Barbecue Pulled Porked Sliders

It's football season - it's fall - it's getting cold outside. Comfort food is much needed this weekend.

We were gifted a slow cooker from our wedding registry, and I've been DYING to use it - I love this thing! The first thing I did with it was make this pulled pork. It's super simple to make - the pork just has to sit in the slow cooker for hours. Once it's done you just "pull" it apart. The barbecue sauce and blue cheese coleslaw is probably the more difficult part of this meal! The barbecue sauce is made from scratch, it had a tangy, spicy taste, which goes well with the pork. The coleslaw adds a great texture and lightness to the sliders.

If you have left overs, you can keep it refrigerated for a few days, or you can be creative and make pulled pork hash and eggs for breakfast!

Ingredients: Serves about 4-6

• Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt - about 3.25 lbs
• 1/2 Can of Root Beer
• Sea Salt
• Cracked Pepper
• Slider Buns (or normal size buns)

Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 of Slice of Bacon
• 1 Bunch Fresh Thyme
• 1/2 Vidalia Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 2 Cups of Ketchup
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tbs Liquid Smoke
• 2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 tbs Spicy Brown Mustard
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Paprika
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• Cracked Black Pepper

Pulled Pork:

Rinse the pork butt and pat dry. Cut off the excess fat. Season with lots of salt and pepper.

 Put the pork in the slow cooker (or crock pot), and pour in the root beer. Cook on low for 12 hours.

Rotate 2-3 times during the cooking process

Once it is done, turn the slow cooker off to cool the meat.

After 12 hours - shrinks about 30%!

Remove from slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Pull the pork apart with two forks or with your hands.

Meat will easily pull apart

Strain the juice in the crock pot, as we will use some of this to keep the pork moist.

Put the pulled pork back in the slow cooker and add some of the strained juice (about 1/2 cup or as needed) to keep it moist. About 30 min before serving, put the slow cooker on the "keep warm" function so that the pork is warmed up to eat.

Barbecue Sauce:

Wrap the bacon around the bunch of thyme and tie with kitchen twine. Over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan. Once the oil is heated, add the bacon-wrapped thyme and cook slowly 3-4 minutes to render the bacon fat. This will help give the barbecue sauce a nice smoky taste.

Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly for 5 minutes. Then, add the remaining ingredients and stir altogether. Turn the heat down to low, and cook slowly for about 20 minutes to blend in all the flavors. Once done, turn off heat and discard the bacon wrapped thyme.

Preparation:

Place pulled pork on your buns, and spoon the barbecue sauce on top of the pulled pork. Serve with a side of blue cheese coleslaw. I ended up putting some coleslaw in the sliders, adding great taste and texture!