Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
I’m trying my hand at slow cooker pulled pork. This is the first time I’ve done this so we’ll have to see how it goes. First off, I referenced these two pulled pork recipes: Shutterbean’s slow cooker pulled pork and the easy oven pulled pork. I pulled the slow cooker style from shutter bean but went with the flavoring found at serious eats.
It’s cooking right now on low. I’m going to check on it in 4 hours, then flip it over and maybe cook it for another 4… overnight.
I made a rub for it. Cumin, garlic powder, paprika, white sugar, fresh ground pepper, kosher salt. I rubbed this on a 2 pound pork shoulder/butte. I bought this cut of meat in a 5 pound version with the bone in it. That was the original size, but it doesn’t fit in my slow cooker. So I butchered it down to 2 pounds without the bone. I did that this morning and rubbed it down also with salt and pepper before refrigerating for the afternoon.
So, after I applied the light rub, I decided to sear it just like the serious eats version. I did this on my stovetop in my trusty dutch oven. I only took it to 2-3 minutes a side until they developed some cover.
I prepped the slow cooker. I chopped up an 1 1/2 onions and laid some in the slow cooker. My slow cooker is taller than it is wide. I also chopped up some garlic. I threw it in the slow cooker like the onions and turned the cooker on high to begin the slow, slow heating up.
When the meat was slightly seared, I transferred it to the slow cooker. I poured in about 16 oz of store bought, low sodium chicken broth enough to cover half the meat. I then poured a little more into my dutch oven to deglaze whatever was burnt onto it. I poured this liquid onto the meat in the slow cooker. I then added 1/2 teaspoon of some liquid smoke and 3 bay leaves. The bay leaves I put in because if bay leaves are good enough for pork adobo it should be good enough for pulled pork. I finally covered the rest of the meat with a little more onions and garlic.
Cross your fingers that this turns out edible.
