Thursday, February 13, 2014

My "OH SO DELICIOUS" Crock Pot Carolina Pulled Pork

I love pork.....especially pulled pork.  It's one of those things I could seriously eat everyday, without it ever getting old.  My favorite way to enjoy a pulled pork sandwich is with a good Carolina sauce.  A Carolina BBQ sauce is a vinegar based sauce (tends to be thinner than other types of BBQ sauce).  I'm the kind of person who will set up the smoker in the early hours of the morning just so I can get my pork going.  But......it's winter time, and there's a lot of snow that I'd rather not deal with, so to the crock pot we go!

Carolina Pulled Pork

1 pork picnic roast (6-8 pounds (or whatever will fit into your crockpot) --- BONE IN......best flavor with the bone in (and cheaper)
1 cup cider vinegar
1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
2 yellow onions (sliced)
Salt and pepper to taste (I am not a huge salt fan, but for the sake of the pork, I add more than usual)
1/4 cup of water (only use if your pork becomes dry during cooking......for example, if your cooking liquids magically disappear, or if you want to cut the vinegar taste slightly)

Trim the bulk of the fat (and skin) from the roast.  If you are smoking your roast, this layer of fat and skin will help form a bark, but since we're using a slow cooker, it will just become mushy (you'll want to keep some for flavor).  Slice your onions and place them into the bottom of your crockpot.  Next, coat your roast with salt and pepper, and place on top of the onions.  Mix together the vinegar, Worcestershire, and ketchup.  Pour over the top if the roast.  Set your crockpot on low heat, and cook for 7-8 hours.  Turn your pork once every 2 hours (to ensure it's getting all of the juices!).

When your pork is finished, it will shred easily.  Serve with the sauce and onions you cooked it in.  In our house, we love put pulled pork with cole slaw on top (recipe to come later).  Enjoy!

I can not stress the importance of cooking your pork low and slow.  If you cook it too fast, it will become tough.  At the end of cooking, you should be able to shred the pork with a spoon (yes, it will be that tender!)