Slow-cooker Vietnamese-style caramel pork
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Slow-cooker Vietnamese-style caramel pork
Let the slow cooker do the work with this Vietnamese-inspired caramelised pork, cooking low and slow until tender enough to pull apart. We’ve piled it into baguettes with quick-pickled vegetables for bánh mì, but it’s just as good over rice or noodles
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
Ingredients
- 75g light muscovado sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 4 garlic cloves, finely crushed or grated
- 2 echalion shallots, finely chopped
- 5cm piece ginger, finely grated
- 1-2 star anise
- 250ml chicken stock
- about 1.5kg boneless pork shoulder, excess fat and skin trimmed
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
To serve bánh mí style (optional)
- 150ml rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 4 small white baguette batons, sliced in half
- 80g brussels-style pâté
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- dash Maggi Liquid Seasoning
- ½ x 30g pack coriander, leaves picked
Step by step
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Put the muscovado sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic, shallots, ginger and star anise in a small bowl. Pour over the stock and whisk to combine. Slice the pork shoulder into 3 or 4 large chunks. Season well all over.
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If your slow cooker has a sear function, heat the oil directly in it. Otherwise, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the pork chunks and sear, turning occasionally, until deeply browned all over (about 7-8 minutes). If using a frying pan, transfer the pork to the slow cooker. Deglaze the pan with a splash of the sauce, scraping up any browned bits on the base, then add to the slow cooker. Pour over the remaining sauce. It may not look like enough at first, but the pork will release plenty of juices as it cooks, creating a rich sauce without making it watery.
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Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours until the pork is very tender and pulls apart easily with a fork.
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Meanwhile, if serving bánh mí style, make the quick-pickled veg. Add the rice vinegar, 100ml water, the sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt to a saucepan. Simmer over a low heat for 2 minutes until the sugar and salt have dissolved, then remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly. Put the cucumber and carrots in a heatproof container and pour over the cooled liquid. Leave to pickle for at least 1 hour, then drain.
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Lift the pork out onto a board and shred into large, long pieces with two forks. Skim off any excess fat from the top of the sauce that remains in the slow cooker. For a stickier, more coating sauce, tip the sauce into a pan and bubble on the hob for about 10 minutes to reduce. Return the pork to the sauce and mix well. If you want the pork to have crispy edges, transfer it to a roasting tin and pop under a hot grill for about 3 minutes.
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For bánh mí, spread one side of the baguettes with pâté and the other with mayo. Fill with pork, sprinkle with the Maggi seasoning and top with the pickles and coriander.
Make the recipe up to the end of step 2, adding an extra 200ml water or stock. Braise the pork in a casserole in the oven at 150°C, fan 130°C, gas 2 for 3 hours, covered.
