More and more guests want a plant-based dish that does not feel like a compromise. Pulled pork is the most rewarding dish to start with. The stringy fibres of young jackfruit come surprisingly close to slow-cooked meat, and your marinade decides the direction: a smoky BBQ marinade for pulled pork, a rich braising base for pulled beef, or a lighter marinade for pulled chicken.
Why jackfruit works so well
Young, green jackfruit has hardly any flavour of its own. That sounds like a drawback, but it is exactly its strength: the open fibre structure soaks up any marinade you come up with. The result is a pulled dish that is truly yours, instead of something from a jar.
Choose your base: pasteurized or sterilized
Both variants of our Jackfruit Original are pure and simple: jackfruit, water, salt and a little citric acid. The difference is in what you are going to do with it.
- Cooking it for a while, in a stew for example? Choose the pasteurized variant. It is firm and keeps its structure. Let the jackfruit simmer along for at least an hour, so the herbs and spices soak deep into the fibres, and always heat it to a core temperature of at least 75 °C.
- Using it cold, or only heating it briefly? Choose the sterilized variant. It is already fully cooked: warm the closed pouch in a bain-marie for 10 minutes and season to taste.
Building your pulled dish
- Drain the jackfruit and rinse it briefly.
- Pull the pieces apart a little with two forks, so the marinade gets in better.
- Marinate for at least 30 minutes. If you have the time, let it rest for a few hours for more depth.
- Finish it the way your base asks for: let it simmer along slowly, or heat it briefly.
- Serve it: on a brioche bun with coleslaw, in tacos, on loaded fries or through a bowl.
A nice bonus: the unopened pouch keeps well outside the fridge. No pressure on your cold storage, hardly any waste, and you only open what you need that day.
Food cost example
Count on 120 to 150 g of jackfruit per portion for a sandwich or taco. An example at a purchase price of €8.50 per kilo of drained product (fill in your own wholesale price):
| Component | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Jackfruit Original (drained) | 130 g | €1.11 |
| Marinade and seasoning | €0.20 | |
| Brioche bun | 1 pc | €0.45 |
| Coleslaw and garnish | 60 g | €0.35 |
| Total food cost | €2.11 |
At a selling price of €9.50 that is a food cost percentage of around 22%. Comfortably within margin for a lunch dish, and without the cooking loss you get with meat.
No time to marinate yourself?
Then there is our ready-to-use line of jackfruit in sauce: pre-marinated and ready to heat, in BBQ, Rendang, Korean BBQ, Teriyaki and Bolognese. Just heat and pull.
Want to try it?
Request a free trial package and test it in your own kitchen, or see where our products are available.
