Recipe: Table for 10's Vietnamese Pulled Pork Baguette

Pulled pork's one of those dishes that, with a bit of TLC during cooking, can make an excellent starter, brilliant burger filling, or can satisfy meat-based cravings and serve two as a main meal. And although pulled pork is traditionally seen as an American dish (as was explained in BackDoor Kitchen's pulled pork recipe over the weekend) loads of cultures have adopted the dish into their cuisine, adding their own unique blends of flavours and colours.

Introducing Table for 10, a Vietnamese supperclub introduced to me by Edible Experiences. Now, I'm a Thai girl, myself (not literally). I love larb, I can't get enough Thai Green Curry, and spicy soups are the perfect way to start the week. Although Vietnam is next on my South East Asian hit list (along with Cambodia), this is a great introduction into Vietnamese flavours and spice.

Ingredients

1 kg pork shoulder or leg.

Vietnamese (or French) baguettes

Sauce

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 medium stalks lemongrass finely chopped (or finely diced through the food processor)

3 large shallots finely chopped

6 tablespoons caramel

6 tablespoons fish sauce

5 chillie finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chicken stock

Basting

1/4 cup white vinegar

3/4 chicken stock

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons Chinese five spice

2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon of chilli powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Marinade

3 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons five spice powder

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 tablespoon ground black pepper 

Makes enough for 4-6 baguettes

Firstly, if your pork comes with skin, cut it off and preserve for crackling. If you're going to use the skin, score it and salt it liberally - leaving out to dry out for at least 30 mins (the dryer the better). Before roasting, wipe off the water and salt

To make the basting liquid, mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan over a medium heat until the sugar melts. Bring to the boil and then take off the heat.

Now for the recipe.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and rub the into the pork evenly. Marinate for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight. If leaving the pork overnight, keep in the fridge and be sure to cover it or else it'll dry out.

Heat oven to 110C. Roast until tender and the meat thermometer registers 90C. It should be around 3 hours per kg.

Frequently baste the pork while it's cooking (every 45 min or so) with the basting liquid.

In a saucepan, heat some oil over a medium heat and fry the shallots and lemongrass until the shallots soften and are translucent (about 5 min). Add the garlic, stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in caramel sauce, fish sauce, chillies, pepper, and chicken stock. Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes and then set aside.

When the pork is cooked, remove from oven and let it rest for 30 min (loosely covered). Shred pork - some people don't like fat so you can discard, but I love the fat so just send the discards my way. Pour sauce on shredded pork and mix well.

Turn the oven up to 225C, light salt the pork skin and put in the oven until golden and crispy (should take about 20 min).

Serve pulled pork in a baguette with pickled carrots and daikon. Top it with crispy crackling, coriander and spring onions. Add more sauce to the baguette to taste.

Et voila! If you have any questions about the supperclub, or the recipe, the guys can be found tweeting at @tablefor10 . To have a look at Table for 10's previous supperclubs, head on over to their Facebook page for a sneak peek!