Drunken Pulled Pork...the Crock Pot edition

My kids love pulled pork sammies, my wife will eat it without the bun...a carb counter amongst us. Regardless its stupid easy to do as all it needs is a long braise. Its a hit any day of the week, but on Sundays when its my day for basketball tournaments I need to rely on the Crock Pot to get Sunday dinner on the table.

This version isn't all that different from the oven braised version I blogged a while back. It simply takes the pork butt roast from being cut to fit into a braising pan to being whole to slow cook all day in a crock pot. Mine is older than I care to admit but still is a very handy tool to have in the kitchen for those busy days you either don't have the time to cook dinner or you don't want to heat up the entire house with an oven. Either way its a long slow braise and the results are fork tender ready to pull apart pork roast.

One thing I've discovered is that it is true that cooking bone in yields more flavor. When cooked until fork tender there is no butchering required to get around the bone...it simply pulls right out and you can go about using a pair of forks to pull your pork.

Even though I am using a bottled BBQ sauce for the sandwiches, I still pull a lot of spices into the mix to pick up the same flavor profile basted deep into the pork. Its just a more flavorful end result. Prolly why its a hit with the fam.

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

• 7 lb bone in pork roast
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 t Steak seasoning (I use Lawry's brand Montreal Seasoning Salt)
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T Liquid Smoke
• 1 Bottle beer (I use a light amber wheat beer)
• 1 15oz can tomato sauce

Add ingredients in order listed to crock pot. Set on low and cook 8 hours. Remove pork roast from the braising liquid. Using a fork peal off pieces of meat. Using two forks, one to hold down the meat and another to shred pull your pork into bite sized shards. Add your favorite BBQ sauce to the shredded meat, heat and serve on hamburger buns.

Drunken Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I got the idea for this one from, you guessed, a few different sources. One was some new cooking show on FoodTV and the other from the Top Chef series. Pulled Pork was a big deal back in MO growing up and the appearance of it on TV made me suddenly crave the stuff. So when the boys said it looked good and wanted me to make them some I was all over that project.

The key is a long braise to make a cheap cut of meat fork tender to pull apart. The pork barely cost me 8 bucks and I only used about half of it for the 4 of us for dinner tonight. A pretty frugal meal too it turns out.

Drunken Pulled Pork

• 3.5 lbs pork shoulder
• 1 T smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper
• evoo
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 large carrot sliced
• 1/2 c chopped celery
• 2 T dry BBQ Rub
• 1/4 c Worcestershire
• 1 bottle beer
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can beef broth

Cut pork shoulder into 3 inch cubes. Season well with salt and pepper. Coat well with smoked paprika. Brown over medium high heat until all sides have a good sear. Remove from pan and reserve.

Add onion, carrot and celery. Cook until onion becomes translucent and begins to brown. Add BBQ Rub and stir well. Add liquids. Return meat to the pan, include any drippings that accumulated while resting. Bring to boil then cover.

Simmer in 325F oven for 2 hours or until fork tender. When done remove pieces of pork from the braising liquid and shred with a fork for making sandwiches or eating as is.

The difference between braising and stewing is pretty nominal. A braise doesn't have the meat covered completely, rather it goes up about 3/4 to the top of your meat. In this case you add enough of the beef broth to get yourself to the right depth without submerging the meat!