Foodie Friday - Pulled Pork Barbecue

It's time for Foodie Friday hosted by Designs By Gollum - I love to see what everybody's cooking up. I've been doing recipe reviews the past couple of weeks - but every so often I have something too good not to share. I don't know about you, but I had never tried to make barbecue until this week. Somehow it always seemed to be a mysterious process of cooking -- with wood chips and special pits - hours of smoking the meat and heavily guarded secret recipies. I just figured it would be too difficult and time consuming to attempt. Maybe you thought so too -- but I can assure you -- I'll never think that again, and hopefully neither will you.

First I'm going to give you a recipe I found in Southern lady Gracious Tables by Phyllis Hoffman (she's the publisher of "Cooking with Paula Deen" and "Southern Lady" magazines - two that I adore! Then I'll give you my modified version.

1 (2-lb.) boneless pork loin, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken broth
Bottled hickory smoked barbecue sauce
Dill pickle chips
4 to 6 hamburger buns

1. Cut pork loin in half length-wise; season with salt and pepper. In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add pork loin, browning all sides. Remove pork loin and in the same pan, cook garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Return pork loin to pan; reduce heat to medium low and add chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until tender, turning meat every 30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes. With two forks, shred meat into bite size pieces.
2. To assemble sandwiches, layer pork, barbecue sauce and pickles on buns, which can be steamed or buttered and toasted first if desired.

Now here's my modified version.


The first thing I did was to break out the crockpot. Not only are they great in the winter and cold weather -- they're great in the summer too, for not heating up the kitchen (and the cook!). Of course, I lined my crockpot with a liner for easy clean up. Then I used a pork tenderloin of about 1 1/2 lbs. I seasoned the tenderloin with salt and pepper and put it in the crockpot with 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic. Let that cook on low for about 7 hours.


This is the tenderloin right out of the crockpot.


With two forks I shredded the tenderloin.


We like eastern North Carolina style barbecue sauce the best and this is the best I've found. Uncle Yammy's. My husband uses this brand of rib rub for his ribs too.


I've poured on some sauce and chopped the meat somewhat finer. Between pulled and minced.


And here's the finished sandwich with fresh corn on the cob and slaw. Easy and not at all mysterious! I think we'll be having barbecue quite a bit this summer! Now I'm off to see what everybody else is cooking up this week. Be sure to check out Designs By Gollum and find something yummy to put on your table!

See Ya!