Sorry no Youtube video here but you can see the original video by clicking that link. This recipe has a 4.97 rating out of 530 reviews. Dr. Pepper Crock Pot Pulled Pork Recipe by Holly at spendingwithpennies.com
Growing up my experience with pulled pork was from the crock pot. It's always moist and tender and pulls apart with ease. It's truly a set it and forget it. It wasn't bad by any means but unless you add some liquid smoke it just doesn't have the smokiness from cooking it low and slow on the Kamado. To me liquid smoke isn't good. Just skip it if it calls for it. I once ate at a fancy restaurant that claimed to have "smoked steak" and it tasted like pure liquid smoke that overpowered the steak. If you're looking for a traditional pulled pork recipe check out Joe vs. the Boston Butt Pulled Pork recipe
So I've searched high and low on the internet, interwebs, dark web, and the spider webs for a pulled pork recipe made in a pot on the KJ. I have yet to find one. I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for the way this was cooked as well but I wanted to recreate that pulled pork crock pot experience from my childhood.
Onto the cook:
You can substitute your own beverage of choice (beer, coke) if you would like. We had coke on hand so I used that. I used my own rub but followed the recipe fairly close. I did not put a lid on my enameled cast iron dutch oven as the Kamado will help retain the moisture. I also wanted it to get the smoked flavor and a nice bark. You can see in this picture that the meat is just separating from the bone without any assistance.
I will say some of the liquid needs to be drained off before pulling. The bark didn't crust over as well as I would have liked but the pork did have a nice smoke ring. The end result was very tasty, very tender with less of a smoke flavor than normal. So if you want to entertain but don't want a heavy smoke flavor this could be an alternative to the traditional low and slow on the kamado.
Would I make it this way again? Yes I would. Do I prefer it over the traditional method? No, the bark is my favorite bite and cooking it this way just didn't produce those results. I would have had some bark if I didn't pull it and add the BBQ then let it cook another 30+ minutes in the pot. It's an alternative way to smoke it and an easy way to clean up as well.
Give this cooking method a try and let me know what you think. I'm sure I'll get some hate emails from traditionalists calling this recipe a crock. Don't knock it till you try it.
Some items I used on this cook that you may find useful:
Specifically the Dutch Oven
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