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Awards Season - My Superbowl

I am not a football fan, what I miss out on, football food. As I have previously mentioned, I LOVE a slow cook. For my personal Super bowl, The Golden Globes, I decided to make BBQ Pork Sliders on pretzel buns. Before I jump in to the meat preparation, I first have to sing the praises of pretzel buns. Costco has a slider sized pretzel roll that is chewy, soft and flavorful. I don't know what magic is in there but I like it.

For the pulled pork portion, I bought a decent sized pork roast. Pork has a good amount of fat around it that will melt and make a wonderfully tender meat. The first thing I did with it was take the roast out of the fridge and make a spice rub. I took smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. I rubbed the roast ad then let it sit out for about an hour, bringing it to room temperature and the seasoning soak in. Then I put it in a very hot pan, brown each side really well. The slow cooker, while fabulous, doesn't really brown meat.
In to the slow cooker, I put the pork roast, 2 cans of beer (whatever you have, this time I used a dark beer) a can of roasted green chilies and a diced onion that I cooked quickly in the pan where I seared the meat. Set it at higher cook and walk away.
While the meat was cooking, I started making the barbeque sauce. The base is ketchup; I also included a coke, brown sugar, Worchester sauce, apple cider vinegar as well as all the seasoning I used in the rub (smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper) this mixture is really to taste, like more acidic sauce? Heavier vinegar. Sweeter sauce? Brown sugar or more coke. This sauce is time for creative expression! Use mustard, soy sauce, or ginger, whatever flavors you love. Let it bubble and reduce, and there is sauce.

After about 5-6 hours, the meat is falling apart. Take it out of the slow cooker and shred it. I am incredibly picky about fatty pieces, so I might err on the cautious side, but like all meat. I put the pulled meat in to a pan and pour sauce over it. I will sometimes sauce the sandwiches individually to mix it up, use the leftovers for tacos, quesadillas or other options.



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