Slow Cooker Pulled Pork / Ribs - SO GOOD!!!

A couple of weeks ago I went grocery shopping and because of some deals and a hankering for some
BBQ, I brought home a few items which were perfect for making some pulled pork / ribs in a slow cooker.

This is about 4lbs of pork ribs/shoulder some pieces with the "bone in" which is perfectly fine with me...



The first thing I did was create a quick little "dry rub", really it was just a light sprinkling of a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, dry oregano, and one unique ingredient that I've been wanting to use for just this specific application, Black Cardamom, which adds a smoky component. I might make a post about that spice all on its own soon.  All these spices/herbs were placed and ground up in a mortal and pestle.  I sprinkled it on the bare pork and rubbed it in a bit, then threw it all in the oven under the broiler to get a bit of a sear/crust going.

While this was going on in the oven, flipped and browned/seared both sides, I prepped the slow cooker with a bit of bacon, a red onion, and a few crushed garlic cloves, and used some tasty BBQ sauce from the grocery store.

I used a bit of water to thin down the BBQ but also threw in some tomato paste for flavor, and in the long run to thicken things back up.  I then just covered the bacon and the veggies with this mix.  Then I threw in the browned / sealed porky goodness and then covered with more of the thinned sauce mixture.

At this point I let it slow cook for a minimum of 4 hours on low, and it "could" go for a max of 7-8 hours at most.  You want the meat to be super tender and fall away from any bones, but you also want to NOT overcook the meat to where no matter how much "sauce" you put on it, the meat is "dry" and stringy/tough.  The meat should melt in your mouth.

Once cooked, I separated out the meat and strained the sauce, I used a sieve to strain the sauce so you've got a nice thick sauce free of any of the delicious portions that have fallen off in the cooking process. You could condense down  the sauce even further in a sauce pan, but isn't necessary.

As for the little bits of meat, fat, and other goodness that was trapped by the sieve, and what you can do with this porky goodness, that is if you can restrain yourself from just eating the pile outright, I have another post for this which will be up soon!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!