Kentucky Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Submited by Julee Brooks, CEO, Woodcraft Rangers
About the Recipe
If my Mammaw was ever hosting her kids and a dozen grandkids in her house in the small town of Paris, Kentucky, she’d have a pressure cooker full of pulled pork. Whether it was for New Year’s, Easter, or just a big Kentucky Wildcat basketball game, pulled pork was always a crowd pleaser.
This recipe is in a crock pot but I remember the giant pressure cooker pot that would sit on the stove for hours in her small kitchen where there was barely enough room for her to stand between the dinette and the door to the basement where she canned all her vegetables every summer and made her cream candy when the winter temps dipped low enough. I also remember the distinct sound of the pressure release signaling the lunch would be soon.
While this recipe itself isn’t too spicy, my Mammaw certainly was and I’m pretty sure it’s where I get it along with my deep love for hosting family and friends for gatherings where there is always too much food.
A Bourbon barrel aged hot sauce would add a little extra Kentucky kick.
This can be made ahead of time, refrigerated, and reheated in the microwave. It is best served with baked beans, cole slaw, and cornbread. Or for a casual get together throw it on sandwiches with chips and a cold Ale-8 One, and that’ll do just fine, y’all.
Ingredients
- 1 pork roast, approximately 5 pounds
Dry Rub
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1½ cups cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Directions
- Apply the dry rub generously to the pork roast.
- Put the pork roast in the slow cooker and add salt and pepper.
- Pour in the cider vinegar. Cover with lid and cook on low for 12 hours (I cook it overnight).
- Remove the pork roast from the crockpot and shred it with forks (this will be very easy).
- Drain juices from the slow cooker, reserving two cups of liquid. Return pulled pork to the slow cooker.
- To the reserved liquid add the brown sugar, hot sauce, and crushed pepper flakes. Stir well. Pour over shredded pork and place the lid back on the crockpot.
- Place on low or warm setting until ready to serve.
About the Contributor
Julee Brooks is an ambitious creative visionary, social entrepreneur, and strategic nonprofit changemaker with nearly two decades experience delivering high-caliber programming for families and guiding family-focused agencies through dynamic organizational growth. Julee possesses a unique combination of sophisticated thought leadership, keen business acumen and skilled relationship building that ensures excellence for institutions, programmatically and administratively.
As CEO of Woodcraft Rangers, Julee is responsible for the strategic vision of the agency, guiding its executive leadership team to ensure all elements of program implementation and operations continually align with its mission in service to the youth and communities we serve. Julee also works to ensure the agency’s long term sustainability through partnership development, fundraising, fiscal responsibility, and more. Julee’s leadership guides Woodcraft’s culture, ensuring we remain true to our values of equity and inclusion and remain committed to providing the highest quality expanded learning experience possible within a people-centered environment.
