BBQ Root Beer Pork

"Crock Pot" ...

That phrase doesn't exactly conjure the image of men grilling out, smoking cigars, and drinking beer. But it happened, and actually it was green beer, around St. Patrick’s Day. Men do use crock pots - and why not? The food is ready when you get home from work, and it’s an easy process, requiring you to do roughly nothing between returning from the grind and consuming a good meal with a cold beer. Of course there are many recipes as complex as assembling a small engine – but who needs those? I say keep it simple. Italian beef – keeping it simple.
Cornish hens – simple. Ten-layer tortilla stack - not simple.

As we were talking about our recipes that dreary St. Paddy's weekend, it became clear that men like meat cooked slowly, cut up, and placed on some sort of bread. Not exactly a revelation, but an important realization.

Here may be the most uncomplicated recipe for slow cooked pulled pork I have ever come across courtesy of Michael "Tripod" Palm from the Chicago Western Burbs Man B Que Chapter. It doesn’t require a rub, hours of loading coals into a smoker or grill, making of a sauce, or the need to call your butcher for a pig. I say let your neighbors smell the delicious swine all day, then tell them “yes I like pig, and no you can’t have any.”

The Setup



1 bottle quality root beer
Pork tenderloin or loin
1 bottle BBQ sauce
Salt and pepper
Buns

I’ve tried to keep things in a Chicago theme by using Goose Island
root beer and Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.

Cooking




1. Trim fat from pork and place in crock pot.



2.Pour bottle of root beer over pork. Season the meat with salt and pepper.



3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.



4. Shred pork and mix with BBQ Sauce. Serve on a bun alongside chips and potato salad.

Yes, it really is that easy. As you can see from the pictures I only used ½ of the loin that is
shown in the set up shot. I probably could have cut the loin in half and fit it, but then I’d be eating pork sandwiches for a week.

- Death Toll Scholl