Chipotle Lime Pulled Pork

I’ve been looking for a good recipe to introduce you to one of my best friends as of late, and this time, it’s not one that’ll get me put away for indecent exposure.  No, I’m talking about the crockpot.  How did I go so long without having one of these things?  I’ve likely had more days with this thing on and cooking away in the past month than not.  These things aren’t terribly expensive, either;  you can pick up one from any number of places for under $50.

Here’s a recipe that I’ve made a slight change upon from the original.

Adapted from Mark’s Daily Apple’s Garlic Pulled Pork:

Ingredients:

• 1 pork shoulder cut (butt or picnic), approximately 3-4 pounds
  
• 2 tablespoons habanero sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 6 fresh garlic cloves, diced
• The juice of two limes
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 dried chipotle peppers

Directions:

1. Combine the sea salt, black pepper, cumin, and diced garlic in a bowl.  Set aside.
2. Add the chopped onions, chipotle peppers, and bay leaf to the crock pot.
3. Place the pork shoulder on top of the onions in the crock pot, and juice one lime as evenly as you can over the pork.  Turn the pork over in the crockpot, and juice the second lime over the other side of the pork.  Season the pork with half of the salt/pepper/cumin/garlic mixture, rubbing it into the meat as best as you can.  Flip the pork shoulder over one more time in the crock pot, and use the remaining mixture to rub into the meat.
   
4. Cover the crock pot, and let cook for 6-8 hours.

I swear to you, it does not get any easier than this.  You’ll have a delicious pulled pork waiting for you when you get home from work if you can set this going in the morning.  Don’t worry about overcooking this, because, well, you can’t, really.  Just trust me.

The most tedious part of this was removing the fat because I don’t particularly care for it, but you can feel free to eat that, too.  Works wonders if you’ve refrigerated this and want to fry the pulled pork with some vegetables later.  There’s enough pork here for a few days, and that should help get you get a solid source of protein for any meal of the day!