Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 5:43 am
Is Crock Pot Pulled Pork Any Good?
After leaving university I got a job in the South many miles away from my home town so I had to set up my new home. It took me a while to find the place that I wanted but once settled I started about doing it up and making it mine.
My parents were extremely supportive. My father helped with the DIY and my mother helped equip my kitchen. Amongst the many pots and pans that got handed down was a slow cooker and I have to say that it got put in the cupboard and never saw the light of day.
Leading a busy life, it was my first job and I was putting lots of hours in so little time was left for cooking and for sure I didn't leave enough time in a morning to throw some ingredients into the slow cooker so that when I got home something warm was waiting for me.
Looking back, the fashion over the last few years with the advent and coming of age of the TV celebrity chef has been very much fresh ingredients and freshly cooked food so the crock pot really wasn't getting any air time. When I got married that was it, there just simply wasn't enough cupboard space for the crock pot and it was killed and went off to join the other slow cookers in the sky.
But wait! I've now discovered what truly is slow cooker heaven and maybe if I repent by writing this article I may at last be redeemed. I've always been into outdoor grilling and comparatively recently got into the low and slow techniques used by meat smokers and as I've learned more and more about the process it's become clear how the two types of cooking are intertwined.
When you break it down to the essentials, barbecue cooking is all about slow roasting over a long period of time in a humid atmosphere whilst passing smoke over the meat. Now I accept that passing smoke through a crock pot isn't going to happen but the rest of it can, after all what is a crock pot if it isn't a low temperature, humid oven?
Since this revelation I've tried many slow cooker or crock pot barbecue recipes and I have to say that the results are excellent. Certainly when it's winter time, it's freezing cold and the wind is howling I much prefer my barbecue in the slow cooker. I've done slow cooker barbecue pork ribs to great effect but my favorite has to be crock pot barbecue pulled pork because it's just so easy to do.
All you need is a pork shoulder in your crock pot with 4 fluid ounces of water and a good dose of salt and pepper. Stick it on high for an hour, then turn down to low for the next eight hours and you'll end up with true fall off the bone tenderness.
Shred it with a couple of forks or bear paws and serve in a bun with a BBQ coleslaw salad and lashings of your favorite homemade barbecue sauce. Try it, you might just be surprised at how good it really is.
