue sauce

Preheat oven, with a Dutch oven inside, to 325 degrees. Once it’s heated, take the dutch oven out and put olive oil inside. Add pork and let it sizzle on one side before turning over. Sprinkle with salt. Put the dutch oven, with the lid on, back in the oven. Cook for two hours or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat reads at least 155 degrees. I let mine get up to 185 degrees before taking it out of the oven.

Once the meat is done, take the Dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid. Let sit for about 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.

Tear meat apart using a fork or your hands. Meat should be shredded as much as possible. Add barbecue sauce and mix until meat is evenly covered. Serve. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated.

Trisha Leonard is the editor of the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Check out her food blog at www.redpenrecipes.com.