Pork, It's What's For Lunch...and Dinner...and Leftovers

On Monday mornings, I often regale my coworkers with tales of my culinary excursions from the weekend, much to their pure joy I'm sure.  As I am a single and live alone (hopefully there's no serial killers following Grapes With Dinner) I'm usually bringing leftovers in for anyone who wants to sample.  This particular Monday I decided that samples wouldn't cut it and that the perfect cure for a case of the Mondays was some pulled pork sandwiches for the house.

Slow cooker pulled pork is one of the best things going if you ask me...nothing like set it and forget it cooking that brings accolades of your mastery to boost one's ego.  My BFF, Jeanne, makes a honey of pulled pork in the slow cooker and I use a little of what she's done over the years along with my own touches, recipe below.

What to pair it with you ask?  Good question...pulled pork is tricky.  I say throw caution to the wind, go forward without abandon and drink whatever the hell you want (I mean that's what you should really always do anyway, life is short my friends).  I would choose a bourbon or a beer myself, but if you're stuck on wine go with a light crisp white that's maybe a little effervescent like a Vino Verdhe (Portugese and delicious while extremely easy on the wallet, it's a no lose situation).

Pulled Pork:

5 lb boneless pork butt shoulder

1 and 1/2 tsp paprika

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

A couple big scoops of brown sugar

Some ketchup...sometimes I use this, sometimes I don't depending on if I have enough...just squeeze in a few healthy globs of it

Cook it all on low in the slow cooker for 8 hours or on high for 4 and fork shred it when it's done.  Serve this on soft rolls (potato or hamburger is my usual go to bun)

Amongst the above mentioned coworkers is one individual that recently took a disappointing spin on the dance floor with some country pork ribs.  Although this particular colleague likes to poke fun at my lack of participation in the world of technology (I'm a bit of a purist) being the nice person I am I wanted to include Dave's tried and true recipe for ribs in this post.

Enjoy Brian!

Dave's Slow Roasted Country Ribs:

2 racks of pork baby back ribs

Kosher or Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Paprika

Chili Powder

Mix about a teaspoon of each spice with a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Rub the ribs all over with this mixture and let sit while you preheat your oven to 250. Place the ribs on a lightly oiled sheet pan and roast in the oven for about 2 hours, you want them to be tender but not totally falling off the bone. From there remove the ribs and brush with bbq sauce. Turn the broiler on in your oven and broil the ribs until they caramelize a little and the sauce sticks to them a bit. Watch these carefully as you don't want to burn them, just give them a little color and that won't take long. 

Before serving, brush again with BBQ sauce and then serve more sauce (and lots of napkins) on the side. 

There are so many BBQ sauce recipes out there but here’s an old one that we like very much and is so easy your pet pot belly pig could make it (assuming he wouldn't know what it would be used for).

½ cup cider vinegar

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

 1 tbsp dry mustard

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp paprika

Tsp salt

Tsp: cayenne

1 cup ketchup

2 minced garlic cloves

½ a medium onion minced

Sautee onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes. Stir the remaining ingredients into the pot and cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes until thickened nicely. As Porky Pig would say himself, that's all folks!

Again...beer, bourbon, wine...your grandmother's brandy...whatever knocks your socks off, it's a free for all.

Sending our regards to Porky,

Dave and Trish