Not Another Pulled Pork Recipe!

I was at a loss. Pork loin was on sale. Crazy cheap. But you had to buy the family size. Limit two. Did I mention it was crazy cheap? So I bought two of the family size. I had plenty of room in the freezer. And we eat a LOT of pork around here. But buying a lot of pork for crazy cheap in Oklahoma means you end up with about 47 pounds of pork in your freezer. No lie.

I figure it'll last me all winter.

Anyhow, now I had to figure out something to do with all this pork. I wanted to make just a basic pulled pork in the crock pot with the barbecue sauce and a few onions, but I had no sauce and my roommate was kind enough to make sure to devour all the onions along with virtually every other morsel of food in the house.

So I hit the kitchen and took stock. No, not chicken stock. The roommate got that too.

Sigh.

So that's how this recipe was born. It was a Hail Mary and it just happened to work.

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You're Better off Living Alone Pulled Pork

5 lbs pork loin, bone-in or partially boneless, still frozen

2-3 tsp garlic powder

1 quart water

2 recipes of this copycat of Lipton Onion Soup Mix*

Put all ingredients except for the meat into the slow cooker and give it a stir. It doesn't have to be completely blended, you just don't want any of it dry when you add your roast.

Add meat, cover, and cook on low for about 14-16 hours. Around the 10 hour mark, turn the roast over and put the cover back on.

*If you don't want to make the copycat, you'll need 2-3 packets of the store-bought onion soup mix.

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I kid you not. That's really all there is to it. The secret is low and slow. I am convinced that's why meat that I cook in the crock pot always comes out more tender and flavorful when I begin with it still frozen. It takes longer to cook sometimes, but it's so tender it almost melts in your mouth.

The broth is amazing, more like soup. I've mentioned before I'm not a gravy person, so I think rice pilaf would be a great side for this. However, we served it with baked sweet potatoes, cornbread, and summer squash smothered in onions.

I promised my pal Tony that I would post the rice pilaf recipe too, but I don't have the time right now, so I'll make a note and you can all have it next Sunday instead.

Don't look so sad. Tell you what: as a consolation prize, I'll tell you my plans for the leftover broth, since that's all that was left over.

Again, just dump the broth into the crock pot. If you don't have enough, make up some of the liquid with some canned beef or vegetable broth, or even water. Add your meat. Same deal -- about a 5 pound pork loin, either partially boneless or bone-in, still frozen. (You could even get away with frozen broth.)

Cook it on low for about 8 hours. Turn the meat over, add about 2-3 pounds of mixed frozen vegetables. (Whatever kind you want. I think I'm going to use spinach and whatever bags of veggies are sitting in the freezer half used.) Also, stir in about 2 cups of rice and let it go. Check on it after about 4 hours to see whether the rice is done and/or you need to add more liquid.

Happy Crock Potting!