In the South, we center so many things around food. I’ve said it before, I know, but really, we do.
New baby? Death in the family? Hospital stay? Bad day at work? Broken heart? Child leaving for college? Just got home from vacation and you’re exhausted? Missing your family in another state?
We try to make all of these situations better with food. Really. We do.
Because nothing says, “I love you” quite like a big, warm casserole or a hearty bowl of soup.
Most of us cook for those we love on a daily basis, so it’s only natural that cooking comes to feel like an act of love. If you view it that way – instead of as some dreadful chore – cooking becomes a joy instead of a burden.
We live in a wonderful neighborhood. There are kids for our kids to play with. There are trustworthy friends to keep an eye on our house when we’re away. There is an awesome neighborhood watch community in place. Halloween is a huge event with hundreds – yes, I said hundreds – of kids coming to trick or treat. We have great police patrols. It’s just a great place to live. An older couple lives very close to us and the sweet wife has been struggling through some health issues for a while now. She was recently in the hospital and they have had lots of family in and out caring for her. Her husband is wonderful. He is in amazing shape and stays active. He is such a wonderful caregiver for her.
I decided to take them dinner a few days ago, so I loaded up the crock pot with a huge pork loin and let it cook all day. After I shredded it and added sweet, honey-hickory barbecue sauce, I took it over with some soft buns. They were so gracious and thankful.
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- 4-5 pound pork loin
- 10-oz. bag of frozen onions
- salt and pepper
- Your favorite barbecue sauce
- Sandwich buns
Remove pork loin from its wrapping and rinse with cold water. Pour onions into the bottom of your crock pot. Place pork loin on top. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Cook on low all day – 8 hours.
Remove pork from crock pot to a plate or tray. Use two forks to shred the meat. Place shredded meat into a bowl and stir in barbecue sauce. Start with two cups and add more as needed. Serve on soft buns.
Well Duh #1: When placing the pork loin into the crock pot, make sure the fat cap is on top. That way, the juices drip down into the meat as it cooks.
Well Duh #2: Before shredding, remove and discard the fat cap. It will peel right off.
Well Duh #3: When you think you’ve added enough sauce, add a little more. Some of it will soak into the meat – and there’s nothing worse than a dry pulled pork sandwich.
Well Duh #4: This is wonderful reheated the next day! You can even freeze it. I like to use an ice cream scoop to make scoops of the meat on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Then I freeze them. After they are frozen, I place the scoops into separate freezer bags. That way, you can thaw one serving at a time.
Well Duh #5: You can use 2 cups of chopped fresh onion, if you’d rather.
I made a double batch – one for our neighbors and one for my family. I hope they enjoyed their dinner as much as we did! I’m so glad I took them a meal. It was such a small thing to do. But sometimes a small thing can seem really big to someone else.
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