Ah, the lazy days of summer wind down to their inevitable end this Labor Day weekend. As we say goodbye to ice cream-flavored days and sunset-colored evenings let’s enjoy the last summer holiday weekend with some crazy delicious pulled pork. Sound good? I thought so.
Sure, we could slow smoke or BBQ a big ole hunk of pork but I really don’t want to spend Labor Day laboring over a fire. It’s too hot to mess with that and besides, while most of the country is putting their BBQs away for the season, we can BBQ year-round here in the desert.
This holiday calls for something practically labor-free. Something we can throw in the crockpot in the morning, enjoy the day and have a fantastic supper waiting for us in the evening.
It’s time to pull out the easiest pulled pork recipe known to mankind. All you need is a pork roast, a bottle of good root beer (stick with me here, your pork won’t taste like root beer, I promise) and your favorite BBQ sauce. See? Three ingredients.
Root Beer Pulled Pork
Time: 5 minutes prep, 8 to 10 hours to cook. Yield: 8 -12 servings
What You’ll Need:
4 to 6 pound pork roast – how big is your crockpot?
1 (12 oz.) bottle or can of root beer – not diet!
1 bottle BBQ sauce – you won’t use it all
Here’s How:
Place pork roast in your lightly greased crock pot. Pour the root beer over the roast. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. You want the pork to be falling-apart tender. When you can easily shred it with a fork, it’s done. Remove the pork to a cutting board. Drain and discard the root beer. Shred the pork with two forks, removing any unwanted fat, and return it to the crockpot. Add BBQ sauce to your taste. Keep it warm in the crockpot until ready to serve. Delish!
You can serve this wonderful stuff over cornbread, polenta or cheesy grits. Or use it to fill a quesadilla or burrito. But my personal favorite is to serve a generous portion on a toasted bun
(Hawaiian rolls are ridiculously good with this) with coleslaw right on the sandwich. Add some corn on the cob, a few tomato slices and you have a proper salute to end of summer cuisine.
You can use pork loin, which can be quite expensive or do as I do and use pork shoulder butt roast. That’s the cut that’s sold vacuum-wrapped and goes on sale once in a while for $1.99 a pound. I suggest you buy a couple and freeze them when the price is right.
Why root beer? Root beer acts almost like a brine. The water and sugar are absorbed into the meat, tenderizing it and the flavors in root beer, sassafras, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon, licorice and honey complement the pork beautifully. The root beer adds a subtle sweetness and
complexity to the pork that partners with BBQ sauce to make this really melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious. Happy Labor Day weekend!
Fabulous Food contributed by Patti Diamond from Divas On A Dime – Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous! www.divasonadime.com Join us on Facebook at DivasOnADimeDotCom.