If you know me, you likely know that I don’t eat ‘land meat’. The mister does not make these same food choices, so if we’re having people over, pulled pork is one of my favorite things to make. Why? Because it’s so dang easy and everyone loves it (well, everyone but me). Here’s what you need:

• A large pork butt shoulder/picnic shoulder. You do not want a fancy piece of meat for this. I read about people using pork loin for pulled pork…not what you want. You need something with a lot of fat on it. I often get mine at Costco, you’ll have to dig for smaller ones (I found one that was 11 lbs), but this stuff freezes well, so you can just haul it out and heat it up.
• BBQ sauce. I’ve made it in the past, but I must say we really enjoy Sweet Baby Ray’s (usually the regular because Costco has it, but the Hickory is tasty, too).
• A 2-liter of root beer. I’m not a big fan of soda, I really never drink it, but it’s critical for this. One tip: DO NOT GET ANY DIET STUFF (or anything with artificial sweeteners), I’ve read no so nice stuff about them when they get hot (and they really aren’t good for you), so get full-sugar soda.
• Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
• Giant Crockpot (for the 11 pounder, I had to cut a portion off and put it in the medium size crockpot, which worked well).
• Potato Slider rolls (or the full sized ones)

Keep in mind you want to cook this for a long time.
This last one took 7 hours on high in the crockpot.

Step 1: Plug in your crockpot and get it warming up.
Step 2: Unwrap your pork and remove any unsavory parts. Resist the urge to chop off all the fat.
Step 3: Sprinkle with seasoned salt (don’t coat it, you don’t want it that salty and as grandma said, once it’s in there, you can’t take it out). About 1/2-2 tsp based on the size of your meat.
Step 4: Place meat into the crockpot, adjust temperature and timer (if you have a fancy crockpot).
Step 5: Put soda into the crockpot. So my rule of thumb is that I put enough soda to cover 1/3-1/2 way up the side of the meat. You don’t want too much, but it burns if it gets dry in there.
Step 6: Put about 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce into the liquid as well a shake or two of seasoned salt. Don’t put tons of BBQ sauce in at this point. You’ll regret it later.
Step 7: Set it & forget it…well don’t really forget it, but leave it alone. Set the crockpot ( I’ve done high or low…for a huge piece of meat, do high) and the timer on your phone.

Once it cooks for 6-8 hours, you’ll smell it and it will make you rethink your food choices (don’t worry, I always resist). It’s time to pull the pork. I always do this with two dinner forks directly in the crock pot. Just be careful not to splash yourself.

Serve with potato slider rolls (or the full size ones) and the BBQ sauce. I like to pair this with cole slaw, fruit salad, and grilled corn.

Enjoy!