This is not my idea. Although I wish I had thought of it, I must disclose credit elsewhere.
A couple of weeks ago, the ladies from Tropical Delights made their usual Wednesday delivery. Sometimes when I am available in the kitchen, I enjoy listening to their stories and ideas. They made mention of there recent food truck visit and were excited about a vegan pulled 'pork' sandwich they tried. I've always been aware of jackfruit, but never really messed with it... possibly because of it's faint similarity to durian. The concept was to cook down jackfruit in bbq sauce.
I searched the internet and found a couple of other mentions on the subject (not putting in links, and not sure who deserves credit for this original thought). What I found pretty much summed up my feelings on most hippie-appropriated vegan food out there... it sucks. There was no reason, however, that I couldn't actually make it better. Pretty much all of the recipes I found called for using canned jackfruit and cooking it down with bbq sauce of choice. Seriously, if this is a vegan's perception of the full glory of awesome pulled pork, then they really should get out more. Just the smell of pulled smokey pork would be better than eating this.
Anyway, the Tropical Delight ladies had offered to bring me a ripe jackfruit they had which was prime and ready. The next Wednesday, said jackfruit arrived. I cut it into quarters revealing the stringy flesh within. The large visible seeds were removed, and I rubbed the flesh with olive oil and some Memphis style pork rub. I let them sit on a low pit on their skins for over an hour while they bathed in mesquite smoke. This is what they looked like afterwards...
The fibrous threads began to separate (I had repeatedly drizzled in more oil and spice into these crevasses as they cooked). The flesh was then pulled apart and inner seeds removed.
Nice flavors, but a bit tough. This is where the convenience of canned jackfruit comes in, I guess. I would have to break down the insides to a more tender state. The pulled fruit was then tossed with Peck Wicker's and honey and bagged then pressure cooked.
This was after 30 minutes. Pretty tender. It actually looks very similar to pulled pork or chicken meat. The natural sweet aroma of the fruit blends very nicely with the tangy sauce, honey, and spice. In retrospect, I think 15 minutes is sufficient next time. There's a little texture of broken down starch almost stretching into mushiness after 30 minutes.
Now you've got the JACK!
