Chipotle Mango Pulled Pork

Now let me start of by saying this is not the most SB Friendly meal. It's not the worst, but the SB Diet generally tells you to stay away from fattier cuts of meat, i.e. pork shoulder. I supposed I could've have made this with a pork tenderloin but it just didn't seem to be the best use of pork tenderloin, plus pork shoulder was on sale last week and I'm a sucker for a sale especially when it's something that I know I can use the leftovers for another fabulous meal (stay tuned for this pulled pork in another dish this weekend). That being said I think I did a good job, save for the cut of meat in keeping this as a fairly healthy meal otherwise.

Now that I've cleared my conscious about my little diet break, let me say that I think this is the perfect recipe for this blog. Why, you ask? Well because it is a wonderful combination of spicy and sweet and a great homage to all things Piccante Dolce. This one is my own and completely a function of what we had in the house and what was on sale this past week (pork shoulder and mangoes). Chipotle peppers are one of my favorites because they add a nice mellow heat to everything. They are the kind of canned ingredient I always have on hand (along with canned tomatoes and white beans) and I just thought would go perfectly with mango. Here you go:

Chipotle Mango Pulled Pork

1 3-4 lb pork shoulder - trimmed of any excess fat (trying to be SB conscious)
1 - 2 large mangoes - cubed
1 large onion - diced
4 cloves of garlic - minced
2-4 chipotle chilis canned in adobo - seeded deveined and chopped (depending on how much heat you want)
1 Tbsp adobo from the canned chilis
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup whiskey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
salt & pepper
buns or bread of your choice
sliced avocado for garnish - optional

1. Place pork shoulder in slow cooker and cover with vinegar, ketchup, whiskey, mango, onions, garlic, chilis, adobo and spices. Set to cook for 8 hours on high.
2. At the end of the cook time, carefully remove the pro shoulder from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Return to the slow cooker and stir with the remaining liquid.
3. Serve on toasted buns topped with sliced avocado and cole slaw on the side.

This was such and easy meal and perfect for a day I knew I'd be working late. I threw it all in the slow cooker before work and hen I got home I shredded the pork while the boy threw together the cole slaw (SB friendly slaw). I think the cole slaw would be great on the sandwiches but we both really wanted to just get the flavor of the pork, so opted for it on the side.

Boy did the pork have serious flavor! It was pretty spicy but in that nice mellow chipotle way. If you are sensitive to spice I'd suggest using only 2 or 3 peppers, I used 4 and we both loved it. The boy thought the heat was perfect (it was one of the first things he said). I only used 1 mango and kicked myself for not add the 1/2 I had leftover after making mango salsa a few nights earlier. There was a definite sweetness to the pork but I would've liked just a bit more mango flavor [NOTE: THE NEXT DAY THE PORK HAD THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF SWEETNESS AND SPICE, SO I TAKE BACK MY COMMENT ABOUT ADDING MORE MANGO]. But all in all this was a winner with layers of flavor a mild sweetness at first followed up with the spice and heat. Since we aren't eating a ton of carbs at home I opted not to buy buns just for this one meal and we just used toasted whole grain bread (Dempsters Ancient Grains is awesome!) for our sandwiches. I topped the sandwiches with some sliced avocado and found that it offered just the right amount of freshness to really balance out the spicy sweet pork. Enjoy!