Who’d have thought that deciding to make Pulled Pork would turn up such interesting additional recipes?

It all came about because we just couldn't resist a piece of pork shoulder that had been marked down to £6. Needless to say, we put it straight into the freezer and then worked out what to do with it.

There was some interest in keeping it for Christmas, but when we thought about Christmas, there didn't seem to be a space for pork in our plans. The obvious thing to do with the pork was to just roast it and have it for Sunday lunch.

However, because the BBQ pulled pork that I'd made was so good, I was interested in doing that again – but carrying it a little bit sideways and maybe not involving so many flavours this time and letting the pork speak for itself. It was a big old piece and so it would be perfect for this, as we could dress the leftovers any way we wanted with additional flavours and so transform the piece of pork into several dishes.

So it was decided. I would put the pork into the slow cooker with the normal collection of stock vegetables and we'd have a pulled pork roast dinner, then decide what to do with the rest another day. Oh yes. That worked.

I put the pork into the slow cooker at around 9.30 a.m. - accompanied by the usual suspects of carrots, celery, garlic, onion, parsley etc. I kept the cooker on high all day, as it really was a very chunky piece of pork and I did want to pull it apart.

I froze two helpings of the stock, along with the other half of the pork - and a little bag of scrappy bits of pork that were too tasty to throw away.

The roast dinner pork, with some gravy and a dot of apple sauce, was utterly gorgeous. No other word for it. Soft, tender, unctuous, well flavoured, sweet, savoury, tiny sour notes from the apples - just divine.

Now, I had been wanting to make sausage rolls for a very long time. However, because my last few batches of sausage rolls had received something of a lacklustre review from the assembled throng, I was nervous.

Then, whilst pondering on what to do with the little bag of left over scrappy bits, I had what appeared to be a Very Good Idea. It really wasn't enough to make anything except a sandwich on its own, but bolstered by something else (like sausage meat), it would make a grand ingredient.

So what is the obvious thing to make, when contemplating sausage meat? Well, yes, I admit - Scotch Eggs was right up there. However, because of hubby's sensitivity to eggs that wasn't too clever an option. No, but in the savoury baking line, sausage rolls were a definite possibility!

I pondered on what type of sausage meat to use. There are so many different types out there in the marketplace, the world is your oyster where making sausage rolls is concerned. I remembered that our local butcher had some lovely fat Pork & Leek sausages.

On thinking about how the combination would taste - after all, the pulled pork was cooked in a vegetable stock so wouldn't really be bringing much in the way of flavour (other than its porkiness) but loads in the way of texture to the table - I felt it needed something else. All the flavours, so far, were very savoury - what about a sweet note?

I considered some onion marmalade, but felt that would dominate the leek. What would let all the other flavours sing, whilst providing a sweet note? AHA! Apple. Something sharp but sweet, like a Braeburn or Cox's. Not a cooker like a Bramley, as that would cook down to mush, but something that would hold its shape. Plus, it just so happened that I had a homeless Braeburn in the fridge.

There, the sausage rolls were sorted. It was a simple matter of chopping the pulled pork a couple of times to reduce the length of each strand, dicing the apple very finely and mushing the whole lot together with some skinned pork & leek sausages.

Happiness! I served them for a main course along with baked beans and hash browns.

So that just left the other half of our pulled pork joint requiring using up.

Now it was originally intended to be just another roast dinner. However, we forgot to take one of the tubs of stock out of the freezer at the same time as the pork, which meant that we'd have to forgo using it to make the amazing gravy - which would be a shame.

Initially, I started to think about gravy alternatives such as making a sauce. I seriously contemplated making an onion sauce, mainly because I love onion sauce and haven't had it for an aeon. However, when I contemplated the washing up that would result at the end of the dinner, that put me off the sauce idea completely.

So I began to think even further sideways - about things that weren't roast dinners. Now, what would I be likely to do with some leftover roast pork, if I wasn't going to make it into a roast?

What doesn't make a lot of washing up? Hmmn, something made in the wok. Aha - now we're onto something. A stir-fry. Oh, but our son doesn't like stir fries - and I don't have any traditional stir fry vegetables in. Well yes, but this IS pulled pork we're talking about and he’s a sucker for pulled pork. Add some chilli to the lure and I'm sure he'll forgive the stir-fry effect. So what vegetables have I got? A red pepper, two courgettes, the taggy end of a head of broccoli and plenty of onions. Wish I had some mushrooms!

It was about this time that I remembered I had a new bottle of Sweet Chilli Sauce in the cupboard that we'd not tried as yet. I knew I also had a part-used bottle of BBQ Sauce in the fridge.

The sweet chilli was going down the right flavour route - sweet and hot - and the BBQ sauce would add the complexity to the flavours. Add a little bit of Mirrin (Japanese rice wine) and a dash of Fish Sauce and I reckon we'd have it. I had the bottle of Cider Vinegar standing by, just in case the whole thing came up too sweet - but didn't need it.

The combination of the two sauces was a complete masterstroke, if I say so myself - and the whole thing came together in what felt like minutes. The washing up consisted of two pans and a chopping board - can't complain about that - and best of all, it was flipping delicious.

As a last-minute avoidance of making a roast dinner, I'd say that was a complete score.

So there you are – three main course meals plus two batches of stock for use in soups. I reckon that was quite a good use of a pork shoulder!

Links to all recipes are available on http://jennyeatwellsrhubarbginger.blogspot.co.uk