Sunday, January 29, 2012

Crock Pot Recipe Day 15

Carolina Pulled Pork
From Hands Off Cooking
Serves 6

1 3-4 lb boneless Boston butt (pork shoulder), excess fat trimmed I bought one that had a bone in it (didn't know it) and it was roughly 6.2 lbs
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 cups (one 19 oz bottle) tomato based barbecue sauce I used a Kraft bbq sauce.  It said 18 oz and measured just under 1 cup.  I ended up using 2 1/2 bottles of bbq sauce
Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste (optional) I didn't use this
1 cup apple cider vinegar I used regular white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400* F.  I put mine in the crock pot on high.
2. Remove any strings or net on the meat.  Sprinkle it all over with salt & pepper.  Put the pork in a large, heavy pot like a Dutch oven.  Taste the bbq sauce and add red pepper flakes if it isn't spicy enough for you.  Pour the vinegar on top of the meat, then the bbq sauce.
3. Cover the pot & braise the pork in the oven for 3 1/2-4 hours, or until the meat is falling apart and shreds very easily when pushed with a spoon.  Remove the pot and shred the meat by pushing it against the pot.  Stir it together with the sauce.
4. If you want, you can pour the meat and sauce into a colander set over a bowl to drain off any excess fat.  The meat will have absorbed most of the sauce already.
5. Serve immediately.

Ok, so like I said, I used a pork shoulder that had a bone in it & was roughly 6.2 lbs.  I did trim off the excess fat.  I put mine in my crock pot & cooked it on high.  Since I was using about double the meat, I doubled the vinegar & bbq sauce.  My suggestion is this: if you like a LOT of sauce, use what is in the recipe.  If you don't like a lot of sauce, you could likely get away with only doing about 3/4 of what it calls for.  There was TONS of extra sauce with mine.  Not sure if it's because I cooked it in the crock pot or if it is because it was doubled.  When I took mine out of the crock pot to shred it, I used a knife so I could get around the bone but was still able to use a fork for most of the shredding.  I then put the meat back in the crock pot with all the sauce and let it cook about 30 more minutes.  They turned out really good - they kids scarfed them right up.