BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches - Sloooow Cooked in Your Crock Pot

Pellerin's Note:

The aroma that will fill your house is ALMOST as delicious as the tender shreds smokey, Bar-b-Que flavored pork shoulder. Serve on warmed potato hamburger buns, with your best coleslaw!

• Total Time: 10 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 16

Yield: 16.0 cups

MEAT

• 4 -6 lbs pork shoulder (aka "Boston Butt", NOT loin. Have your butcher tie it for you, you want the STRINGY SHOULDER!)
• 1/4 cup Emeril's Original Essence (or your other favorite BBQ rub mixture.)

SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I like fire-roasted)
• 1/2 cup ketchup (Heinz)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

THICKENER

• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 (14 ounce) can low sodium beef broth

Directions:

1. Spread seasoning run liberally over all meat. Place rubbed roast into a large Zip-Lock plastic bag. Chill overnight, or at least several hours. Recommend you make sauce at the same time, so it's ready to go the next day.
2. Preheat regular oven to 225, or crock pot to medium/low.
3. In a large, heavy Dutch oven, heat oil to medium. Brown the seasoned roast until all sides are caramelized. Remove excess fat. Combine all SAUCE ingreadients, and pour over meat. Cover and cook for 8 - 10 hours.
4. Remove meat from pan. Place on large plat and cover with foil until cool enough to handle. Whilie meat is cooling, combine the cornstarch and beef broth with a fork, to remove lumps. Add this thickening agent to the sauce in the pan, to creat the BBQ sauce. Bring to a gentle boil, without the lid, and simmer until thickened. Taste for seasonings.
5. When meat is cool, shred meat by pulling with a fork. Add meat to sauce, and discared any fat and butcher's twine. Simmer approximately 30 minutes to let flavors meld. Serve as a sandwich on warm potato hamburger buns with coleslaw &/or potato salad. Many people like the slaw ON the sandwich. Freezes well.

Reviews

[Chef #248918]

I had a craving for pulled pork today and decided to try this recipe. I concocted my own rub using sweet paprika, chile flakes, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and Goya Adobo with Cumin. I used a bone-in shoulder and trimmed off as much skin as I could. I forgot to brown it before putting it in the crock-pot, but I don't think it made too much of a difference. I only had about 1/2 T of liquid smoke, it definitely needed the full 1 1/2 T that the recipe calls for. The sauce is delicious, not too tangy, not too sweet. I actually omitted the part with the beef broth and cornstarch, I thought the sauce was thick enough without it. If anyone has any suggestions for removing the fat that's left in the sauce I would appreciate it, it always becomes a time-comsuming process for me. Great recipe, I am bringing some to my mom's tomorrow for her to try.

[#1 Snowflake]

We used this recipe for a community function. We had 20 lb of cooked pork roast and decided to serve it as pulled pork. We made the sauce and adjusted the amount for the amount of meat we had and added 5 cups of sauted thinly sliced onions and 5 cups of chopped celery. We mixed it with the pork and refrigerated it overnight. The next day we put it in the oven at 325 and cooked it for 4 hours. It was wonderful served on large kaiser buns!!