Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe

This is the third post up for some awesome tailgating food.  In case you missed it, we posted up the recipe for Baby Back Ribs: Seared, Braised & Grilled.  Man, those ribs sure were awesome and they would travel great after they have been braised.  Toss them on the barbecue when you’re tailgating and you’ll have delicious ribs ready in under 10 minutes.  The same applies to this pulled pork recipe- it has killer flavor and travels great.  What more could you need than a couple barbecue dishes?  A nacho dish, right?  Check out my Kick Ass Nacho recipe.  Awesome.  The rest of the week we’ve got more coming: a killer brat, caramelized onion and potato sandwich; and, of course, some Big Beefy Bean Dip.  We’ll be tossing in a side dish or two along the way as well.

For years, my office held Iron Chef and other cooking competitions.  This is the pulled pork recipe that won two different events.  It’s just that good.  It’s also really easy to make a huge batch of this to feed a lot of people.  I would say that the kitchen prep time is around 35 minutes and the slow cook time is about six hours on high or nine hours on low.  When I was making this for the office or needed it during the day, I would start to cook at about ten the night before and let it cook on low overnight.  In the morning, the house smells incredible.

We are going to use some store bought BBQ sauce for this recipe.  I use KC Masterpiece and the Heinen’s Two Brothers Original BBQ sauces mixed together.  KC Masterpiece has more of a molasses taste and the Two Brothers has more tang on it.  Whatever you do, look at the ingredients before you buy your sauce.  If it says it has liquid smoke in the ingredients move onto the next sauce.  That liquid smoke will concentrate with the long cook time and give your pork an almost chemical taste to it.  That’s nasty, so take a minute and read the ingredients.

Makes enough for 12 pulled pork sammies

Ingredients:

4 lbs pork roast or pork shoulder

1 large onion, sliced

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups stock (vegetable, chicken or beef), low sodium if not homemade

1 bottle tangy BBQ Sauce- can be Heinen’s Two Brothers BBQ or other

1 bottle KC Masterpiece Original

4-5 strips of bacon

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper

Let’s talk about the ingredients for a second. If you can find a bone-in roast, buy that. The bone will add a lot of flavor to the dish. Be careful, however, to check for small bones under the blade. These little pieces can fall out while the roast is cooking and if you don’t strain your sauce before it is reduced, it can be a choking or tooth hazard. Typically I use bacon for this recipe and toss it in toward the end of the slow cook. For the batch I made today, I used two tablespoons of rendered duck fat because it was on hand. You can use clarified butter or simply butter and Canola oil if that is all you have around. Let’s get cookin.

Grab your slow cooker. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this in a dutch oven as well. Turn the oven to 275 and cook for four hours. I used a slow cooker, so that’s how this recipe will roll. Turn the slow cooker on high or low. If it is high, you’ll cook the dish for about six hours. Low for about nine. Add 1/2 cup of the stock and both bottles of BBQ sauce to the slow cooker and stir well. Now let’s prep the other ingredients.

Chop one onion and put into the slow cooker. Slice the other and set aside. Mince the garlic and set aside. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Take the pork out of the fridge and cut the meat into equal parts, about 4 inches wide. Salt and pepper all sides. Rub the dry ingredients on all sides.

Take out a large skillet and heat over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the bacon and cook until crisp, rendering out the fat. If you are using butter or lard, use about 2 tablespoons and heat until they are piping hot, but not smoking. Add the pork pieces and brown on all sides. When the pork is browned, remove the pan from the heat and place the browned pork in the slow cooker.

Put the pan back over the heat and add the sliced onion. Cook until lightly browned, about five or six minutes depending on how hot your pan has become. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the remaining stock and deglaze the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes, reducing by 1/4. Add the reduced liquid, onions and garlic to the slow cooker.

Take it easy on the onions... not too much, not too little. Photo by Scott Groth

Cook the pork. One rule about slow cooking is to never lift off the lid. I ignore this rule because I think that it is ridiculous. About every two hours, I like to rotate the pork. Rules are made to be broken, particularly in cooking.

About half way through the cooking. Photo by Scott Groth

When the meat is cooked, remove from the slow cooker. If your meat had bones in it, remove the bones. Let the meat sit for about five minutes. Shred with two forks. Cover the meat when it is shredded and set aside.

I choose to strain the cooking liquid through a colander at this point, but you can opt not to do this if you like a more chunky sauce. Move the liquid to a large skillet to reduce dependent on the viscosity of the liquid. If it is really thin, reduce by half. If it is about where you want, reduce only slightly. If it is already thick, skip the reduction. Just remember that the pork will absorb a lot of liquid when it is placed back in the sauce.

Return the sauce and pork to the slow cooker. Mix well. I suggest serving on kaiser or sesame seed buns with some shredded cheddar cheese. A favorite topping is some sour cream mixed with chive and a little chile powder. It’s easy and really tasty on this bad boy. Serve this up with some potato salad with bacon or some cole slaw. We’re going to make a mean Mustard Slaw to go with these pulled pork sammies, so check back for that recipe. Damn, this is some good food.

Pulled pork sammy with cheese and sour cream. Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold and some tater salad. Photo by Scott Groth