Jackfruit pulled pork

My Good Friday was not good. It was gross and actually kind of dangerous, due to the allergic reactions.

But let me give you the background.

Sometimes I get really sad when I eat meat.

I’ve always loved honey ham, chicken wangs, sausages, tacos, c. nuggs, etc. etc. etc. But some days I just think of the cute animals that were tortured and killed for my dinner. And then I think about the juices and the organs that I’m eating, realize that it’s all kind of gross, then I gag and can only eat food that’s in a wrapper, like bananas or potato chips—is this getting weird?

Not to mention, the environmental impacts of eating meat are really bad. Apparently, the carbon footprint of a vegetarian who drives a Hummer is quite similar to a meat eater who drives a Pink Sweetie.

This was my first day with Pink Sweetie. Time has only made me love her more.

I did try to become a vegetarian once. It lasted for two weeks and ended because after a run one day, I was craving kielbasa like nobody’s business, so that was the end of that.

But, I have been trying to eat less meat on a regular basis, so that’s why I was so excited when I came across this Tasty recipe for jackfruit pulled pork last winter.

I had to wait for months before the nearest Asian supermarket had fresh jackfruit, but since I’d love some good meat alternatives, and since all the people in the video thought the sandwich was actually pulled pork, I figured it’d be worth the wait.

Learning that jackfruit would be available in April, I figured this would be a nice thing to bring to my family’s Good Friday lunch, where the only meat we eat is fish because, you know, Jesus.

So, a few days before our party, I trekked 40 minutes to the nearest Asian supermarket and bought a $20 jackfruit as well as $20 worth of sauces, spices, and buns.

Blue Sky Supermarket in Pickering. Lots of good food there!

On the morning of Good Friday I started working on my creation, excited by the possibility of having a healthy substitution for pork in my life.

I cut the 20-pound thang in half, then my mom and I removed and cleaned all of the actual edible pieces. This process took forever, FYI, in case you’re ever wanting to eat fresh jackfruit.

This is what a jackfruit looks like inside.

Then I just followed the Tasty instructions. I cooked some onions and garlic in a pan, added the jackfruit, spices, and liquid smoke (this cool ingredient to make it taste like smoked meat), then let it simmer for 45 minutes.

Next, I baked the jackfruit for an hour and a bit, added barbecue sauce, and baked it again. It took a long-ass time, and let me tell you… IT WAS NOT WORTH IT!!!

This “pulled pork” tasted exactly like what it was: a sweet fruit with a bunch of spices.

Plus, I don’t know if it was the fruit or the spices, but my mouth felt really itchy after eating it, and it gave my mom a bit of a cough.

But, I still decided to bring it to the family party—no one eats more than Filipinos, so I figured the sandies would still get eaten. Plus, with all the nurses in the room (Filipinos and nursing go hand in hand) should someone have an allergic reaction, they’d be safe.

Unfortunately, not one sandwich was eaten.

Frick. I put good time and money into this effort, and what do I get? An itchy mouth and rejection from the family.

I can’t help but think that I did something wrong with this recipe, considering all of the reviews on Tasty are positive. So, if you’ve ever made something like this before, please do feel free to send some tips over my way. As well, if you have any good meat substitutes, I would love to know of those, too.

In the meantime, I’ll be over here practicing longboarding and eating bananas and chips.

What I’ve learned/some realizations:

I think I’m allergic to jackfruit.
Cooking takes so long, but eating takes two seconds. This is why I love Lean Cuisines.

In unrelated news, this old blog turned five the other day! Ughs, time fliessssss. https://kaitlinjingco.tumblr.com/

Kaitlin JingcoMay 28, 2019Comment