Fakeout

Here's an addendum to the pulled pork post.  Several of my friends are vegetarians and, rather than rub meat in their faces like a savage, I try to come up with an alternative entree for them to enjoy.  Often I'll try to simulate the main course I'm preparing, but a lot of that relies on factory-designed meat imposters that should be embarrassing to anyone who markets them as "food."  Anymore, I'm happy to dress up a vegetable, fruit or grain in a delicious way than lean on these paltry substitutes.

Enter the jackfruit.

I went searching for vegetarian alternatives to pulled pork and found this recipe for pulled jackfruit, an Asian staple that hasn't made it big in America because, well, it looks really weird and doesn't taste like much.  The outer section of the jackfruit has a stringy texture, almost like the spore parts of a portabella mushroom, that lend themselves to being pulled apart with forks, simulating the appearance of pulled pork.

I started by coating the separated jackfruit (the inner section is too dense to pull) in the same spice rub that I had put on the pork.  The original recipe then called for it to be toasted in a pan, but since I had the smoker running outside with the pork shoulder in it, I decided I'd top rack the jackfruit for about an hour to get a nice smokiness without overpowering the spices.

Jackfruit has a very neutral flavor, at least out of the can (I'm told fresh jackfruit is sweeter), so you have to impart it with other strong flavors.  After pulling them off the smoker, I throw them in a pot on the stove top with equal parts water and peach-chipotle BBQ sauce and let it simmer for about 30 minutes until the jackfruit softened up, at which point I started pulling the pieces apart to make them look stringy.  What came out, I have to admit, at first glance looked a little bit like pulled pork slathered in BBQ sauce.

Let's set the record straight: despite what the recipe implies, this isn't going to fool anyone into thinking that it is actually pulled pork.  It passes the eye test when pressed between a bun, but as soon as you take a bite you'll know you've been had.  That said, the jackfruit does an admirable job of absorbing flavors and this particular batch got really spicy really fast due to the intensity of the chipotle in the BBQ sauce.

The vegetarians in our party seemed to really enjoy it, so I'd probably make it again with a few adjustments to the rub and sauce to make it a little more savory and less spicy-sweet.  After all, you don't win friends with salad, but you might keep friends with jackfruit.