Smoky and Spicy Slow Cooker BBQ

It seems like every time I hold a bowl watching party, I always get volunteered to make the food. This pulled pork recipe is one of the most popular dishes I serve. It uses liquid smoke and a slow cooker to achieve a pit-smoked flavor without all of the work.

Ingredients:

1 whole Boston Butt roast

2 bottles of liquid smoke

1 bottle of hot sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot Original but any sauce will work)

1 small can of tomato paste

2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp. dark brown sugar

1 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp coarse ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine 1/2 bottle of liquid smoke and 1 tbsp. of worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Place into a meat injection syringe and inject the mixture into various places on the roast. Coat the outside of the roast with salt and pepper.

Wrap the roast tightly in aluminum foil and place into a crock pot. Cook on low temperature for 10 hours.

Remove the roast from the crock pot and drain any juice in the bottom of the crock into a bowl. Reserve this juice for later. Unwrap the roast and allow to cool for 1 hour.

Shred the roast with fingers or a fork, removing the bone. This can be thrown away or saved for soup stock.

In a large bowl, combine the remainder of the bottle of liquid smoke, hot sauce, can of tomato paste, 1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce, and the dark brown sugar. Stir together and gradually add reserved juices from the roast until the mixture takes on the thickness of a light gravy. Taste the mixture. If it is too spicy or too vinegary for your taste, add another tbsp of brown sugar.

Combine the shredded meat and the sauce mixture, stirring well to coat all meat with the sauce.

Place the mixture back into the crock pot and cook on low for another 10 hours. Stir the mixture every couple of hours. If it gets to thin, pull out some of the excess liquid. If it starts to dry out, add a couple of tbsp. of the reserved liquid and stir.

Serve on hamburger buns.