Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Pullt pork

Spring term is winding down, so finally I have time/energy to think about cooking again. We had a party the other night, and we made this recipe. It's so simple it's hardly a recipe, but it sure is tasty. I got it out of a slow-cooker recipe book that Akiko got me for Christmas.

Ingredients:
pork shoulder roast
1 or 2 bottles barbecue sauce of your choice
1 onion, chopped
buns or rolls

1. Cut any twine holding the roast together. Put the roast in your slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours.

2. Take the roast out, put it in a dish, and shred it with two forks. Discard the juice that has collected in the bottom of the slow cooker.

3. Put the shredded pork back in the slow cooker. Add the chopped onion, pour the barbecue sauce over it, and mix. Cook on low for 2 more hours.

4. Stir. Serve.

Amounts: We were feeding 12 people. I used a 3.5 pound roast, and that was just right. We had none left over, and nobody left hungry. For that amount of roast I used all of one bottle of sauce (18 oz), plus about a third of another. That seemed right, too - but then, we like our pulled pork sloppy.

For sauce, of course everybody has their own preference, and if you're serious you'll probably make your own. Someday I'm going to try that, but for now I used Stubb's Honey Pecan. Perfect for pulled pork.

We served this with Akiko's potato salad, which disappeared very quickly, and some cole slaw that we got at the supermarket. That was because I realized that, as much as I love cole slaw, I've never actually made it.

Anybody have a good cole slaw recipe?

One of our guests was one of Akiko's grad students, and her back story is surprisingly similar to Dad's. Her mom's from Mississippi, but she was raised here in Oregon. She was telling us the difference between the "pullt" pork (real slow-cooked, barbecue-sauced stuff) that her Southern relations eat and the "pulled" pork (not soft enough, not flavorful enough) that she gets here. She (only a bit reluctantly) pronounced this recipe "pullt" enough. So, we were pleased.