Bar-B-Q Pulled Pork in Puff Pastry Recipe

Barbeque Pulled Pork in Puff Pastry (prep time using a slow-cooker: about 6 hours)

Dry Rub:

1 Tbl. powdered garlic

1/2 Tbl. mustard powder

1 Tbl. paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 Tbl. onion flakes

1/2 Tbl. ground black pepper

For the rest of the preparation:

1 pound pork tenderloin

1/2 C vegetable stock

1 C barbeque sauce

1 package puff pastry sheets (in the frozen pie crust section)

1 egg, beaten with about a Tbl. of water

*I made this over the course of two days, roasting the pork on the first day, refrigerating the pulled barbeque meat and doing the pastry stage the next day.

Prepare the dry rub mix. Put the pork on wax paper and massage the dry rub all over the meat, coating all surfaces. Wrap in the paper and refrigerate, allowing to sit for an hour (or more). Take puff pastry sheets out of freezer to thaw. (Remember to keep the dough cold after it's thawed, so it will puff nicely in a hot oven.)

To oven roast, preheat oven to 320. The pork will have to roast 6 to eight hours until it is tender and pulls apart. I prefer the slow cooker method.

After sitting in the dry rub for about a half hour or more, put the pork in the slow cooker set on high and cook for about two hours. Add the vegetable stock to help the meat finish up in steam, helping to keep it really tender.

Once the pork is cooked through and tender, shred it with a fork and mix in enough barbeque sauce to make it hold together, but not too wet, since it is going to be wrapped in pastry.

Heat oven to 400.

Roll the pastry sheet to about 1/4 inch thick. For turnover-style servings, cut the rolled pastry sheet into 9 squares. Heap a bit of the pork in the middle. Brush three edges of the pastry square with the beaten egg wash and fold over into a triangle, pressing the edges to seal. Brush the top with egg wash then a little barbeque sauce. You also could do the whole thing as sliced disks by keeping the rolled pastry as one sheet and putting the shredded pork heaped in a line down the middle, roll and seal the edge with brushed-on beaten egg. Again, you would brush the top and sides with the egg wash for shine, followed with a little glaze of the barbeque sauce.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry puffs and is brown. Serve with barbeque sauce for dipping on the side.

(I used a store-brand bottled Memphis-style barbeque sauce from a local supermarket that is really good. It had more of a hickory smoke flavor than a Kansas   City version I also have in my refrigerator. You can, of course, make your own. I'll make some homemade barbeque sauce in the future and have the recipe here, but, seriously, bottled stuff is really just fine!)

Josh, our wine and spirits expert from Parkway Wines and Spirits recommends a New York Baco Noir or a California Red Zinfandel wine to go along with this. Visit the shop on theVestal Parkway, just west of Binghamton University and ask Josh about specific brands he would recommend.

He's our wine and spirit expert!