Barbecue Pulled Pork

We can never go out to eat in a restaurant again. Liam simply will not have it. From the minute we are seated he turns into a snarling, twisted knot of tot that cannot be contained. And while I'm content to ignore his antics, fellow diners may find him... distracting.
So since we're not able to dine out I'm accumulating a nice little stock pile of recipes to turn to when I get the itch. Today's itch was Barbecue.
Here, in North Carolina, that means pulled pork.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Carolina Barbecue: Eastern style and Western or 'Lexington' style. The differences between the two range from the type and amount of sauce, the cut of the meat and even accompanying slaw. I'm not concenered, so much, with the latter two. Its the sauce that really makes or breaks BBQ for me. Which is why I'm a Western style gal, myself. Eastern is basically the meat and the teeniest bit of vinegar based sauce. And whenever I find myself eating it, I also find myself, very discretely, looking around for bottle of Texas Pete or KC Masterpiece. Which is probably a crime punishable by death in some parts of the state.

Right or wrong I like barbecue on my, ahem, barbecue.

This recipe is adapted from my friend Donna's recipe. I get by with a little help from my friends.

Here is what you will need:

2 lbs Pork roast, trimmed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons smokey paprika
2 Tablespoons crushed red pepper
1 Tablespoon onion flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder


**If you do not have all the spices in your spice cabinet, McCormick makes a slow cooker packet which is almost identical to this recipe.




I had never tried Smithfield before, but hey if its good enough for Paula Deen...

I love Paula Deen.

Out of the package, rinse the roast

and with a sharp knife trim away the excess fat.

Place the roast in the slow cooker.

mix together: Paprika, garlic powder,

Crushed red pepper,

and onion flakes

cover the roast with the spice rub.

Now drop in the brown sugar,

Ketchup and vinegar.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. I ended up doing a combination for about 6 hours.


Remove from the slow cooker.




If the meat pulls away easily from the roast its finished cooking.




Using two forks, pull the meat from the roast.

Once all the meat is shredded return the the slow cooker


and coat with remaining sauce. I let it sit in the slow cooker for another 10 minutes to warm it back up again before serving.

BBQ pulled pork with melty cheddar on a potato bun with green beans.

I'm one happy girl, y'all.