Sweating to Death Part 2: Ribs!

So I meant to post this mid-August but time ran away from me and here we are staring September in the face.  This recipe is perfect for summer because it involves no standing over hot appliances and has a prep time of maybe 15 minutes.  My apologies for not getting to it sooner, but I hope it's worth the wait! 

A hard thing for a girl to say goodbye to when you go primal is sugar, but I have to admit, I feel that I've done a fairly good job regarding how to get around the sweet treats addiction lately.  In fact by now everyone probably thinks all I do is eat desserts, which honestly doesn't offend me, but sadly is not true.  As a rule I always save my sugars for the good stuff, you know, cookies, cakes, chewy Sprees, and I try to be smart about it because all that sugar adds up to, well, fat.  My thinking is that I would much rather gain a pound from brownies and ice cream than because I ate too much glazed ham... makes sense, right?

There is, however, a plethora of other recipes which I enjoy that require the same sweet, sticky substance and are not at all dessert-related.  As a result of my "rule" I have been forced to either discard these recipes (which is better than deleting desserts) or find alternate ways of making them.  Unfortunately it's easier said than done.  Sugar has certain qualities that make it not only delicious but obnoxious to replace in non-baking environments.  You want to make a killer chicken teriyaki?  Sugar.  Make pizza dough?  Sugar.  Glaze those delicious chicken wings with a gooey, sweet sauce?  You get the idea.

This brings me to my point.  My mom gave me a recipe for pulled pork.  Great Rachel, thanks for sharing.  No really, do you KNOW how much sugar is in pulled pork?  Why do you think you drool when you eat it?  Kind of a cruel trick don't you think, naming something after a meat when it's more dessert than dinner?  Anyways, I usually don't like non-sugar pulled pork recipes but I decided to give this one a whirl.  I was craving (in a sad sort of way) a good pulled pork meal, and if my mom says it's good, chances are it's good.  So I headed to the store to buy a pork butt, or as I called it in my head "whatever all pork is the same", ready to make my first slow cooked pulled pork.

Really I had no idea what I was looking for.  I DID think all meat hunks were the same, but soon discovered how wrong I was.  So finally I had to ask a random lady at Trader Joe's (by ask I mean stalk in the meat aisle until I caught her attetion) what type of pork to buy.  She told me what I needed (of course they didn't have it), so I drove to Stop and Shop, repeating the name of the meat over and over in my head until I got to the meat section, looked up and down for EVER, got annoyed (I was hungry), and settled for ribs instead.  Yes mom I should have called you and yes EVERYONE ELSE I could have written it down but really would the story have been as good?

That was the end of my journey.  I am happy to report that upon my arrival home with said pork ribs I quite easily combined the ingredients, rubbed them onto the ribs, and plunked them down for a nice hot bath in my handy dandy crock pot.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love it?  The result was a meal that involved minimal sweating and lots of happiness when eating.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Ribs/Pulled Pork

(crock pot or slow cooker needed)

• 2.5 lbs boneless pork butt shoulder OR ribs
• 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, then rub over pork thoroughly coating all sides.  Add 1/2 cup water to the crock pot, then add meat on top.  Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-5.  I cut up a bell pepper and added them to the pot about halfway through the cook time as well.  Be VERY CAREFUL taking out the meat, it will fall off the bone.  I recommend using tongs and cooking some fresh corn from Deerfield, MA to make the meal complete :)

**thanks to my mom for the recipe!