There are many times when I fix something to eat ... that I am really reminded of my mother and her methods of cooking when we were kids. Years before the advent of crock pots, Mother slow cooked things in the oven ... or sometimes in a Dutch Oven on top of the stove. My mother's mother ... had a Dutch Oven that was actually a part of her stove. Remember those? German cooks stewed lots of things together and Grandma Schuster was one of those cooks. She had something in that pot, which dropped down inside of the stove ... almost every single day!
On Sundays, Mother was always up early preparing Sunday Dinner so we could enjoy church and then go home to a big noontime meal. Mother cooked big meals daily, so this was not unusual ... but what was unusual was the fact that she used her oven to finish foods ... while we were gone to church. This very tender pork bbq for sandwiches ... was one of my favorites!
I recently made this BBQ the same way Mama used to make it ... but I used my crock pot! I prepared a pork butt roast in the oven and seasoned it with rosemary and garlic. I served it with a nice clear gravy to smother mashed potatoes! I threw what was left of that roast in the freezer and got it out the day I wanted BBQ! Now, all my readers know that I grill food all year long ... snow doesn't stop me! Sometimes, though, I crave old flavors!
I chopped the left over roast into bite-size chunks and put all of it in the crock pot. I had about 4 cups of cubed meat, so I added a cup of water and let the meat cook for 2 hours on high ... added a cup of BBQ sauce and cooked for another hour on low. The word "chunk" is important here. This is not "pulled pork" ... it is not sliced ... it is little juicy tender chunks of flavor!
Mother used to do all that slow cooker work in the oven on Sunday morning and we'd come home to wonderful aromas, taste sandwiches ... and her favorite big yellow Pyrex bowl filled with potato salad! Sometimes we'd have baked beans with this meal ... but in the summertime, we were likely to have cucumber and onion salad and big bright red sliced tomatoes!
I'll be sharing this with Miz Helen's Full Plate party and a couple others, so make sure you check out the parties listed in my sidebar and go visit for more inspiration! Enjoy!
