pulled pork

one of my favorite food blogs is the pioneer woman.  her blog is amazing and talks about a lot more than just food.  when she posted this recipe, i knew i had to try it.  my mouth was watering!

this dish is great for any season and is also multi-functional!  (never thought that i’d say that about food, but it really is!)  you can serve it on a sandwich, tom style with bbq sauce, pickles and melted pepper jack cheese, in a taco, on nachos, or use it for pretty much anything you’d want to put pulled pork on.  i’m thinking that it might even be great on a pizza… mmm.

i’ve adapted the original recipe to be a two-person friendly, crock pot gig, with leftovers for one meal.  if you want to make it for more than two, i’d recommend following the original recipe.

slightly adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

• 1 small onion, chopped into 1″ pieces
• 2 lbs. boneless pork tenderloin
• salt and pepper
• 1 7 oz. can, chipotles in adobo sauce (find it the ethnic section of your grocery store!)
  (chipotles are smoked jalapeños and adobo is a sweet, smoky and spicy sauce.  it gives this dish some kick!)
• 1 12 oz. can, dr. pepper
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

1. place the chopped onions in a crock pot.  (alternatively, you can use a dutch oven in an oven set to 300°)
2. place tenderloins on top of the onions.  cover them with salt and pepper, on both sides.
3. dump the chipotles in adobo sauce on top.  it should look something like this:
   
4. now this is where things get crazy.  add a can of dr. pepper to the crock pot.
   
5. add some brown sugar to the mix.
   
6. i can set my crock pot to reach a certain temp (using a temp sensor, thanks engineering husband of mine :)) and then it reverts back to warm, low or high.  i set my crock pot to 160° and then to to low.  if you don’t have a tom, or a crock pot with a temp sensor, just cook it low (and slow) for approx 4 hours.  turning tenderloins after 2 hrs, so they cook evenly.
   
7. pull the tenderloins out of the crock pot.  shred using a fork and then chop into bite size pieces.  you might want to pull the chipotles out and chop them up, as well.
8. throw the meat back into the crockpot (leaving the dr. pepper/adobo mixture in there.)  allow to simmer for a few more hours.  if you can wait that long.
9. serve on a sandwich, tacos, nachos, pizza.

enjoy!