Apple Jack Pulled Pork Buns

Everything about the name of this recipe is misleading. It sounds like the pork might be cooked with an apple brandy, but it's not. If it were, it would've been "Applejack" pulled pork, but the meat is actually stewed in apple juice and whiskey. That whiskey was originally Jack Daniel's®, but I used a local bourbon, so that part of the name is disingenuous as well. Hey, at least the pulled pork part is accurate. Just kidding. It's smashed, not pulled.

Recipe title-related artistic license aside, this is one of the most delicious "pulled" pork preparations I know, and one of the easiest methods ever. I love traditional pulled pork, where the whole shoulder is slowly smoked, and then pulled into succulent shreds, as long as it's done properly. That's a hit or miss proposition, as it's often dry and over-smoked. This method produces moist, flavorful pork every time, with much less effort and in significantly less time.

As I mentioned in the video, this particular recipe is on the sweet side, which I thinks works perfectly with the sharply-flavored slaw I topped it with, but if you want to dial that back, you can simply use less apple juice and replace it with water or broth. No matter how you adjust the ingredients to your taste, I do recommend you make it the day before. There is just something magical that happens to stewed meat, pulled or otherwise, when you reheat it, so if you have the time, that's definitely the way to go. Either way, I hope you give this a try soon.