Fancied-Up Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Fancied-Up Pulled Pork Sandwiches with a red wine and rosemary sauce, lemon goat cheese spread and other fancy toppings. This pulled pork is made in the oven. Super-simple but sophisticated too. It’s my new favorite thing for tailgating and for fall potlucks! This recipe is sponsored by Columbia Crest. 

Did you know that hogs are not native to North America? They were introduced to the Southeast in around 1540 by Spanish explorer DeSoto.

And am I ever glad they were. Pork is one of the best things about living in the south.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

We have amazing bacon and salty rich hams. But the best thing of all is that Pulled Pork Sandwiches are on just about every menu everywhere. I can’t get enough of them at restaurants though so I make them at home too.

I usually do pulled pork on the grill over a low temperature with wood chips enclosed in foil for some smoky flavor. But for today’s recipe I thought I’d show you how to do pulled pork in the oven. The great thing about using either of these two methods is that you can simmer the pork in a sauce so that it gets infused with flavor. For today’s recipe I’ve fancied things up and cooked the pork in a red wine and rosemary BBQ sauce.

Fancy Up Your Pulled Pork Sandwiches

The pork butt simmers in the red wine sauce for hours, getting flipped over every now and then. Then you shred the meat and mix it back into the sauce. Serve it heaped onto buns with some fancy toppings. The recipe below includes instructions to make a lemon goat cheese spread for the buns and suggests topping the sandwiches with radicchio leaves, tapenade, and roasted peppers.

Throw in a glass of red wine and these pulled pork sandwiches are fancy for sure. But they’re still as messy as any good pulled pork sandwich should be so bring napkins. Thank the heavens (and DeSoto) for pulled pork!

Fancied-Up Pulled Pork Sandwiches

• Author: Christine Pittman
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American

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DESCRIPTION

This recipe has lots of ingredients. But don’t get scared. The first half are just stirred together to make the sauce that the pork simmers in. The second half are the sandwich toppings that are mostly store-bought. Easy as can be! But nobody would guess because it’s kind of fancy. The pork is cooked in a red wine and rosemary sauce until very tender. Then, it’s piled onto buns with a goat cheese and rosemary spread, radicchio, roasted peppers and tapenade. 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. coarse black pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 5 lb. pork butt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup Syrah wine
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. mustard powder
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 big sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 4 oz. plain goat cheese, at room temperature
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ½ tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• ½ tsp. lemon juice
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• 8 large buns, split
• 8 radicchio leaves
• 8 large pieces of roasted red pepper (look for a brand that doesn’t include sugar in the ingredient list to avoid a sweet pickle flavor)
• ½ cup black olive tapenade (homemade or store-bought)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Rub it all over the pork butt.
3. In a small roasting pan or Dutch oven, combine the water, wine, ketchup, remaining ¼ cup brown sugar, vinegar, mustard powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the pork to the pan of sauce fat-side-down. Put a sprig of rosemary in the sauce on either side of the pork. Cook, flipping the pork over every hour, until very tender, about 3-4 hours.
4. Transfer the meat to a cutting board to rest for 10-15 minutes. Drain any fat off of the sauce. Use two forks to shred the meat and then mix with as much sauce as desired.
5. In a small bowl combine the goat cheese, mayonnaise, rosemary, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Spread liberally onto the bottom of each bun.
6. Top each with some of the pulled pork and then with a leaf of radicchio, a large piece of roasted red pepper, a scoop of tapenade, and then the lid of the bun.