Pulled Pork in the Crockpot

The house smells like a barbeque pit. I made one of our favorite dishes early, we'll eat it over the weekend. I love this because now I have dinner ready for both Saturday and Sunday. And if for some reason we've not polished it off after two nights, I can freeze the rest. I'm going to try to always do crockpot meals on the weekends (chili, soup, stew) It is nice to have the free time to relax instead of cooking and doing so many dishes. We usually have a big breakfast on Sundays, so that is all the cooking I want to do anyway. And I also try to do some cooking ahead every few weekends to have meals on hand for those crazy nights when I can't even think about "what's for dinner".

This is a fantastically easy recipe from Recipezaar which I adapted to the crockpot. And it is yummy. Here's the full recipe (it is slow cooked in the oven)

1 whole pork butt (I hate that term, but it is what it is, and it is yummy) It should be a good sized one - they are a large roast, and not too cheap, but you'll have enough to feed quite a crowd. Make sure it will fit in your crockpot - I have an extra large crockpot so it just fits fine.

Make the Rub
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (easy to find in the aisle with all the other sugars, and not too expensive)
2 tablespoons salt (I put in a little less, fix to taste and blood pressure tolerance!)
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all of the ingredients well and rub this all over the roast - all sides and use all of the rub. If you want you can let this "marinate" for overnight - I never plan that far ahead so put on the rub and throw that butt in the crockpot. I put it on High for the 1st hour. Then I turn it down to Low for about 8-10 more hours. The house will smell divine. Then, when you think it is done, check before lifting it out of the crock pot - just take a fork and see if the meat falls off the bone. It should just fall right off if it is ready. I've tried to do this in less than 8 hours and it just won't work - so make sure it is really falling off the bone tender before you try to serve this. If it is, start lifting out the meat (and some juice) onto a serving platter - one that wells enough so the juice stays on the platter. Use two forks to "pull" the meat - just keep separating it until it is all shredded - setting aside the bone of course. Now get your favorite barbecue sauce. There are tons of recipes for barbecue sauces, but I am in love with BullsEye Original - it is so good I don't see the need to try to make one on my own. So I take my bottle of sauce and start mixing it and tossing it with the meat - adding how much you want according to taste. Serve this on lightly toasted buns with a side of cold fresh cole slaw (something else I don't make but prefer to buy at the store!) Actually if it was my choice I'd just have a cucumber salad on the side, but in the Carolina's I've already broken the sacred barbecue rule by not using the "vinegar" based sauce - which I hate - so I won't push the cole slaw issue. Some people actually put the cole slaw on top of the pulled pork on the bun...go figure. Anywho - this is what we'll be dining on this weekend. Yee haw!

Celebrating Gordon's Birthday

Three years ago from this moment I clearly remember...I was desperate for an epidural! Gordon was born at 1:57 AM on 11/10, it was a LOOOOONG labor - we'd checked in and started the induction on 11/8.

Tonight we had our little celebration - since the party got cancelled. I made a cake - my homely attempt - no one submit it to Cake Wrecks please! The damage to the sides will be explained shortly...

While I was cooking dinner Gordon saw the cake on the dining room table - I told him not to touch it. He was so excited - starting singing Happy Birthday To Me and I thought he was just looking at it...how silly of me. It got a little quiet so I quickly popped around the corner to see that he'd taken the remote control part of his new remote control car and stuck it into the side of the cake and smeared the frosting off and was busy licking it off the remote! Of course I couldn't get mad - I had to just take a picture, and then take the remote away and ban him from the dining room (but I left the frosting on his nose and cheeks as evidence!)

He LOVED his cake - made me glad I just made one instead of spending money on one, he didn't seem to mind my sloppy frosting job! I used a photo frame I had with Goofy as a cake topper. I have one more birthday gift to give him, but I'm waiting until tomorrow - he has to have one thing to open on his actual birthdate!

Blogger Char!

I'm here! Sorry I'm late...I've been meaning to blog but just kept putting it off. Then somehow I got hooked on reading a few, and then I thought: shouldn't the rest of the world be subjected to my thoughts and opinions and wit too? I always do like to get the last word...just ask my family and friends.

Dinner calls...I've got fresh green beans from the garden so decided to try this as a side - mainly because I had everything already and it used the crock pot so I'm using the oven for a 7 lb turkey breast that I'm going to roast and then later to turn my impossibly enormous zucchini into a delectable loaf of this...hope the power stays on, we're having a severe thunderstorm right now :) but I love those summer storms! And lately the fireflies have made the backyard look like a gazillion little miniature flash bulbs going off in a concert hall! Ahhh summer!