Slowwww Cookin'

It seems like these days, my weeks drag on and weekends fly by. With so much to do on Saturday, I knew I had to whip up something easy since I was having company over. When thinking about what on earth would be the easiest thing possible, I remembered that 5 years ago, my mother gave me a crock pot from 1980-something. Having never used it, and being on a "try something new" kick, I figured it was a clear sign: Slow cooked pulled-pork!

The only downside to this plan was, I slept in and had to search for a recipe that could be cooked on high for a shorter time. After flipping through my Better Home and Garden cookbook, I found an interesting pulled pork recipe with a root beer sauce. I had some challenges with this toward the end of cooking, but overall - the meal was tasty! (Especially serving it with baked beans and slaw!)


Recipe:
1 - 3 pound pork butt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsps olive oil
2 medium onions, cut into thin wedges
1 cup root beer (NOT diet)
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups root beer
1 cup bottled chili sauce
8 to 10 hamburger buns

1) Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut meat to fit into a 3.5 to 5 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown meat on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat. Transfer meat to cooker. Add onion, the 1 cup of root beer, and the garlic.
2) Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat for 4 to 5 hours. (I cooked mine for four and one half hours on high.)
3) Meanwhile, for sauce, in a saucepan stir together 3 cups root beer and the chili sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2 cups.
4) Transfer meat to a cutting board or serving platter. Using two forks, pull meat apart into shreds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer onion to serving platter; discard cooking juices. Place shredded meat and onion on rolls. Drizzle meat with some of the root beer sauce.

Unfortunately, my grocery store only had Oriental Hot Chili Sauce. Even after putting in less chili sauce then advised, my root beer sauce was a bit too hot for me. I did a little substituting, and heated up some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. I still poured a little root beer sauce over the BBQ sauce though, and combined with the Sweet Baby Ray's, it was delicious!

*Also, I have to apologize for the picture. Since I had friends over and was so excited to eat that I didn't really consider the fact that you can't even see the meat in this image. Oops!