How Can This Easy Be This Good?

It has been a while since I tried a new recipe. (Did you think I had stopped cooking? Daddy-O was beginning to wonder.) I bought a Boston butt roast—also known as pork shoulder blade roast—a couple of days ago thinking this would be an easy dinner. But for reasons I can't explain, I didn't want to do the usual method that involves bottled barbecue sauce. It's really good that way. I mean like "really good." I still wanted to use the slow cooker, but this time I didn't want it sweet and coated with sauce. There's a lot of Whole 30 talk going on in our family at the moment. I guess I'm more sugar conscious right now.

Nearly every recipe I saw online was a variation of the pulled pork BBQ that I usually make, with onions on the bottom and a bottle of sauce poured over the cooked meat after it's shredded. I've done that a zillion times. Surely there was another way. So I kept looking. Persistence pays off. I came across an even easier recipe.

Two ingredients, in addition to the pork roast. No measuring. No extra liquid. That's it. Not one other thing needed. 

For the record, I also put a chuck roast in the larger crockpot yesterday. It's the 3-Packet Pot Roast that we all like. I'm headed to the big city this weekend to do wedding things with Jessica. So I'm making sure that Daddy-O won't starve while I'm gone.

Last night when I came in from handbell practice about 7:00 PM, I was in a hurry to get supper on the table and I totally forgot to make a photo of the cooked pork. Trust me. It was beautiful. It was falling apart tender. It was moist inside. And it was just as tasty as can be. Most of it was bagged, along with a little cooking liquid, to go into the freezer. (We tasted the pork, but ate the beef roast for supper.) 

I poured the cooking liquid into a measuring cup designed to separate the fat from the broth—the fat rises to the top and the spout pours from the bottom. Remember, liquid added to the bag helps keep the meat moist when frozen,

Delicious. Simple. Oh, happy day! What else could I ask for? 

SLOW COOKED PORK ROAST

Boston butt pork roast 

Worcestershire sauce

McCormick Grill Mates Barbecue dry rub (or dry rub of your choice)

Pat the roast dry. Pour a little Worcestershire sauce all over the roast. Pat the dry rub into the meat, coating all sides. Place in slow cooker. (No liquid needed.) Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, until roast is fork tender.

That's it. I used a small bone-in roast, about 2-1/2 lbs.  That fit nicely into my 3-1/2 qt. slow cooker. The grocery store also had a nice selection of larger roasts that were about 5 lbs. Those would go in a 5 or 6 qt. cooker. 

Late this afternoon I'll get together in town with my knitter friends for a couple of hours to find out what's happened since last week. To hear about what books they've read. To see if anyone has finished a knitting project. To spend time with ladies who have become dear friends. And I'll be one happy knitter when I walk in the door just before supper time because there is beef roast and pork roast, both ready to be heated. No big cooking required tonight. We love leftovers around here. How 'bout you?


PS...These directions are for a Boston butt, which is not as lean as a pork loin or tenderloin. If you use a lean cut of pork like the tenderloin, you might need a little liquid and a shorter cooking time.