Pulled Pork Fried Rice

Pulled pork fried rice is the best use there is for the last couple of cups of a pork shoulder. Crisp the pork in a very hot pan, scramble a few eggs, then fry cold, day-old rice with onion, peas and carrots, garlic and scallions. Soy sauce seasons it, and a spoonful of barbecue sauce at the table is optional. Dinner takes about 30 minutes, most of it chopping.

This recipe starts with pulled pork that is already cooked. The cart below buys a whole boneless pork butt roast, which makes far more pulled pork than one pan of fried rice needs. If you have no leftovers yet, the short note after the recipe explains how to cook the roast first.

At a glance: serves 4. Prep 15 minutes, cook about 15 minutes, total 30 minutes, with the pulled pork already cooked.

Talking about frozen meat, Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, said this:

“Very few people have the ability to really tell any difference whatsoever of something that's been frozen.”

Gray Shipley

He was talking about raw meat frozen once with care, not about leftovers. It is still a good reason to freeze pulled pork in recipe-sized bags. A pork shoulder makes far more than one dinner, and a bag of it, thawed overnight in the fridge, is the fastest start to this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked pulled pork (about 10 ounces), roughly chopped
• 4 cups cold cooked long-grain white rice, ideally a day old
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons neutral oil, such as peanut or canola, divided
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (optional)
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts kept apart
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white or black pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce, to serve (optional)

Instructions

1. Chop and measure everything before you turn on the heat, because the cooking goes fast. Break up the cold rice with your fingers so there are no clumps. Beat the eggs with the salt.
2. Heat a wok or 12-inch skillet over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil, then the eggs, and stir until softly set, 30 to 60 seconds. Slide them onto a plate.
3. Add another tablespoon of oil and the pulled pork. Spread it out and leave it for 2 minutes, until the edges crisp, then toss for 1 minute more. Add it to the plate with the eggs.
4. Add the last tablespoon of oil, the onion, the scallion whites and the peas and carrots, and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds.
5. Add the rice. Toss it, then press it against the pan and let it sit for 30 seconds before tossing again. Keep going for 3 to 4 minutes, until the rice is hot and some grains are lightly toasted.
6. Return the pork and eggs, breaking the eggs into pieces. Pour the soy sauce around the hot edge of the pan, add the pepper, and toss for 1 to 2 minutes, until everything is steaming hot. The pork should reach 165 degrees F.
7. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sesame oil and scallion greens. Taste for soy and serve, with barbecue sauce at the table for anyone who wants it.

Add 1 boneless pork butt roast to cart

No leftovers yet? Cook the pork butt first

Pork butt, also called Boston butt, is the upper part of the shoulder, and it needs long, slow cooking before it will pull apart. For a roast of 3 to 4 pounds, rub it with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 teaspoons paprika and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Set it in a Dutch oven with 1/2 cup of water, cover, and cook at 300 degrees for 4 1/2 to 6 hours, until a fork twists easily in the meat and it reads about 200 degrees F. That is far past the FSIS minimum; the extra time is for tenderness.

Rest it for 20 minutes, shred it with two forks, and throw away any large pieces of fat. Serve some for dinner, then cool the rest quickly in shallow containers and refrigerate it promptly. A slow cooker works too, about 8 to 10 hours on low, as long as the roast is fully thawed before it goes in.

Why day-old rice works best

Freshly cooked rice is soft and steamy, and in a hot pan it clumps and turns mushy. A night in the fridge dries the surface of each grain and firms it up, so the grains separate, take on the soy and toast a little at the edges. If you only have fresh rice, spread it on a sheet pan, let the steam escape for a few minutes, then refrigerate it, uncovered, for an hour.

Long-grain white rice, such as jasmine, gives the classic texture. Medium-grain rice is a little stickier but still works. Brown rice is chewier and takes a minute or two longer to heat through.

If your pulled pork is already sauced

Pork tossed in a sweet barbecue sauce burns faster in a very hot pan, so give it only a minute on its own in step 3 before moving on. Cut the soy sauce to 2 tablespoons, taste at the end, and skip the extra barbecue sauce. A vinegar-based sauce is no trouble at all; it gives the rice a pleasant tang.

Freezing pulled pork in portions

Once the pork is cool, pack it into quart freezer bags in 2-cup portions, which is exactly what this recipe needs. Add a spoonful of the cooking juices to each, press out the air, label the bag with the date, and freeze it flat. Thaw a bag overnight in the refrigerator. If you are feeding a crowd with the rest of the shoulder, the guide below is written for beef, but the planning is the same.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole cuts of pork, and a slow-cooked pork butt passes it long before it is tender. Leftovers, including pulled pork going into fried rice, should be reheated to 165 degrees F. Check with an instant-read thermometer in a pile of pork in the pan. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.