By Alon Arguello | 4.5 hours

This warming braised pork recipe is perfect for a fall or winter day with warming spices such as anise, cinnamon, dried chile, and orange peel. Use an oven or a crock pot, either way assembly is super easy. 

You’d never guess there was crab in this recipe but using just a bit of stock adds a richness to the pulled pork similar to what you’d find by adding a Worcestershire sauce. We used 2 “stock cubes” for this recipe which are simply green crab stock frozen in a whisky stone mold for later use. 

Ingredients

  • 3 lb pork shoulder or loin, cut into large chunks

  • 1 onion, sliced thick

  • 2 star anise 

  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed

  • 1 tsp ground cumin 

  • 1 tsp onion powder

  • 1 tsp garlic powder

  • 2 tsp white pepper

  • 1 tsp cinnamon 

  • 1 tbsp salt 

  • dried chile to taste

  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar

  • ½ cup of Dijon mustard

  • 1 Tbsp of oil

  • 1 cup of orange juice

  • 2  large orange peel strips

  • 1 apple, sliced

  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar

  • 1 cup of green crab broth 


Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300° or set your slow cooker to high and throw your meat into the oven or crock pot. 

  2. Toss your meat in the dry spices and sear meat, onions, and garlic on low until the sides of the meat are browned. If using a crockpot you can sear the meat in a pan or skip this step. Make sure not to burn the spices. 

  3. Pour your green crab broth, orange juice, apple slices, apple cider vinegar, and sugar into your crockpot or Dutch oven. 

  4. Cook for 3-4 hours until the meat shreds easily, checking occasionally to make sure the meat remains saucy. 

  5. Serve and enjoy! This pulled pork is great on it’s own or on a sandwich.