This has 3 major elements to this recipe. All of them can be done at the same time with some good time management.

Process for braising pork shoulder

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and place the dutch oven onto the stove to begin warming it up.
2. Take the pork shoulder and cut it down into pieces about the size of a fist.
3. Prep the aromatics. These will not be served with the dish, therefore they don’t need to be cut in any fancy way. Cut about 3 celery stalks into large chunks, quarter 1 onion and cut about 10 serrano peppers into halves, leaving the seeds to add a kick.
4. Lightly coat the pot with olive oil and begin to sear all sides of the pork shoulder.
5. Once they are lightly browned, throw in your aromatics and a few bay leaves.
6. Pour in just enough broth to cover the contents of the pot and bring to a boil.
7. Cover and put in the oven for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
8. Once the pork is done braising, you can take it out of the liquid and use 2 forks to pull apart and shred the cooked meat.

This part was not done in the video, but is awesome, delicious and important! The braising liquid has tons of porky, spicy goodness in it. You don’t want to lose that.

9. After you have pulled the pork, strain the braising liquid into a small sauce pan.
10. Simmer the braising liquid over a low flame to reduce until the braising liquid is a thick sauce.
11. Add a bit of butter to mellow the flavors and salt to taste.
12. Pour this sauce over the pulled pork and mix it in.

Process for the Cherry Cola BBQ sauce

1. In a small sauce pan, slowly reduce a liter of cherry cola, gradually adding more to the pan as it cooks off. This is a long process, so there is plenty of time while the pork braises.
2. After you’ve reduced the cola, in a larger pan, saute and brown 1 roughly diced onion and a few garlic cloves.
3. Add some brown sugar to help caramelize, 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard, a good amount of paprika, a little chili powder and a whole lot of ketchup.
4. Mix in the reduced cola and allow to simmer.
5. Pour the sauce into a food processor to break down the large chunks in the sauce.
6. Taste and season to your liking.
7. The sauce can be mixed with the pork, or just dizzled on top.

Process for the cole slaw

1. Take 1 full head of cabbage and remove the outer shell. We used half red and half white. Cut in half, remove the core and thinly chop.
2. Place the chopped cabbage into a collinder and mix it with a lot of salt. This is to remove any extra moisture. Place collinder into a sink or a large bowl to catch excess liquid. Allow this to sit for about 1 hour.
3. Thoroughly rinse the salt off of the cabbage and allow it to drain or squeeze out as much of the water as possible.
4. In a medium sized bowl, combine 3-4 scoops of mayonnaise, with about equal parts buttermilk and just a little bit of pickle juice to add some tartness.
5. Toss the cabbage in the sauce and serve on the sandwich or as a side dish.

These Cherry Coke Pulled Pork Sandwiches are crazy good. I think this is one of my best creations to date. The spiciness of the pork, with the sweetness of the Cherry Coke based barbecue sauce and the creamy goodness and crunch of the cole slaw makes an amazing combination.