Pulled Pork In My Slow Cooker

So on the recommendation of Mike Hoff, I decided to go out and buy a slow cooker. There was Black Friday deal on it for only $20 so I had to pull the string. I am eating more unhealthy than ever right now so I figured why not. It would be a great way for me to cook pulled pork, beef stew, and chili; all favorites of mine.

I scoured the internet for different pulled pork recipes. I did the same for beef stew recipes … I am making it next. I found all kinds of different recipes so I decided to combine some to make my own. This is what I did.

Ingredients:

1. 4.5 pounds of Pork shoulder roast
2. 1 sliced onion
3. Tiger hot sauce
4. Sweet Bay Ray’s Original BBQ sauce
5. 3/4 cup of water
6. Honey

I started out by putting a layer of sliced onions at the bottom of the greased slow cooker. I then put in the massive piece of pork. I put the rest of the onions on top of the roast. I combined 1.5 cups of BBQ sauce with 3/4 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of hot sauce, and 2 tablespoons of honey. I stirred the mixture together and poured on top of the roast. I set to the cooker to low on a 10 hour timer and left for work.

I was struggling with a couple things in the process. For one, I didn’t really feel that comfortable leaving it on while I was at work since it was the first time I was using it so I am glad my house did not burn down. My other issue was if it was going to cook correctly without burning. This is why I added the BBQ sauce and water. I contemplated adding more water to hopefully distribute the heat. Some people said they didn’t add any sauce or water while others filled the pot 2/3rds of the way so I compromised. I figured it wouldn’t cook at all if I did no sauce. I asked around at work afterward and I was told that you don’t need to add any fluid because the piece of meat will release water as it cooks.

But back to the cooking portion. Upon getting home, I took the roast out of the slow cooker to break it up. It was a big piece and falling apart so it was hard to get it out. I added more sauce to the slow cooker plus some more onions. I broke up pork with a fork then put it back in the cooker for 30 minutes. I unfortunately did not get any pictures after I broke it up but it broke apart great.

The end product tasted pretty good. I might cook it a little different next time. I have found in past barbecuing experiences that Sweet Baby Ray’s is not good BBQ sauce for slow baking. I think it has too many sugars in it so it comes out loosing a lot of its good taste. I would probably try cooking it without BBQ sauce or maybe try a different sauce. I tried some more a couple hours later and it was amazing. I think the BBQ sauce and some time to solidify and made it even better.

I cooked beef stew that following night. It was awesome. I woke up to a house smelling great. Nothing like eating stew for breakfast. It was just like my dad makes which is a plus.