Guest Post: Sarah Owen "How to Make Kick-Butt BBQ"

Cheryl and I go way back. I mean waaayyyy back to the years of awkward tween-ness that we would all rather forget. As much as we’ve changed over the years, though, she has always had a knack for art, writing, ingenuity and over-all craftiness. I’m privileged to be a guest on her blog and hope I can do it some justice. I hope you can glean something from my experience making one of the latest recipes I’ve discovered!

Sarah’s Kick-Butt BBQ

So, I bought some pork tenderloin a while back on a BOGO deal they were running at Giant (the best kind of deal ever!!). Pork tenderloin can be on the expensive side, but in this instance, about 3 pounds of meat fed my husband and me twice and he took it to his jobsite and fed himself and two employees for lunch one day…and I got 3 pounds free for next time!

 I had no idea what to do with this cut, so I went to the ever-faithful source of knowledge….Pinterest. I picked the first pulled pork recipe I could find, and it was a winner!!! It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tangy…and it’s super easy because it’s made in a slow cooker. Whether it’s made the night before a big picnic, or thrown together for an easy winter dinner, this BBQ is to die for! Now I'll show you how to do it.

One positive about this particular recipe is that it’s comprised of ingredients you will find in the typical kitchen. Apparently, my kitchen isn’t typical because I had to substitute a lot of the ingredients….I’ll explain those later.

You will need:

1/2 medium onion, sliced

1 lb pork tenderloin

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 tsp soy sauce

2 TBSP spicy brownmustard

1 TBSP minced fresh garlic

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

To start, I sliced my onions into longer, thicker pieces. That’s just the way I prefer them. Either way, they will cook through by the time you’re done cooking the meat, so it doesn’t really matter.

 

Put the onions in the bottom of your crock-pot and lay the tenderloin on top. In a bowl, whisk together all the other ingredients. 

 

Here’s where I improvised…a lot. I made the mistake of throwing this all together in the morning on the day I wanted to have it for supper. When I went for all the things I thought I had, I didn’t have them. 

 

Instead of:

¼ cup tomato paste- I used an extra ¼ cup ketchup. Same thing basically.

1 tsp. soy sauce- I used some Worcestershire sauce. I actually really like this flavor, so I think I’ll make that a permanent adjustment when I make my own.

2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard- I used regular mustard. Once again, I’m not sure how much the spicy mustard would have altered the flavor, but I didn’t mind the regular.

1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic- I used about 2 tsp. garlic powder. I LOVE fresh garlic, and always prefer it. It was seriously the only time I’ve ever not had any on hand.

On top of it all, I had to triple the recipe (because I had 3lbs meat), but didn’t have enough of what I DID have to cover it! So to add a little more liquid, I whisked in half a bottle of store bought BBQ sauce.

Pour your BBQ mixture over the meat to cover it, pop on the lid and set your cooker on low. Cook for 6-8 hours.

 

About 4-5 hours into cooking (the meat should be cooked through at this point) I pulled my tenderloin out with two big forks and placed it on a cutting board. The “grain” of the meat will be running long ways across the length of the cut. Cut the tenderloin (careful, it’s HOT) across the grain every 4 inches or so, and then pull apart pieces with the forks to give it that shredded look. Don’t worry about pulling too much…it will continue to separate as it cooks for the last few hours. (You don’t have to cut the meat into small pieces, but I prefer it that way so it’s not as messy to serve.) Place the meat back in the pot and drain off any sauce if it looks like there’s too much.

Cook for the remaining 1-2 hours and serve on some good, crusty rolls. I made mine with homemade French fries and cheddar potato soup. 

 Quite obviously, there is no wrong way to make this stuff. Be creative, make it your own and enjoy!

theCrumbster's Version: add home-made coleslaw and oven fries!