I know exactly what all you barbecue purists out there want to tell me: real pulled pork is cooked slow and low over smoking embers and requires lots of tending and tinkering. Know what requires almost zero effort? Learning how to make pulled pork in a slow cooker. And once you master the technique, you can make pulled pork all summer long with any kind of flavoring and sauce that you like, and turn it into lots of different kinds of meals. All without breaking a sweat or even needing to be awake or anywhere near your kitchen. And all without a recipe.
I actually use my slow cooker more in the summer than any other time of year—it solves that problem of not wanting to heat up the kitchen by turning on the stove, and it's great for feeding crowds, which I tend to do more often in the summer. Even if I'm not feeding a crowd, a big batch of pulled pork is never a bad thing to have: I can freeze some of it, and turn the rest into tacos, sandwiches, salads, hash, and more for a few days worth of meals.
This pulled pork was cooked in beer with chipotles in adobo, orange juice, garlic, and a cinnamon stick. I reduced that liquid into a nice sauce and stirred in some more fresh orange juice at the end to brighten it up. It made excellent tacos.
Here's how to make pulled pork in a crock pot:
1. Procure Your Pork
Pulled pork is best made from the shoulder of the pig. It's a muscular area, but when cooked low and slow all the sinew and tendons melt and the meat falls apart in juicy shards. You can use any part of the shoulder—I like to try and get a cut with bones in it for added flavor and nutrition, but it's not essential. Shoulder roasts are often labeled "pork butt" or "Boston butt," but they're not actually from the pig's rear end. A bonier cut of the lower shoulder is the "picnic ham," which also works great for pulled pork.
How much pork you start with depends on how many people you're feeding, but also on the size of your slow cooker. If you're using a bone-in piece of pork you should plan for about 3/4 pound per person, or about 1/2 pound per person for a boneless piece. It also can't be bigger than your slow cooker. That might seem obvious, but, keep the size of your crock pot in mind when you pick out your roast.
