Crockpot Pulled Pork

Liat is a med student.  She’s in her third year, and doing rotations, which means she leaves home at 4:15am and returns at 9pm.  What should a person do about food with such a crazy schedule?  Liat discovered the crockpot.When I saw the recipe below, I immediately thought of her.

  • 2 tsp smoked Spanich paprika
  • 2 tsp kosher salt, divided
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 3 lbs. bone in pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed
  • Pam spray
  • ½ cup chicken stock
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 3 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • ½ cup apricot preserves
  • 2 cups thinly sliced red onion
  • 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup bourbon
  • 2 tbsp. cold water
  • 2 tsp. cornstarch

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat.  Rub seasonings on the pork, using 1 tsp of salt.  Spray the pan with Pam, add pork and cook for 10 minutes, browning on all sides.  Place pork in 6 quarts slow cooker.  Add stock and next four ingredients (up to the preserves to the skillet.  Bring to a boil, scraping the pan to loosen brown bits.  Pour mixture over the pork and top with sliced onion and garlic.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 ½ hours.  Remove pork from pan, reserving liquid.  Pork should be very tender.  Shred it with two forks and add the onion to it.  Defat the reserved liquid (I use a defatting measuring cup).  Stir in bourbon and cook until mixture is reduced to 1 ½ cups.  Add cornstarch and cold water mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Check seasoning.  Drizzle sauce over the pork.

 You can add heat to the sauce before serving by adding more red pepper flakes, or make it more tomato-ey by adding ¼ cup tomato puree to the mixture before you start cooking.

 This recipe appears in Cooking Light, July 2014 issue.  I revised it slightly.