I've never done it in a crockpot. Please post your results.

I've done many on my backyard smoker - an 8-10 lb Boston Butt takes about 10-14 hours (depends upon the ambient temperature) at 225 degrees to reach 185 internal degrees. That's fairly high for most meats - they would usually be dry, but the pork has plenty of fat to prevent that. If you approach that temperature slowly, all the connective tissue and fat will have dissolved into a nice juicyness without any discernable fat. We don't trim trim the fat cap, but put it on top so juices distrubute through the meat as it cooks. We also use a dry rub heavy with paprika, pepper, and brown sugar, and we first coat the meat with plain yellow mustard to hold the rub on. I add wood chips to keep it smoky for at least the first 6 hours. After that, not much more will enter the pork. Oh, and my smoker has a water pan to keep things moist.

It's important to get the Boston Butt, not the picnic. This is basicly the front shoulder of the pig. The picnic is lower down on the front leg (back leg becomes ham). The Boston Butt, also known as blade roast, has much better texture, absence of silverskin, and a single bone that literally falls out or pulls out with your fingers if the meat is cooked properly.

The main thing with Boston Butt is to get it to 185 or 190 degrees, but do it very slowly. All fat globs and connective tissue will turn into wonderfully moist and flavorful meat.

Okay, so I used a 3 lb Boston butt.

Here's my recipe
http://www.squidoo.com/bbqpork-made-ez

I put it in the crock pot about 11pm last nite, went to bed, woke up to a delicious smell permeating throughout the house. I pulled the pork, removed the left over fat that I couldn't get to before I started cooking the meat and skimmed some of the oily fat off the top. I turned my crock pot to "keep warm" for the last hour or so, it's starting to look really good.

I used a dash or so of liquid smoke

I still think it needs just a dash of something. My husband thinks just a dollop of ketchup.Any ideas?

My mouth is watering....

It's 11:41am, I"m still sitting in my snoopy pajamas, watching Lost, eating my pulled pork sandwich. DELICIOUS

Don't stick in in a crockpot overnight.

No grill handy? (Granted, this is not a good time of year to spend several hours babysitting a grill outdoors.)

I used to slow-roast a pork shoulder on the (charcoal) grill about twice a year, until I moved and didn't have space for a decent grill...now that I'm back in a house with a yard, I'm looking forward to firing up the grill again.

(OK, you can put it in the crockpot--not my cup of tea but good in a pinch for winter.)

The other option is the very low-temp crock pot overnight, take it out in the morning, let it cool a bit, chop into chunks and put in the smoker when you're awake to tend it. Works for me, not that I'm from rural Maryland and now live in Tennessee

As far as luaus go... find one where they still do the Emu... mmm the succulence...

Crockpots work... but IMHO... suck! I vastly prefer to have grilled/smoked meats vs. meat that 'falls off the bone'... I like to use my teeth

Crockpots do assist in reducing the net cooking/prep time, it just is not the same as a flame licking or smoke searing the meat...

<drool>

Up here in AK it can get mighty cold during the winter grilling season... but someone mentioned to me this week that meat tastes better when grilled in the cold... never really noticed this but interesting to ponder...

And my rule of thumb is anything below 10, and I'd better be real close to the door (going in/out of house many times) and I have yet grilled in below zero...

Here in metro NYC, I grill almost year-round, but in the winter (at least when the temp gets under 40) I probably wouldn't try something like a roast or ribs that need "low and slow" on the grill as the air temp will require even longer cooking time and it will be a bit more challenging to maintain the low temp of the grill. I'm not a huge fan of the slow cooker, but I can see where it would have an application in this case.

A few notes...

A crockpot with a pile of sauce won't come close to the flavor of wood-coals barbecue, but it's an approximation if that's what you are after.

In terms of barbecue cuts, they go in order of desirability from whole hog, whole shoulder clod (butt and shoulder), butt, shoulder. I like the shoulder more if you are cooking direct versus the butt (which is better indirect, because there is no skin), but the whole shoulder clod is hard to beat for most home cooks.

