Simmering Saturdays: Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 5-7 lb pork butt / pork shoulder, bone in, fat cap on (Note 1)
- 1 cup beer, apple cider or apple juice (Note 2)
RUB:
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp paprika powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
BBQ SAUCE:
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar (Note 3)
- 3 cups tomato ketchup
- 1 cup water (or use remaining beer!)
- 3 tbsp molasses , original (not blackstrap, Note 4)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 tsp mustard powder
- 3 tsp garlic powder
- 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp Tabasco or cayenne pepper (optional, for spiciness)
Instructions
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Mix the Rub together, then rub all over the pork.
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Place in a slow cooker, pour over beer. Slow cook on low for 10 hours. Pork should be tender enough to easily shred.
BROWNING IN OVEN (OPTIONAL, RECOMMENDED):
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Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Transfer from slow cooker into a roasting pan (reserve liquid).
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Scoop fat off surface of juices in slow cooker and drizzle over pork (about 1/3 cup), then roast pork for 20 minutes.
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Remove from oven, cut thick layer of fat off top and discard. Spoon over 1/4 cup fat from slow cooker juices, then roast 15 minutes.
SHREDDING:
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Shred pork using 2 forks. Pour over BBQ sauce, toss gently.
BARBECUE SAUCE:
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Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until thickened.
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Add 3/4 – 1 cup of juices from slow cooker until sauce is syrup consistency.
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Adjust to taste: sweetness with brown sugar / honey, salt and sour with vinegar. Use per recipe.
Recipe Notes:
1. Pork – Pork Butt (aka Boston Butt) or pork shoulder are the best for this recipe. They are nicely marbled with fat and need to be slow cooked in order to become tender enough to shred with little effort. Get bone in (pork butt almost always is, shoulder is sometimes not). Leave the thick layer of fat because it does all sorts of wonderful things to the meat as it slow cooks (it self bastes!).
If it’s got skin, best to remove if you can (so spice can infuse better) BUT not the tend of the world if you don’t.
2. Liquid – Braising liquid for flavor infusion. Any beer other than dark beers like stout and Guinness. Hard or non alcoholic cider is also terrific (or pear cider). For non alcoholic, apple juice is my favorite. Emergency fallback: just use water.
3. Vinegar – white wine or champagne vinegar also works well here. Plain white vinegar can also be used but reduce by 1 tbsp as it is a bit sharper.
