Apple Cider and Brown Sugar Pulled Pork Barbecue

I admit it; I have gone a little bit pressure cooker crazy. I let a brand new appliance sit in a cabinet for a full year after I bought it because I kept conjuring up concerns about it blowing up in my kitchen on the first use. OK, that was just silly. I finally worked on overcoming those fears and gave it a try several weeks ago and now I wonder how I lived without it. I love using it for rice A LOT and even gifted my rice cooker to Goodwill but so far, the dish that I made recently that was simply divine was this Apple Cider and Brown Sugar Pulled Pork Barbecue.

You don't have to have a pressure cooker to make this dish but if you get the chance, grab one. This recipe takes 4 hours in the oven and less than an hour in the pressure cooker. Although I have heard some people say that they thought the longer slow roasting in an oven tasted better than pressure cooking, I honestly could not tell a significant difference other than the huge time savings. This would also work well in a crockpot, it will just have to have some preparation done in a pan first to brown the meat and again after it's cooked to reduce the sauce...but worth it!

I had pork similar to this Apple Cider and Brown Sugar Pulled Pork Barbecue at a restaurant event recently and they gave us their recipes for some of the dishes we sampled. They did not serve pulled pork though and I absolutely wanted sandwiches for summer barbecue events so I added some ingredients. The combination of apple cider and brown sugar was nice but I added some apple cider vinegar, onion, and whole grain mustard and it was nicer.

After reducing the sauce a bit I found that adding some cornstarch thickened it up nicely; better to serve sandwiches with my dear. Maybe a bit un-conventional without a tomato component but we just LOVED the sauce that resulted from the ingredients in the Apple Cider & Brown Sugar Pulled Pork Barbecue. I wish I could have bottled it. Think more Carolina barbecue than Western but with a bit thicker and sweeter sauce; I think I've found my BBQ nirvana!

I recently made this Apple Poppyseed Coleslaw with Honey Mustard Dressing and it's what I served with the pork and on the sandwiches. They were the perfect complement to each other. I used prepared coleslaw mix available in the produce aisle of the market and saved so much time that making the coleslaw could not have been easier. Together? Simply fantastic sandwiches!

Today's' Food Network Challenge for our #SummerSoiree was simply 'Barbecue.' Take a peek at some more great ideas for your next barbecue after the recipe.