I’ve been thinking about using my pressure cooker, since it’s been quite a while, and Joy happened to buy some pork butt a few days ago; so I thought, what better than pulled pork?

Overall, this was super-easy to make:

The Meat

Here’s my initial prep (the marinating):

1. Take approximately 3 lbs of pork butt and cover it with a healthy layer of freshly ground sea salt on both sides.
2. Add any seasonings you desire. I did a light layer of freshly ground pepper, and, of course, a very thick covering of Badia. I put this on both sides as well.
3. Add a light coating of lime juice followed by a light coating of olive oil.
4. Marinate for as long as you’d like; I let mine sit an hour-and-a-half. I’m sure overnight would be excellent.

After you’re done letting it sit, it’s time to get the pressure cooker out.

1. Melt a stick of butter in the bottom of your pressure cooker (I did this on high).
2. Throw in the pork butt and brown both sides.
3. While you’re waiting for the browning to finish, chop up some onions and mince some garlic. Throw them in.
4. Once the pork butt is browned, take the cooker off the heat and fill it with water. You’ll want to fill it approximately an inch or so above the pork butt (at the minimum, enough to cover the meat completely).
5. Throw in one or two chicken bouillon cubes.
6. Put the pressure cooker back on the stove, close it up, and leave it on high.
7. Set a timer for 45 – 60 minutes (I guessed).
8. Once the cooker starts to dance, bring the heat down to medium-high.
9. Wait until the timer is up.
10. Take the cooker off the stove, set it in the sink. Slowly release steam, then start running cold water over the pot until you’re able to open it.
11. Take the meat out; cut it in the center (or wherever the thickest part is) to ensure doneness.
12. Cut the meat down and shred into a bowl.

I’d also highly recommend saving the stock for…

The Sauces

There were two main sauces I used here. One is a barbecue sauce (I used a Bullseye Kansas City sauce), and the other is a gravy made from the leftover meat stock. Here’s a quick rundown of the gravy:

1. Strain some of the leftover stock into a pan.
2. I added some additional salt and seasoning to taste.
3. Cook it over a medium-high heat.
4. Put cornstarch and cold water into a bowl/measuring cup (follow the directions on the cornstarch). Slowly mix this in to create the gravy.
5. Cook and mix to your desired thickness.

Once the gravy was done, I took a half-cup or so and poured it into the meat to make it extra flavorful and juicy.

The Other Stuff

A few extras to bring to the table:

• Coleslaw: I love coleslaw on these types of sandwiches (I love it in general, too). It’s excellent as a side, too.
• A bun of some sort. We went with a sub-bun-style pretzel roll; it’s a bit thicker, but it was super-soft and went really well with it.

Serve!

This is how I prefer to eat this dish:

1. Put down your pretzel (or other) bun, split it open.
2. Add a layer of the pulled pork.
3. Add a layer of coleslaw.
4. Top with a line of your barbecue sauce, gravy, or both.
5. Knife-and-fork it.

Enjoy!

And as a note, as with all of my recipes, this is give or take.