It's All About the Food ~ Pat D's Easy Pulled Pork

Here in New England the Arctic cold spells have treated us with some of the lowest temperatures we’ve had in a long time.  There have been some snow storms and I tend to hibernate in this weather.  I will say it’s really kicked myself in gear to do some straightening out.  But mainly, it’s been all about the food, which I must say is not good for the weight loss goals!

A Facebook friend posted a request for crock pot recipes as she had just purchased her first one.  Pulled pork was a suggestion, so I googled recipes.  I was thinking that sounded like a good dinner for us as well.  Pulled pork is pretty basic but I poured over dozens of recipe variations which included cooking it with root beer, using vinegar, chicken broth, water, even a brine solution as well as just cooking it in BBQ sauce.  Mostly all the recipes I read called for using a pork shoulder.

When a mutual friend responded to the post and shared her recipe for pulled pork, I decided to try it.  It was super easy and sounded so good I had to try it.  It WAS so good and became a giant hit in my house!  I made an oil and vinegar based cole slaw (dairy, egg free) and my boys especially loved it!  The pulled pork and cole slaw recipes are dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut free.  

PAT D’s Easy Pulled Pork

Pork Butt With Bone (I used one approximately 5 pounds)

2 bottles of beer

1 large onion chopped

BBQ sauce to taste 

(I used 1 1/2 bottles as my kids like a lot of BBQ sauce)

Cole Slaw (my recipe below)

Chop a large sweet onion and lay on the bottom of the crockpot.  Put the pork shoulder on top of the onions.  Pour two bottles of beer over the pork shoulder.

Cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.  I actually cooked about 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low and I turned the meat over about 1/2 way through to make sure the beer got to every bit of it!

Remove the meat from the crockpot and shred, removing fat and bone.  Strain the liquid out.  Put the shredded meat and strained onions back in the crockpot. Add BBQ sauce and cook an extra 1/2 hour to an hour until sauce is heated through.

Cole Slaw (no Mayo)

1 package of cole slaw mix  16 oz

1/8 cup minced or finely chopped onion

1/3 cup of red vinegar

2 packets of trivia (or sugar)

1/3 cup of canola oil

celery salt, salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the red wine vinegar and sugar, then add oil.  Pour over the cole slaw mix and season to taste with celery salt, salt and pepper.  Mix well, refrigerate and stir again after 30 minutes.  Stir before serving.   (if it's too dry for you, add a little more oil and vinegar).

Would love your feedback!

Bon Appetit!