Pulled Pork Challenge: Can I Make the Perfect Sandwich???

this video was sponsored by the NationalPork Board welcome back to the sandwichseries where I find the best sandwichesfrom around the world and make everysingle element from scratch and fortoday’s video it’s gonna be a bit of achallenge I’m doing the pulled porksandwich which is just the definition ofAmerican style BBQ but can I make anincredible pulled pork sandwich fromscratch completely at home without asmoker and today’s gonna be a littledifferent than other sandwich seriesvideos in the past because one I can’tgo out and actually get a taste of thesandwich but luckily I’ve had manypulled pork sandwiches and my day andtwo I’ve really been putting in sometime for recipe testing and really comeup with incredible recipes compared toother episodes where it might just be alittle more improv a little more in themoment so let’s get after this pulledpork sandwich so it’s just about summerand I’m ready to get out of the kitchenand take it to the grill and you knowI’m Pro home cooks we like to take it tothe next level and I feel like pulledpork is the perfect representation ofbarbecue because you’re taking a cutlike pork shoulder which is a superbudget-friendly protein and you’returning this into an incredible mealthat could feed your whole family canfeed your friends or you can use it tomeal prep for the entire week so I’mgonna be showing you a really cooltechnique to smoke a pork shoulderwithout actually having a smoker by justusing your grill but first we got tomake a spice rub because this is an opencampus of flavor potential and you getto choose what type of flavors you wantin your barbecue so I’m going to bemaking a quick barbecue rub with thespices I have in my house all rightbefore we pick our spices I’m just gonnaturn my oven to 275 and get thatpreheating for our pork and this is myspice pantry over here and I’ve got mostof the basics on hand so I’m just gonnapick some whole spices and some groundspices and we’ll make a mix coriandercumin chili flakes mustard seed a littledried herb mixture allspiceand cardamon just a few more things alittle bit of smoked paprika powder wella lot a bit of that a little bit ofcinnamon can be used for savory noproblem and then we need our salt ofcourse and I forgot a few peppercorns soI’ll throw in those the reason I wrappedthis up in tinfoil is because I’m gonnathrow it in the oven low and slow for afew hours just to give it a head starton that cooking process since I justhave a regular grill and not a smokerit’s gonna be much harder to regulatethe smoking and I don’t want to be doingthat for like 12 hours at a time but Ican do it for a few hours so we’re gonnasplit the difference and throw this inthe oven at 275 I would say three orfour hours so that connective tissuestarts to break down then we’ll finishthat baby off on the grill for maximumflavor and since we’ve got some timeright now let’s make some months so forthe buns I’ve got four medium potatoesthat I poked holes in and I justmicrowave those for about 10 minutesuntil they were nice and tender then Icut those in half to at least some ofthat steam and once they were cool Ipeeled off all of the skins and toss thepotatoes into a big bowl and just gavethose a quick mash now to your mashedpotatoes you can add five cups of flourI’m using two cups of all-purpose flourand three cups of bread flour but usewhatever you have on hand in the pantrythen I added a full stick of butter thatwas at room temperature and Iincorporated the butter in the mashedpotato into the flour so I don’t thinkyou ever see this technique with breadthis is normally how you start a piecrust by working the butter into theflour but it just felt right and it cameout really great so you’re looking forsomething likethis we’ve got potato butter and flourand it smells amazing now to your flourmixture add one cup of warm milk 1/2 acup of water 2 eggs 2 teaspoons of yeastand this is instant yeast so I can justadd it right to the mixture but if youneed to bloom your yeast just followyour instructions on your yeast packet 2tablespoons of honey for a little bit ofsweetness finally 2 tablespoons of saltmy dough is pretty wet so I addedanother cup of flour and I just let thatrest for about 15 minutes and then onceit’s rested you can start the kneadingprocess[Music]so this dough is gonna be pretty stickyit’s a higher hydration though it’spretty wet but it’s the only way you’regonna get really fluffy buns plus you’vegot the potato in there and the butterthat’s adding to the stickiness soanother pro tip is just to let this restwhenever it gets too sticky and yourkneading it out just pop the towel overfor like 15 minutes you’re gonna givethe gluten a chance to relax but alsofor more back gluten structure whichwill make this much smoother and mucheasier to roll so I might let this relaxmaybe 1 2 3 more times during thiskneading process depending on how stickythis dough is[Music]all right we’re gonna let this dopeproof for about an hour or two untilit’s doubled in size now I’m gonna takethese and I’m gonna pop them right intothese ring molds with a little bit ofoil just to help with the proof in shapefor perfect rolls we’ve