1.4 - 1.6kgpork shoulder / pork shoulder steaksalthough you’re going to cut it in chunks so size does not matter as timings will stay in the same (pork shoulder steaks work too and are less work as you can leave them as they are)
1jarCirio Passata Rustica or 350 g of the passata you can get hold of
200mlwatercold tap
1tablespoonpaprika
2teaspoonssmoked paprikathis can be increased, you could do 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
40gliquid smoke (optional, please read below)
1teaspoonof sea salt
A few twists of the black pepper millI don't always add it
100gof tomato purée(approx half a tube)
Instructions
Remove the rind from the pork shoulder, cut into big chunks, place in inner pot. If using pork shoulder steaks, just add them as they are.
1.4 - 1.6 kg pork shoulder / pork shoulder steaks
Add the passata then rinse the jar with 200 ml of water and add to the inner pot.
1 jar Cirio Passata Rustica or 350 g of the passata you can get hold of, 200 ml water
Add the 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 40 g of liquid smoke and 1 teaspoon of sea salt with a few twists of the black pepper mill.
1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 40 g liquid smoke (optional, please read below), 1 teaspoon of sea salt, A few twists of the black pepper mill
Stir it all together to mix. Yes, stir (make sure your Instant Pot is in good shape and your sealing ring pressed down correctly to avoid problems, watch the videos on here). It will work well as long as you’ve done that properly. If in doubt, don’t stir.
Make sure the sealing ring is pressed down correctly into its rack, press down as you follow the circumference several times. Close the lid. Steam release handle pointing to sealing (unless you have one of the super cool self-sealing lids, in which case you don’t need to do anything).
Press Pressure Cook / Manual or equivalent and programme 75 minutes / 1 hour and 15 minutes, high pressure (in the Duo Evo Plus I use Pressure Cook then select Pork and programe 1:15, one hour and 15 minutes). Let it do NPR for at least 15 minutes at the end.
Open the lid and remove some of the fatty liquid. Stir in half a tube of tomato purée, press Sauté, set to High and let it reduce with the lid off while you get the chunks of pork out and start shredding them with two forks then put the pulled pork back in the pot and give it a good stir to mix with the sauce.
100 g of tomato purée
My pork tends to be so tender that it just shreds beautifully but this will depend on the quality of the pork, if it’s not super tender do this final step if you have time: once all the pork is shredded / pulled and back in the inner pot with the sauce, pop the lid back on and press Pressure Cook / Manual and give it another 15 minutes, high pressure, NPR.
Tip for electric pressure cookers
Got an electric pressure cooker? Let it go automatically to Warm at the end of pressure cooking, for a few hours. It allow the flavours to develop. You can also swap to Slow Cook instead of Warm if you're near the cooker
Video
Notes
*TerminologyQuick pressure release (QPR, also called quick release or QR) means venting the steam as soon as the pressure cooking process finishes, i.e. moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting.Natural pressure release (NPR, also called natural release or NR) means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord, so basically you don’t need to do anything at the end and can keep your feet up. If it takes over 15 minutes, you're ok to release the rest of the steam (by turning the steam release handle to Venting) that may be left in order to unlock and open the lid.Sometimes you'll see me talk of a combination of NPR followed by a QPR. For example a recipe may have a 4 minute NPR followed by a QPR. You wait for 4 minutes at the end of the pressure cooking time and then do a QPR by moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting.