Savory Pulled Pork Bark Is Achievable In The Oven. Here's How

Pulled pork is a well-loved savory dish that comes together more easily than some barbecued meats. However, you don't actually need to use the grill at all. If you really want to bring home that flavor and texture, with a crispy, full-flavored bark layer, cooking it low and slow and then crisping it in the oven will give you delicious pulled pork bark that adds so much texture to the dish.

Pulled pork bark is essentially the extra crispy exterior of the pork, with a similar flavor and appearance to burnt ends. For ease, it's best to prepare your oven-cooked pulled pork in a Dutch oven because you'll want that oven heat to help crisp up the pork skin. The secret is to cook the meat fat-side up and to leave the lid off your Dutch oven for the last hour of cooking (it will take about four hours in total) to really get that surface dry and crisp. You should end up with delicious bark and tender moist but not wet meat that pulls apart easily.

When pulled, the bark will mix in with those other, more tender pieces, giving the whole dish a contrasting mouthfeel. The fat interacts with the heat to crisp up quickly, so if you're making the pork in your oven, it only needs to be exposed to that heat for the last part of the cooking process. The pork's flavor will change depending on what regional style of barbecue sauce you pair it with, whether it's a sweeter flavor from a little more brown sugar or a tangy, vinegar-style sauce.

If you're making the pulled pork in a smoker, it's still easy to achieve that bark. The same concept applies; you want the pork directly exposed to the heat, so don't wrap it. Be sure to cook it low and slow, so the bark has time to form before the rest of the pork hits your desired internal temperature. Of course, you can also prepare pulled pork in the slow cooker, paired with your favorite homemade or store-bought barbecue sauce. But unfortunately, you won't achieve much bark in a slow cooker due to adding liquid into the pot to help cook the pork through. However, you could potentially transfer it to an oven-safe dish for the final hour to help achieve that bark at the end.