Pulled chicken with green chilli mayo and quick pickled cabbage
And a wistful look back at days when we went mad for pulled pork (and crunched pulled pork crisps)
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I suppose you could say the idea for this recipe was conceived ten years ago when, like the rest of Britain, I first fell for the smoky, juicy, tender charms of pulled pork. It was at a supper club – remember those? – with a US theme. I recall little about the menu except an insanely delicious pork dish I’d never come across before.
The meat was as tender as a baby’s smile, and had been ‘pulled’ apart along the grain into long sinewy shreds, then slicked in a sweet-salty-tangy sauce. The meat was tinged with barbecue smoke and, having languished over low smoking coals forever, it virtually dissolved in my mouth. Stuffed into a pillowy bun and served with crunchy slaw and piquant pickles, it was, as the cliché goes, A Revelation.
It was the start of Britain going mad for US BBQ in general, and for pulled pork in particular. Supermarkets began selling pulled pork ready meals, British Airways served it to first-class customers and the dish became ubiquitous mass catering fare. The trend peaked – or, rather, plummeted – with pulled pork flavoured crisps.
One can only wonder what pit masters in the American South thought of it all as they patiently tended their smoky fires for hours on end, waiting for the fatty meat and connective tissue of the shoulder – the traditional cut of pork used for the dish – to slowly cook down into meltingly tender porcine nirvana. The whole point is, pulled pork is not a rush job.
My husband and I have made it loads of times, as it really is great dish to cook for a crowd; initially, the hardest part was finding a butcher who knew what a “pork butt” was (it is, in fact, the top part of the shoulder, and nothing to do with a pig’s bottom). I’m pleased that situation has now improved.
We generally ‘marinate’ the meat in a dry spice rub (although some enthusiasts use just salt and sugar, and others go the wet brine route) ahead of cooking. Then, after low and slow barbecuing alongside some fragrant wood chips (or, more often, in the oven for ease) we shred the meat and liberally coat it in a vinegar-spiked sauce. Delicious, but definitely A Process.
I cannot lay my hands on the recipe we love and use - the Supper Club folks shared it with me all those years ago. But this is a great version if you relish a 36 hour pulled pork odyssey. Felicity Cloak’s is a winner too, and you won’t have to devote quite such a large chunk of your life it it. Both recipes are done in the oven).
Which brings me – yes, finally! – to today’s recipe, which is not pulled pork but pulled chicken. While there’s no arguing pulled pork’s very fine attributes, this dish is infinitely quicker and easier - a perfect Saturday lunch or Friday night dinner - but still delectable. I know pulled pork relies on the abundant fat and connective tissue in the shoulder meat to deliver tenderness. But chicken works too, if you cook it this way.
I’ve used plump chicken thighs – they’re tastier and fattier than breast meat, and therefore the only suitable cut for this dish. And I cook them IN the barbecue-style sauce instead if adding the sauce after shredding, which ensures the meat stays juicy. I’m not trying to kid you this well deliver the same authentic results as pulled pork cooked on southern US barbecue stacked with hickory chips. But you get a fantastically tasty meal, without working a pit master’s hours.