If you must sauce, avoid sauce with liquid smoke like the damn plague. It's one of the most offensive tasting things on the planet.

For any style of braising, you have to remove some of the fat cap from the butt. Otherwise, there will be way, way too much fat in your braising liquid and it will not taste very nice.

Barbecue is one of the most rewarding cuisines a home cook can undertake, IMO, because of the magical flavor and the very basic techniques required (which are nearly impossible to master) to create a delicious product.

Cheers,

-Andrew

I've done crock pot pulled pork several times. I think you need to boost the red pepper flakes from a dash to a couple teaspoons. I'd double the brown sugar too. I line the bottom of the pot with sliced onions and bell peppers. I make a big pot of rice and warm a dozen flour tortillas. When it's ready, I pull the pork and plate it on top of the rice. Onions and peppers go on top, followed by a drizzle of sauce. Then everybody takes a tortilla, loads it up, rolls it and eats. We serve the cole salw on the side. YMMV.

It's nothing like a smoked shoulder or Boston butt, but easy and delicious.

Beckoa, I'm in SE AK and we're having a cold snap. Although it's not nearly as cold as up north, 20 F is still plenty cold for me!

RESULTS:
I put it in the crock over night. I added a small,small dash of liquid smoke, I was afraid of it affecting the taste too much, so I only added in half of what the recipe called for. I've tasted food with too much liquid smoke and it is yuck,yuck yuck.

I put my crock on my lowest setting, so after six hours I woke up and it was semi done, but not quite done.

I didn't use much sauce at all, just enough to cover the butt without it swimming in it. End result was that the meat was not swimming in sauce.

It turned out really really good. A 3lb butt lasted about a day and a half between me, my husband and his 15 year old son (I only had 3 sandwiches during the entire time). At least it didn't go to waste!

Last night I experimented with Chicken Cordon Bleu (corny I know) and it turned out sastisfactory.

Tonight is curry night!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions!

Thanks for the update and I don't mean to make you feel bad for not grilling in winter... it should warm up there soon

And curry sounds great and probably can be arranged easier in a crock pot then on a grill

I use a heavy cast iron casserole, and 1 ) roast the joint (usually pork (shoulder) butt roast) at 400F+ for about 15 mins, drop the temp down to 200F covered for 4-6 hours, or 2) brown the outside on the stovetop and then put it covered in the oven for 4-6 hours at 200F. Basic aim is to sear the meat on the outside first and then let it cook slowly.

Thanks to deubster for comments about using the Boston butt cut of meat.

I gave Mrs. B a new crockpot for Christmas and the first use was to make pulled pork. It was delicious!

Late to the party, but here's how I do it

Overnight on low in the crockpot:

The pork
A handful of whole cloves
A liter of ginger ale
Two onions.

In the morning remove the meat, toss the rest. Shred the meat and put back in the crockpot with your three or four bottles of your favorite sauce and some hot sauce (shameless plug for Choula sauce here). For some reason, I really like the KC masterpiece spicy BBQ sauce here. As it cooks you may need to add a bit more sauce to keep it from drying out

Back on low, it will be ready in another six or seven hours.

This is a good place to use the disposable crockpot liners if your crockpot has hot spots, makes cleaning it all up later so much easier.

A very simple recipe! ^

Southern Style Pulled Pork (Bar-B-Que)

5-8 pound Boneless Pork Loin
1 cup cider vinegar
2 T each olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley

Mix all ingredients together. Pour over meat in a baking bag.

Bake at 300 degrees for 4 hours.

Remove from oven�..break meat into pieces (large chunks) while still hot, but leave in the juice as it cools.

Shred meat (using fingers for �pulled pork,� else with a cleaver for �chopped pork�), and pour juice over meat.

It's as simple as that. Serve with your favorite cole slaw, whether sweet, mustard-based, or vinegar-based. Can be served on buns, as a sandwich, or plate it!

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