I roasted a chicken a few Sundays back. It was amazing. Lick your fingers, devour more, and lick your fingers again. Cross your wet fingers and hope there will be enough for leftovers. Think again about trying to convince Mark to leave his awesome new engineering job and open a cafe with me.
But, in the process of roasting that beautiful butterflied bird, making caulimash, steamed greens, and reduction sauce two things happened:
1. 1 1/2 hours went by – now I love cooking and had a blast doing so, but that is a lot of time to devote to one meal! At least when I am not cooking with the kids.
2. I made the kitchen miserably hot – go outside (in summer) come back in and feel that wall of heat.
Sniffle. We’ll meet again roasted chicken in a few months.
In the meantime I am trying to be smart, and keep the oven use to a minimum. I cook enough that I can’t not use it, but I batch roast and am using the crock pots and stove tops most of the time.
An added bonus of the crock pot is just how easy the meals are — especially this one.
1. Mix together a blend of sweet, smokey, earthy, and rich spices.
2. Season pork with said rub and liquid smoke.
3. Put in crock put.
4. Plug in crock pot.
5. Turn on crock pot.
6. Set crock pot.
7. Move away from crock pot.
8. Realize dinner is practically done… hours before you need it to be.
Only 8 steps.
Now, if you need something to do with all the time saved might I suggest playing peek-a-boo?
Or snapping photos of your daughter who got all dressed up for some.
Or…
After the smells from the pork and the spices have teased you all day you just need to make the BBQ sauce.
Now I am a firm believer in not wasting flavor, and what is left after you take out that tender pork? Loads of liquid flavor. Pour that out into your blender, add a few other ingredients (dates to thicken and sweeten, fish sauce for some umami, and tomato paste) and whirl away.
Quickly shred the pork and mix with the sauce. You can serve however you want, we did it over cauli-rice in lettuce wraps with coleslaw and garnished with thin slices garlic scrapes (I would use chives but my daughter can’t have onion). Enjoy!
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- 3 lb Boston Butt Pork Roast
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 2½ teaspoon granulated)
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
- For the sauce:
- ½ cup very packed pitted dates
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- Plain or ginger Kombucha or water to thin (I used ginger kombucha)
- Mix together the spices. Sprinkle on all sides of the pork roast. Put it in a 6 quart crock pot. Sprinkle the liquid smoke over it. Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low (I prefer high).
- Once done, remove the pork and set aside. Drain off as you can from the liquid (save for another use, such as tossing on steamed broccoli). Put the liquid in a blender with everything but the kombucha/water. Blend adding water/kombucha if needed to get a smooth BBQ sauce (amount depends on how much juice was in the crock pot). Slowly add to the meat until the meat is well coated.
If you make this I would love if you shared on instagram and tagged #worthcooking so I can see.
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