All Recipes

Candy Glazed Pulled Pork “Apples”

Pork

10 Hours

8-12

American

Sweet on the outside, smoky at heart — these twisted fairground “apples” are built from slow-smoked pork shoulder, shaped, breaded and fried, then coated in a hard-crack chilli candy glaze. Powered by Hog Heaven, Sweet Bones & Bacon, and Fools Gold, it’s comfort food turned chaos.

ingredients

For the Pork:

1 Pork shoulder (3–4 kg)
100 ml Hungry Oink Hog Heaven
6–8 tbsp Angus & Oink Sweet Bones & Bacon rub
200 ml apple juice (for spritzing during the smoke)

For the Breading:

150g plain flour
2 large eggs
200g breadcrumbs (panko works best)
2–3 tbsp Fool's Gold

For Frying:

1.5–2 litres vegetable oil or beef tallow

For the Candy Glaze:

400 g granulated sugar
240 ml corn syrup or glucose syrup
180 ml water
½ tsp red food colouring
1 tbsp Chilli Sauce

Buy the items

Hog Heaven Carolina BBQ Sauce

300g £5.50

View

Fool's Gold Rub

230g £8.99

View

Sweet Bones & Butts Rub

230g £8.99

View

Directions

Smoke the pork:
Fire up the smoker to 260 °F / 127 °C. Rub the pork shoulder with Hog Heaven as a binder and coat heavily with Sweet Bones & Bacon.
Smoke until internal temp reaches 165 °F / 74 °C, spritzing with apple juice to keep it moist.
Place in a pan, drizzle more Hog Heaven, dust again with rub, cover tightly and cook until 205 °F / 96 °C. Rest for 1–2 hours until tender.
Shape the “apples”:
Shred the pork finely (finer than usual pulled pork). While still warm, press firmly into apple sized moulds or shape by hand with cling film.
Chill overnight to set.
Bread and fry:
Set up three bowls: flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs mixed with Fools Gold.
Double-coat each apple, then chill for 20 minutes.
Heat oil or tallow to 150 °C / 300 °F and fry one at a time until golden. Keep warm in a low oven.
Make the candy glaze:
Combine sugar, syrup and water in a heavy pan. Stir gently until dissolved, then stop stirring.
Boil to 300 °F / 150 °C. Remove from heat, add red colouring and Chilli Sauce.
Glaze and finish:
Working quickly, dip each fried pork “apple” into the molten candy, turning to coat evenly.
Let the excess drip off, then set on parchment. Dip briefly in ice-cold water to harden the shell but keep the centre warm.
Finish with a wooden stick to complete the look.