Honey Bourbon Pulled Pork

Some days you just need a drink.

Normally, I'm a beer or wine gal, but I had bourbon in my house for this recipe, so I thought I would try it on the rocks to conclude my stressful day. However, I took 2 or 3 sips and decided that I cannot get behind drinking straight liquor; I prefer to eat my bourbon, especially when it takes on the form of the DELICIOUS barbecue sauce. 

I won't make you listen to all the details of my day yesterday, but I should have known that it wasn't going to be a great day when I was almost to work and I remembered that I totally forgot to turn on the crockpot before I left my apartment. Here is my sad non-cooked pork after I made the trip back home :(

Maybe because of the extra drive home and back, my little car started to get sick and made some funny noises on my way home. It is a good thing I had this liquor pulled pork waiting to cheer me up.

I think I've mentioned it before, but I love my crockpot. One of my fav things to make is pork loin. I usually pick up a large (3-5 lb) pork loin when they are on sale, cut it into manageable pieces (1 lb), and freeze it. Then I can thaw it, let it cook all day in some seasonings and sauce, come home to a great smelling apartment, and enjoy pork that essentially melts in your mouth. Of course, it is completely necessary to make extra for pulled pork nachos or burritos or salad or really anything your mind imagines. I tried this new recipe yesterday that is a homemade bourbon barbecue sauce. I adapted the recipe a bit; originally the blogger used chicken as the protein of choice. I changed up a few seasonings and went with pork instead. It is definitely a winner!

Honey Bourbon Pulled Pork (sauce recipe adapted from Healthy Delicious)
Ingredients:
1 lb pork loin, thawed
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1/2 cup diced onion
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup bourbon (I used
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat broiler.

Using a sharp knife, make 1/2 inch slits in the pork (as many as necessary for your garlic pieces, probably 8-12). Shove the garlic pieces into the slits, making sure that they are at least even with the pork's surface (or they will burn... I speak from experience). Broil the pork for approximately 10 minutes.

In your slow cooker, combine the onion, ketchup, water, bourbon, honey, molasses, vinegar, tomato paste, worcestershire, ginger and CRP. Mix to combine. Place the pork on top of the sauce and scoop some of the sauce to cover it.

Cook on low 8-12 hours (or high 4-5 hours).

Using two forks (or a knife), shred the pork directly in the slow cooker. Mix to allow for the sauce to coat all of the pork.

Serve on toasted hamburger buns.

P.S. Dinner tonight. Barbecue pulled pork quesadillas! YUM!