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Meals · Roasts, ribs & slow cooker

Salt-only pulled pork

50

A whole pork shoulder rubbed with salt and left in a low oven for seven hours, until the bone slides out and the meat falls into shreds. With no rub and no sauce the pork itself is the flavour, moistened at the end with its own skimmed juices.

Time
505 min (10 prep + 495 cook)
Servings
8
Per serving
391 kcal
Protein
37 g

Ingredients

  • one 4 1/2 lb bone-in shoulder (Boston butt) pork shoulder, the weight is the meat once the bone is out
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • generous 3/4 cup water

Steps

  1. Heat the oven to 265°F. Pat the pork dry and rub the salt over every surface, fat cap included.
  2. Put the pork fat side up in a heavy lidded pot or deep roasting pan. Pour the water around the meat, not over it, and cover tightly with the lid or two layers of foil.
  3. Roast 7 hours without opening the oven, until the bone slides out with no resistance and a fork twists easily through the meat. It will read around 195–205°F, well past the safe 145°F, and that is the point where pork shreds.
  4. Raise the oven to 400°F, take off the lid and roast 30 minutes more to brown the fat cap.
  5. Lift the pork onto a board and rest it 15 minutes. Meanwhile pour the pan juices into a tall jug and let them settle, then spoon off the clear fat on top and keep it for frying.
  6. Pull the meat into shreds with two forks, discarding the bone and any soft lumps of fat, then stir in about 1/2 cup of the skimmed juices. Taste and add salt if it needs it. Keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes 3 months; reheat gently with a splash of the remaining juices.

Good to know

Can I use a slow cooker?

Yes. Cook it on low for 8–10 hours with the same water. It will not brown, so slide the shredded pork under the broiler for a few minutes if you want crisp edges.

Can I stir the fat back in?

Yes, many carnivore cooks do. A spoonful or two makes it richer; add it to taste after shredding.

Alternative

Per

Calories
239
Protein
(39%)
22 g
Fat
(61%)
16 g
Carbohydrates
(0%)
0 g
of which sugar
0 g
Fiber
0 g
Sodium
585 mg

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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 3132 kcal goes into the pot and 1918 g of ingredients comes out as about 1311 g of food: 239 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.