Sweet Pulled Pork

Final Product

Pulled pork is such a versatile item to have, and  as we have learned thanks to the new wave of South-Western Grills that have taken over the nation not only does it taste great on burritos, tacos, and salads; but you could pretty much slap it on almost anything from potstickers to tamales.

This is MY rendition of this dish served at Costa Vida, I feel its pretty close but still has some flavors that I happen to favor.  The recipe takes 5 minutes to prep and slow-cooks over night. SIMPLE.
Here are the ingredients

One Pork Shoulder/Butt
1 7 3/4 oz can of El Pato Sauce (the yellow can)
1 10oz Can of Red Enchilada Sauce
1 10oz Can of Green Enchilada Sauce
6 oz of Pineapple Juice (the can is exactly 6oz.... Or so it claims)
1 Sweet Onion roughly chopped
4 oz of Dr Pepper
1 3/4 cups of brown Sugar. (one and 3/4 cup)
1/2 Tbs each of dried ground Cumin, New Mexico Chile, California Chile(mix together)
1/2 Tbs of Salt.

Now I know what you're all wondering and the answer is NO, you don't have to make a little mount with the brown sugar for the pineapple juice, I just did that for the picture, it does nothing for the flavor.

Place ALL the liquids and chopped onion in a large slow cooker and mix to incorporate.

Place your Pork butt with the meaty side up it should rise above the sauce mix like a red glacier full of promising flavor waiting to be released.

Sugar/Chili Crust

Cover the Pork with 1 cup of sugar to make a nice crust and sprinkle the mix of the ground chiles, cumin and salt over the top of the brown sugar... It will look pretty like the picture on the right.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

When its done if your pork has a bone you should be able to just pull it out clean and easy. It will be greasy so you must skim the oil that came off the pork during the cooking process with a spoon,  It will be hard to get rid of all of it, so expect to have a little bit left over

if you pull the pork in a separate pan it will be easier to both pull it apart and also to skim the fat off the sauce.

Notice the tissue breakdown

This is what it will look like once its done, and I know you're asking yourself: "SELF... Why didn't we get rid of the fat at the begining of the cooking process?" Well "SELF" here is your answer, slide a large spoon in the tissue between the meat and the fat layer... Go ahead, give it a shot... It comes off the meat as though it was barely hanging on.  If you've cut the fat of of a pork butt before cooking before, you will agree that this is much simpler, it takes a whole 5 seconds to remove it after cooking instead of 5 minutes when the meat is raw.

Last, pull the pork apart (otherwise it wouldn't be "Pulled" Pork) and once you've skimmed the oil off from the sauce, throw the pork back in with the last part of brown sugar mix and cook for one more hour on high then you're ready to serve on whatever you want.

If you have left over refrigerate or freeze to enjoy at a later time.