Rockin’ the crock pot

On Tuesdays, Mr. Meat and Potatoes usually has to work late. He walks in the door, usually after 7:00 PM, ready to eat the wallpaper. If we had wallpaper.

This presents a couple of challenges for me. I mean, when he is home, I can cook dinner in relative peace, because he can hold and entertain the baby while I put together something for all of us to eat. But when he isn’t home, it’s tough, because that baby is pretty demanding (read: spoiled) and isn’t so happy to be left stranded in the middle of the kitchen floor with only a rattle for entertainment. “WOMAN, BRING ME A BOTTLE. I WANNA WATCH CARTOONS. SING ME A SONG. LET ME PULL YOUR HAIR,” he commands, from the floor behind me.

In order to solve these issues, I have proclaimed Tuesdays to be “Rock the Crock Pot” days. My friend Andrea looked startled when I mentioned this plan to her, and told me she would never think of pulling out the crock pot in the summer. Wha?? Why not? I don’t want to heat up the whole house with the oven, and I don’t reallly want to start our (charcoal) grill every night, especially when we’re short on time. Yeah, I stand by it. Crock pot makes wicked good sense in the summer.

I started with…

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I threw this together, bleary-eyed and with a baby busily smearing mushed Cheerios on the wall behind him, at 6:00 in the morning. If I can do it, ANYONE CAN.

Begin by plopping a pork shoulder (I got a Boston Butt on sale at Checkers) into the pot, and then give it a liberal covering of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, pepper, minced garlic, and brown sugar. Then pour a small can of tomato sauce over and around it, and follow with about a cup of water. Toss in a dash (and I do mean DASH, go easy) of liquid smoke, and a couple of dashes of worchestershire. Turn on the crock pot to low, and cook for 9 hours.

THAT IS ALL.

And let me just tell you, at 6:00 in the morning, I’m not really into mincing garlic, so I encourage the use of the jarred stuff, and no, it’s not as good, and yes, I prefer ease of use and non-stinky fingers to the mild improvement in taste when it’s 6:00 in the morning.

When I got home from work that night, I simply shredded the pork, toasted a couple of buns, and served em up with a little Gates Extra Spicy BBQ sauce on top. And, people, that toasted bun? From the baby Jesus. Slather some butter on there and stick those babies under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Your sandwich will go from, say, the “Two and a Half Men” equivalent of a pulled pork sandwich to the “Glee” equivalent. Totally different league.

Some people will tell you that a proper pulled pork sandwich HAS TO HAVE cole slaw blobbed on top of the pork. I am not one of those people. Cole slaw is, in my never to be humble opinion, almost never good alone, and certainly cannot be an improvement upon the pure flavor of that perfect pork.