Pulled pork is a North Carolina tradition.
People get mighty opinionated when you bring up the subject, especially if you get an Eastern North Carolinian and a Western North Carolinian in the same room.
Pulled pork is typically made from a pork butt, and while it’s perfectly fine in moderation, it’s definitely not the leanest of meats.
My husband especially, has an affinity for pulled pork. Even though he’s Eastern bred and loves his vinegar based sauce, he is pretty fond of the sweet and smoky Western sauce as well. Brad is basically an equal opportunest when it comes to pulled pork.
He often mentions how much he loves pork…
…and will I please buy some at the store?
…and will I please make it in the slow cooker?
…and will I please make baked apples to go along with it like my mother-in-law does?
This past weekend I said yes to all of these requests and last night we enjoyed barbecue pulled pork with baked apples and caramelized maple brussel sprouts.
How very autumn of us, don’t ya think?
But because a pork tenderloin can feed two people for several meals, we also enjoyed our pulled pork in a way you don’t often see…
…on top of a salad.
Barbecue Pulled Pork (adapted from Jenna’s Saucy Crock Pot Pulled Pork recipe)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8 hours +
Serves: Four 4 oz. portions
1.25 pounds pork tenderloin
sea salt
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (I used Stubb’s Original Sauce)
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Place tenderloin in your crock pot and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Cover with onion. Put barbecue sauce in a bowl and add mustard, pepper, and ginger. Stir to mix well. Pour barbecue sauce with spices over the pork and onions. Turn crock pot on low and allow to cook for at least 8 hours. If you have less time, put crock pot on high and cook for four hours.
Before serving, take two forks and shred the pork by stabbing with one fork and pulling the meat with the other fork until it is completed shredded as pictured above.
Brad and I enjoyed this on Labor Day for lunch with a salad of mixed greens, pea shoots, avocado, red bell pepper, and carrots.
No dressing is required when you’ve got a saucy topping and no bread is required when you have delicious veggies.
And just like that, I’m reminded of the wonderfulness that is the crock pot. I can guarantee you will be seeing more crock pot meals in the near future.
Ironically, I just made a HUGE boston butt for us in the crock! I just used beef broth and a dash of Worschestire sauce. I made sure the meat was almost totally covered with liquid before cooking. After slow cooking all day, I placed it in the fridge to use the next day. I had already trimmed the butt pretty well prior to cooking, it is a fatty meat. The next day after refridgeration all/alot of the fat had surfaced and I was able to remove all I could and then rewarm the meat in the crock! I felt alot better about serving it after this. It was delicious as well–very moist! We have used it in many meals since I cooked it. My husband informed me last night he was getting a little tired of it—so maybe we will skip the pork tacos tonight. Have a great day–E
Sounds delicious! I love making huge batches of things, but often end up putting leftovers in the freezer because we get sick of it.
Love it! Can’t wait to try this. And I love the crock pot thing … please keep the recipes coming
Most definitely! I love my crock pot!
Born & bred in this great state, I never even realized till in my early 20′s that there was BBQ other than, what I now know as, Eastern style. Like your husband, I’m an equal opportunist when it comes to the pork butt but am still partial to the vinegar based Q’s.
The first time I had Eastern barbecue was my senior year in college. I bit into it and said, “something is wrong with this barbecue!” haha.
Thanks for the recipe!
No problem!
Yum! I want that
I always put pulled pork on salads, yum! But unlike you, I make it unhealthy by adding cheese and honey mustard. Oh well
Cheese is one of my favorite foods so if it doesn’t end up on one thing, it’s bound to end up on another.
i LOVE pulled pork! my husband hunts and brought home wild boar…we made a ton of pulled pork and it was pretty darn good!! this recipe looks great!
Wild boar? That’s amazing! I’d love to try that. There’s a restaurant here in Charlotte that serves it but I’ve never had it from a hunter. It’s pretty tasty, but in real life those things scare me to death. They killed Old Yeller, after all.
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