Another food post

Yesterday being New Year's Day and lots of football on our TV, I decided to try my hand at making a pulled pork. I'm not normally a pork eater, but I have come to like pulled pork. So I looked online at ways to fix it in our crock pot. It's nice that there are many online recipes which add videos of how to do them. The first issue was what cut of pork to buy. There were at least 3 recommended by the experts-Pork Butt, Pork Shoulder and Pork Tenderloin. I knew enough from the videos that fat is important for flavor and that it cooks away for the most part. I scratched the tenderloin from my plans because they are fairly lean.

Our local Schnucks by the seminary was out of pork butts, had dozens of tenderloins and one shoulder. I grabbed the shoulder and got it going yesterday. I was surprised to learn almost every recipe included Dr. Pepper. Some mentioned root beer, but Dr. Pepper (not diet) was the go to liquid. That soda adds that certain something even though that black cherry taste disappears.

Yesterday morning I wanted it in the cooker by 6:30 because ten hours was the common advice for cooking it and even longer was better. First I seasoned it and then gave it a quick browning in a skillet. After that it went into the crock pot on top of some thick sliced onions and 3 cups of Dr. Pepper poured over it and one cup of Dr. Pepper mixed with a cup of barbeque sauce. Turned it to low setting and let it go the rest of the day.

Around 5 I hauled it out and used two forks to pull it apart and it was perfect. We put it on Brioche buns with a bit more barbeque sauce drizzled on top and it was very good.

The main problem I have with this slow cooker business is the clean up. My crock pot is half full of the cooking liquid and it's hard to know how to dispose of it. The crock pot itself is very heavy and with the liquid even heavier. I won't strain it and pour it down the sink and have no covered disposable containers. What we need is an empty coffee can like we used to always have back in the day.

In any event, it was well worth it and even better, there is plenty for today so no cooking for me.

Comments

[Lori Keller]

You might try the crock pot liners. They make it pretty easy to dispose of the leftover contents in the crock pot. They can usually be found in the grocery aisle with the foils and such.

[Ida Kosten]

I save empty large plastic juice bottles, pour the liquid in after it has cooled down. Store in the freezer until trash day, throw in trash frozen - no mess! This is the way I get rid of anything that can’t go down the drain. Good luck.

[Ida Kosten]

Have made this for years. We buy Boston Butt, usually boneless. My recipe calls for 4-5 lb. butt, one 12 oz. can of coke and 18 oz. bottle of BBQ sauce. We like Sweet Baby Rays Original. 10 hours cooking on low. No browning, always perfect.

[Diane Meyer]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try them.