Park Street Deli Seasoned Smoked Pulled Pork With Barbecue Sauce

We’ve been to many barbecue places over the years, both locally and while on trips. We’ve been fortunate to sample some awesome BBQ over the years, but there’s always one big dilemma: what to get? Even with a sampler platter — assuming a restaurant has one — you’re bound to leave some of the meats unsampled. If it’s a local place, that gives us a reason to come back, but if it’s out of town … well, then there are tough decisions to make.

Or you can try making it yourself at home. Most grocers have a good selection of meats and sauces, not to mention specialty meat shops where the choices are wider. Aldi, for its part, has some options, including various meats and barbecue sauces, both regular and seasonal. We’ve cooked up some good meat spreads over the years that way.

Recently, though, Aldi took to selling something even more convenient: heat-and-serve meats. All of them are under the Park Street Deli private label, and they include offerings such as Park Street Deli Hardwood Smoked Pulled Beef Brisket, Park Street Deli Pork Burnt Ends, and Park Street Deli Chicken Fajitas. Aldi has also rolled out another pulled meat option.

Park Street Deli Seasoned Smoked Pulled Pork With Barbecue Sauce is an Aldi Regular Buy, which means you can find it in stores all the time. At the time of this post, the 16-ounce (1-pound) container costs $7.29. That’s, of course, $7.29 a pound or about 46 cents an ounce. Could you do better making it yourself? Sure. But it wouldn’t be this easy.

And this is definitely easy. The instructions allow for heating in either the microwave (recommended) or a conventional oven. To cook in the microwave, you remove the paper sleeve, puncture the inner pouch a few times (to let steam out), then place the pouch in the tray and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or until hot. Once it’s done, you can cut open the package and empty the contents into the tray. Just be careful, as the meat may be hot and some steam may be released when you cut it open.

To cook in the oven, you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, you remove the outer sleeve and tray, then pour the product into an oven-safe pan, covering it with foil. Then you place the pan in the oven and heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until the product is hot and ready to serve.

I do wonder if this could be heated up a saucepan on the stovetop, but I did not try that for the purposes of this review.

Nutritionally, this has a lot of fat, cholesterol, and sodium. It also contains wheat and soy for those with allergen concerns.

Nutrition information, ingredients, and instructions. (Click to enlarge.)

Overall, we liked this pulled pork. It was good for a few servings as advertised, and we made sandwiches with them that the family enjoyed. We served these slider style atop L’Oven Fresh Hawaiian Sweet Rolls from Aldi. There is some fat in the meat, but overall it’s got a good flavor and the barbecue sauce is sweet and complements the meat well.

The Verdict:

Park Street Deli Seasoned Smoked Pulled Pork With Barbecue Sauce is a quick and easy way to get your pulled pork BBQ fix. It heats up in a few minutes in the microwave and is good for a few servings.