Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Pioneer Day was Sunday and it was everything it always is: loud, hot, full of rolls, full of Coopers. Mom's house in Orem, the backyard strung with lights Dad put up in June and will take down in October, the sprinkler running for the kids, all five of mine plus Tyler's three and Brittany's four and the twins' kids — a swarm of cousins sunburned and screaming and so alive it almost hurts to watch.

Mom made the rolls. She always makes the rolls. Katie was kneading while Mom sat at the kitchen table and said, "You're overworking the dough," and Katie rolled her eyes the way she has rolled her eyes at this exact sentence for fifteen years, and I stood in the doorway holding my slow cooker of pulled pork and felt the kitchen close around me like arms. This is the room where I learned to cook. Where Mom canned peaches every August and made applesauce every October and kept the refrigerator full because an empty refrigerator was, in Denise Cooper's theology, an actual sin. I set the slow cooker on the counter and Mom said, "That smells good, Shell," and I said, "Thank you, Mom," and it was the most normal sentence I've said in six months.

Dad said grace. He does it the same way every time — head bowed, hands clasped, voice steady as a man who has said grace ten thousand times and means it every time. He blessed the food and the family and the pioneers and then he said, "And we remember our little Grace," and I didn't cry. I almost did. But Brittany squeezed my hand under the table and I held on and I didn't, and afterward Brittany said, "I think God can handle you being angry at Him," which was the only religious thing anyone has said to me this year that didn't make me want to throw funeral potatoes at the wall.

The pulled pork was good. Tender, sweet, smoky enough. Josh ate it on Mom's rolls and said it was the best thing he'd ever tasted, which Josh says about everything, which is why Josh is my favorite twin and I will deny that in court. Mason and Tyler's oldest spent the whole afternoon building a fort out of lawn chairs and blankets and came in at dusk filthy and happy and dehydrated. I poured Gatorade into seven cups and handed them out and thought: this is what I can do. Pour drinks. Pull pork. Show up. Stand in my mother's kitchen and remember how to be a daughter before I was a mother who lost a daughter. Some days that's enough. Today it was enough.

I’ve made this pulled pork so many times I don’t need the recipe anymore — which is exactly why it’s the thing I reach for when I need my hands to do something useful while my heart is doing something hard. It starts the night before, which means by morning the house already smells like something good is coming, and some days that’s the push I need to get going. If you’re serving it the way we do — piled onto soft rolls at a loud backyard table full of people you love — this recipe will do exactly what you need it to do.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 8–10 hours (low) | Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 12–16

Ingredients

4–5 lb bone-in pork shoulder (also sold as pork butt)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for serving
Homemade or store-bought rolls, for serving

Instructions

Make the dry rub. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne (if using). Mix well.
Season the pork. Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture all over the meat, pressing it in on all sides. For best results, do this the night before and refrigerate uncovered so the rub has time to work into the meat.
Set up the slow cooker. Pour the apple cider vinegar, chicken broth, and Worcestershire sauce into the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Place the seasoned pork shoulder on top, fat side up.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours, until the meat is completely tender and falls apart easily when pressed with a fork. Do not lift the lid during the first 6 hours.
Shred the pork. Transfer the pork to a large cutting board or rimmed baking sheet and remove the bone. Use two forks to shred the meat, discarding any large pieces of fat. The pork should pull apart with almost no effort.
Finish with sauce. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker. Add the barbecue sauce and stir to combine with the juices already in the pot. Let it sit on WARM for at least 20 minutes to absorb the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning — a little extra vinegar brightens it up if it’s gone too sweet.
Serve. Pile onto rolls and set out extra barbecue sauce on the side. This travels well in the slow cooker on the WARM setting — just bring a set of tongs and let people help themselves.

Nutrition (per serving, pork only, based on 14 servings)

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork — The One I Carried to Mom’s in Orem