Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork

Happy Sunday! Most of the year Sunday is my least favorite day of the week because it means the weekend is ending and another Monday is right around the corner. Not the case in the fall – I live for Sundays! Football on the tv all day and good food coming from the kitchen, it’s the perfect cure for those Sunday blues.  There’s an added bit of excitement this year as I’m trying my hand at fantasy football with some fun food bloggers: Tracy from Sugarcrafter, Dara from Cookin’ Canuck, Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker, Elle from Elle’s New England Kitchen, Jen from My Kitchen Addiction, Jackie from The Spicy Lens, and Marie from Meandering Eats.

This Sunday will also be a little brighter thanks to these cheery flowers Shane’s parents left me!  I’m house sitting for them for the next week, and fresh flowers were such a fun surprise 🙂

As I sit down to watch this afternoon’s games, one of these pulled pork sandwiches will almost certainly be among the items in my spread. With almost every recipe I’ve chosen for Emeril’s One-Pot Blogger Party, I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone.  I’ve attempted dishes I’ve never made, and in some cases, never tried at all.  That’s not the case today.  Slow-cooked pulled pork is one of the staple cold-weather meals at our house.  You can’t beat its simplicity, and it makes enough to either feed a crowd or just two with plenty of leftovers to keep you busy for days to come. 

The recipe from Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders was not all that different from our current go-to.  It starts with a spice rub, made by combining a number of great flavors that you probably already have in your pantry. The spice rub is applied to the meat, the meat is wrapped and goes into the fridge overnight.

The next day all you have to do is throw the meat in the slow cooker and set it on high for about 6-8 hours before the pork is so tender it’s falling off and bone and practically shredding itself. You can serve it as is or top it with your favorite barbecue sauce – either way, it’s delicious! After I cooked ours the other day I put all the meat in a big baking dish to cool slightly before popping it in the fridge. We were powerless to resist; our little fingers reached into the dish more than once for a little nibble 🙂

The bad news is I’m not able to share the recipe for this pulled pork today, but there is an upside. Two of them actually! First, in case you missed it yesterday, I’m giving away a copy of Emeril’s new book, containing not only the pulled pork recipe but lots of other great options! You can enter to win a copy here. Also, I’m going to point you in the direction of our other favorite pulled pork recipe. As I mentioned above, it’s very similar to Emeril’s recipe – you definitely can’t go wrong with either one.

{Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders in exchange for participating in the party. All of the opinions expressed are mine alone.}