Sibling Cutlery

Some of my favorite foods are also insanely easy to make. This is one of them. Not much more to say, really. Tender pork, barbecue sauce, fresh roll. Porky nirvana. Sure, the gourmet in me demands pulled pork be crafted with homemade sauce, top secret rub, and slow-cooked all day in hardwood smoke. But this is almost as good as the real thing, takes 10 minutes to toss together, and fills your house with amazing aromas all day while you watch football.

Ingredients. Only three. Key things to look for in a pork rub: chipotle, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I like a sweeter barbecue sauce for sandwiches and a more vinegary sauce for eating it straight up.

Rinse the pork and apply the rub liberally. It’s called rub for a reason – no namby-pamby sprinkling will do.

Pop the loin in your slow cooker for 6-8 hours on low till it looks like this. It should be starting to lose structural integrity by this point (you should be able to pull it apart with a fork, because, you know, that’s the next step).

Pull the pork apart with between the tines of two forks.

Mmmm, pork.

Douse with your favorite sauce and place back in the slow cooker on high until the sauce is heated through.

Slap on a bun and chow down.  One of the great things about this is that it’s just as good as leftovers (you could probably freeze it too), so make a bunch. You will want seconds. Also thirds, but you should really stop at some point.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1. ~2 lbs. pork loin or shoulder roast
2. BBQ rub
3. BBQ sauce (~16 oz)
4. Bakery rolls (optional)

Rinse your roast, pat dry, then rub liberally with BBQ rub. Really rub it into the meat. Place in slow cooker and cook on low for ~6 hours, until meat begins to fall apart under gentle pressure. Slow cookers can vary in their temperature, so until you have a good handle on yours, keep an eye on your meat to ensure it doesn’t dry out (Normally there is enough fat on the roast that it should be plenty moist unless you really overdo it).

Remove roast from the slow cooker, and, using the tines of two forks, pull the meat apart. It should fall apart into bite-sized shreds along its natural grain. Do this methodically until all meat is pulled apart. Place back into slow cooker, and add sauce to taste. Toss together and leave in the slow cooker on high until the sauce is heated through, ~15-20 minutes. Serve on sliced rolls.

Serves ~6