cravings and withdrawals

I've been going through withdrawals of sorts. I haven't been getting my daily ration of pork intake. Of course, I can't find any whey-fed pork around here. I had to make do with second best. I went to Guerra's Meats on Taraval, my favorite local butcher and asked for a pork shoulder roast. One big enough for two people and plenty of leftovers. My butcher cut a nice hunk off of a huge roast and wrapped it up for me.

I took it home and pulled out the crock pot. I'm not set up to smoke a pork shoulder for 10 hours on the grill, but I can certainly cook it in the crock pot for 10 to 12 hours. The key to cooking a good pork shoulder is to cook it slow and low. The crock pot does just that. I prepared a rub for the meat to get some flavor into the roast. I rubbed it all over the meat and set the meat in the slow cooker. I turned it on low and walked away.

I actually wound up cooking the shoulder for 16 hours on low. When I checked it in the morning, it was perfect. The rub had cooked into the meat, and the meat just dissolved under my test fork. Oh boy! I let the roast cool for an hour and then put it in the fridge. About two hours before dinner time, I pulled it out of the fridge and reheated it on high in the crock pot again.

I made a batch of coleslaw, hushpuppies, and fried potatoes to go with it. When we were ready to eat, I carefully pulled the roast out of the pot, got my meat cleaver, and began to chop. I was amazed. It looked exactly like the barbecue I ate in North Carolina! I opened up a bottle of barbecue sauce that I carried home from North Carolina and dressed the pulled/chopped pork on the plate. I took a bite. Heaven! I was really pleased with my results. The smoked paprika in the rub was the key. I'll be making this again.

Here's my recipe:

Sarah's Carolina BBQ Pork (crock pot)
Serves 4

2-3# pork shoulder roast (a.k.a. Boston Butt roast)
1 Tbs smoked paprika
1 Tbs brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
* ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Carolina BBQ sauce to taste(I use D&R Ole Timey Barbecue Sauce, dist. By Rogers Cooking Service, Franklinville, NC 27248. He's known for his excellent Pig Pickin's.)

• Mix dry ingredients to form rub.
• Rub blended ingredients into roast.
• Place roast in crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours.
• Pork is done when fork tender.
• Remove roast from slow cooker and chop with a cleaver when ready to serve, not ahead of time.
• Dress chopped pork with North Carolina style barbecue sauce and serve warm with hushpuppies and coleslaw.
• Can be made ahead and reheated when ready to serve.
  
• Can also be served on a hamburger bun topped with coleslaw for a Carolina Barbecue Sandwich. Yum!