got six bunswith the ring balls and then five moreover here just in a cast iron I’m justgoing to give them a little egg and milkwash and we’ll let them proof for aboutan hour until this alright so you cansee these are just about ready and thesering molds accomplish two things they’regonna give you the perfect circularshape compared to just letting them riseon their own and they’re also gonnaforce them to rise up giving you ahigher bun rather than rising out for awider bun which I prefer so the lastthing I’m going to do is just hit thiswith one more coating of egg wash toreally give them that deep color andthere’s no way these would be theperfect buns without a little dash ofsesame it just brings them to the nextlevel so for the buns that are reallyexpanded a lot I am gonna cut this thingright off because they will bust out andthey won’t look goodand then for the other ones that have alittle bit of room left I’m just gonnalet those rise right in the ring mold inthe oven all right 375these came out amazing everything youcould want in a bun right there we’vegot eggs we’ve got butter we’ve gotpotato perfect for a pulled porksandwich and the fact that I can makethese buns about taking care of thislittle bun right here means you shouldbe able to make some bread as wellall right three hours later nowhere nearcold porkstill very firm but this is as far as Iwant to go with it but it’s a nice headstart so we’re gonna take this out tothe grill but make sure let me show yousomething make sure you save all of thisjuice a lot of pork juice is going tocome off this thing and we can use thissauce so here’s how we’re gonna do thisthing we’ve got our charcoal on one sideindirect heat over here with our softwood strips so I’m just gonna startadding a bunch and I’ll be replenishingthe charcoal and the wood chips as theyburn out now it’s time to get our porkon this side all right we’re smokingover here we’ve got our pork over hereI’ve got some water over here to createsome extra moisture because we don’twant this drying out well close it andtry to regulate it at around 275 foranother few hours I see we’re at a lowsmoke now which is much better was alittle hot at first but once thingsstarted burning down just been slowlyfeeding we’ve got a beautiful so what Iwant to do now is just wrap it up insome tinfoil just so it doesn’t dry outand I’ll let it smoke for probablyanother hour[Music]all right while the pork is smokingthey’re just two more elements that Ineed to make we’ve got the barbecuesauce and the coleslaw and I’m gonnastart with the coleslaw which couldn’tbe simpler but couldn’t be moredelicious I’m telling you this is theonly coleslaw recipe you will ever needin your life and it’s just a fewingredients and you can make it inprobably three minutes feel like mostpeople think a pulled pork sandwich issomething that’s very heavy but whenyou’re cooking fresh pork it’s actuallya great source of key nutrients that areimportant to your health and also itpairs really great with fresh veggiesand that is the point of this slaw toreally balance out this sandwich so I’mthrowing in a nice balance of flavor andcolor with these veggies and just thingsI have on hand in the fridge but you cancustomize your veggie mix for this slawand whatever way that you want it’sreally just about incorporating thatfreshness into your sandwich and thenproperly seasoning your slawI get it if you don’t want to make thebuns if you don’t want to smoke the porkbut please just try this recipe see howsimple it is it is just so tastythat’s a nice buck we’re not having asmoker looks Wow very even too juicy allright let’s rip into this thing here’s avery good tip when you’re cooking thingslow and slow check this out see it’spulling apart not badbut if you look very closely you canactually see the tissue in between thepulled layers that’s a good way ofknowing that it might be just slightlyundercooked like it’s not completelyfalling apart but it’s pretty damn goodmaybe could have used another hour sofor perfection but you live and youlearn beautiful pile of smoked pork wedefinitely need some barbecue sauce toaccompany itall right so you remember the pork juicethat came off that pork shoulder righthere I put it in the fridge specificallyso I can get this separation right herethis is very important so what I’m gonnado is take the fat off this put it inthere to start my barbecue sauce andthen I’ll use the actual liquid torehydrate this pork and really give thatthe juice that it needs and that it lostfrom that cooking process[Music]you[Music][Music]there you go four elements comingtogether for the perfect pulled porksandwich at home at least you know closeto perfect I’m striving for perfectionor deliciousness at least but there’sstill things I want to change there’sstill things I want to improve andthat’s the point of cooking so make sureyou follow me at life by Mike G to learnhow you can feed yourself a little morebecause I’m filming all the behind thescenes action of the sandwich series andjust get in the kitchen stay cookingyou’ll feel better you’ll be able tofeed your friends and your family andyourself and just cooking is awesome[Music]this video was sponsored by the NationalPark