I always slow cooked pulled pork on high for around 6 hours but this time I made it with some love. 10 hours on low overnight with onions, bbq sauce, and a rub, smelled awful like onions when I went to bed but when I opened my door in the morning it smelled wonderful.
I’ve always left the juice in the slow cooker until it hardened and then scooped it into the garbage with a paper towel but it has all the flavor doesn’t it? The top looks like a clearer layer of oil but the bottom is really dark and thicker. What should I do with it? I don’t add it to the pork if I’m making sandwiches do I, they’ll be sloppy?
by These_Respond2345
31 Comments
Remove the fat if you want. Pour some back over the pork. Make gravy with it.
Skim the fat off the top and use the rest for ramen broth. Add chicken stock if needed and possibly more seasoning.
I’ll reserve some to put leftovers in before I put them in the fridge or freezer. It helps to keep the meat moist.
I’ve seen others post that they’ll use it as a dip before making sandwiches, or use it while making rice/sides… I don’t know how well barbecue sauce would work for rice and sides.
Skim some fat, reduce the liquid, add it back in. Thicken it and stop if it gets too salty before the reduction is finished. It won’t be sloppy, just juicy
Defat, mix with some with the bbq sauce.
Keeps the pork moist and adds back a lot of pork flavor.
I like taking the strained pork and searing it in a skillet (with a tablespoon or two of oil/pork fat) then adding back some of the (de-fatted) broth to make the end product as juicy as I want but with crispy bits. I do this with both pulled pork and carnitas- delicious.
I’ll take any left over (de-fatted) broth and either make a delicious gravy or save it as liquid for my next batch of rice which is always phenomenal when made with slow cooker juices.
It’s also good for any baking that requires would otherwise require water (and that you wouldn’t mind tasting like pork), soups, ramen, quinoa, flavoring dips. Or reduce it down and make a glaze.
To de-fat: pour broth through a fine strainer or cheesecloth in a colander.
Then either use a fat separator or put liquid into containers and refrigerate to then scrape off the fat after it has solidified.
It can be used for a lot of stuff and when it cools there will probably be a hard layer of fat that looks like solid bacon fat with liquid under it. Use the hard fat like you would bacon fat and the liquid like a gravy. If you reheat it tou have what you had when you took it out of the pot.
This is why you don’t pour this down your drain as you see how hard some of the fat can get as it cools. But it is very good stuff for flavor.
Mine usually has some cayenne kick to it (and I omit brown sugar) so I pop it in the fridge and use it over the next two weeks to make flavored rice. Use it instead of water on the 10 minute instant(ish) rice and the rice absorbs the flavor.
If you don’t want the fat, you can peel it off the top when you pull it out of the fridge. I only pull half off or so.
slorp
Soup beans. The best ever. Skim some fat and add to the cornbread that you have to have with the beans (I think this is a state law in at least seven southern states).
Fill to the brim with collards, add a splash or two of vinegar and cook on low until they’re nice and soft. Delicious and super easy collards.
Reduce it and make rice dressing with it. That’s what I do if I have drippings after braising pork butts for boudin.
Drink it.
Use it to make homemade BBQ sauce
Stock for beans
I’ll use excess liquid like that for rice.
So instead of 2:1 water: rice, 1:1:1 excess goodness:water:rice
Drink
Use it to make porky rice
I use it to keep leftovers moist. If there’s not leftovers or lots extra I reduce it in a pan while boiling pasta and then toss the pasta in the jus. Sometimes I add veg.
Drink it duhhh jkjkjk 🤣🤣🤣 ima fat ass my bad.
The fat, even with the mix-ins, can be used for cooking. Rice, vegetables, other pork etc can be cooked with fat, and it will take on the flavor of what it was mixed/cooked with.
The portion remaining once the fat layer has been removed can be reduced down with some heat over time, and made into a glaze/gravy.
SAWCE
When I cook pulled pork I just leave it in the juice. I’m here for a good time not a long time.
I use it to make an amazing sausage and bean soup.
Brown up a pound of sausage in a big pot or Dutch oven and set it aside.
Cook some diced onions in the same pot, in the sausage fat until they turn translucent. (Deglaze the pot here with whatever you like; wine, a bit of stock, etc.)
Then throw in a couple of cans of beans (whatever you like, I tend to use a can of green beans and a can of some kind of white bean). Don’t bother draining them, just dump the whole can in, with the liquid. The liquid from any kind of red/white/black beans will thicken the soup just a little, which is nice.
Add a can of diced tomatoes (again, including the liquid). Season the beans and tomatoes to taste*, and let that cook for about 10 minutes, giving it a stir occasionally.
Then toss the cooked sausage back in, along with the pork juice (de-fatted). If there’s not enough liquid at this point, add some stock (any kind is fine).
Ideally, let it simmer like this for a while longer. Taste it and add a splash of your favorite vinegar if it needs to be brightened up at all.
Note: This will be better the next day when the beans soak up more of the salt.
*Season to taste = definitely some salt, but also some garlic, something spicy if you want, etc.
Obviously this can be tweaked. Use diced ham, or sliced smoked sausage if you want. Toss in some kale, if that’s your jam. Some bell pepper cooked in with the onions are a nice touch. Want it thicker? Make a little corn starch slurry and add it in with the pork juice. The possibilities are endless.
If you make soups, stews or gravies, you can de-fat it and freeze it for later use.
Many people freeze in ice-cube trays, then transfer the cubes to a zip-lock bag and keep in the freezer.
I boil it down (I don’t defat, I love the fat) until it’s reduced to about a glaze. Then I add it back to my pork and freeze half of the pork. Makes the pork unbelievably juicy and succulent
I’ve used it to make rice
Add rum for Porkaritas served in a martini glass! Be sure to garnish with chicharrones.
I use the defatted part to make rice, noodles, stock for soup.
I put some of the fat back on with the pulled pork so it’s not dry. Them make a roux with some for the soup or stew
I reduce it and add it back to the pulled pork
It makes bang up Lima beans.