Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Quick Slow Cooked BBQ Party Pork

Recently, I had a the privilege of attending a party to celebrate a friend and swim team mate Katy Dooley's victorious solo swim across the English Channel.  She is a swimming rock star and I am so proud of her.  She completed her swim in 11 hours and 16 minutes.  Amazing!
Hook 'Em!  Katy on French Soil!
It was pot luck, and knowing that while I'm trying to eat clean paleo, if I don't bring something I can eat to a party, it's likely, I'll be stuck eating raw veggies off a veggie tray.


My original idea was to take some sausage with homemade barbecue sauce.  When I got to the store, I was amazed that I couldn't seem to find a sausage without less than ideal ingredients.  Most had soy proteins and MSG in them.  They did have some pretty baby back ribs.  It was still early enough in the day, if I hurried home, I could put them in the slow cooker for that evening.  I knew from making the Five Spice Slow Cooker Pork Ribs that all I needed was 6 hours.

When I got home, I quickly did an internet search for a dry barbecue rub for these ribs and found this recipe.  I know its another slow cooker pork rib recipe, but since these ended up working out well, I decided I'd share them here.


I had all of the spices on hand: Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Chili Powder, Paprika, Dried Oregano, and Thyme.  I took a chance and omitted the brown sugar.  I put all of the rub ingredients in a bowl and mixed them well.  

 






After cutting the pork ribs into smaller pieces, I coated the ribs in the rub.  


In the Five Spice recipe, I put coconut aminos and and rice wine vinegar in the bottom of the crock.  This time, I decided to use some balsamic vinegar (2 tablespoons) and water (1 tablespoon).  I hoped that the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar would make up for the deletion of brown sugar.  Once I had them stacked in the cooker, I drizzled a little more balsamic vinegar over the top of them.


After 6 hours on high, here is what I had to take to the party.  I was really somewhat worried about taking these to the party.  As much as I cook, I'm not entirely confident in my cooking when it comes to cooking for others.  I'm not certain why.  Only once has an individual told me they didn't like my cooking, well, I don't associate with that person any longer!


Accessibility and Cost of Ingredients:  You should be able to find all of the ingredients at your "big box" grocery store.  You'll likely have most if not all of the spices in your pantry already.  I bought 8.76 pounds of these ribs at a local warehouse store for 2.99/lb. 

Preparation/Cook Time:  It took me about 10 minutes to spice the ribs and load them into the slow cooker.  I cooked them for 6 hours on high in the slow cooker. 

Clean up:  Everything went into the dishwasher.  Voila!  

The Paleo Review:  Thumbs Up!  No, they don't look pretty, but they were so tender they fell off the bone as I tried cutting them down.  I really liked the end flavor savory barbecue flavor of these ribs and I think my friends at the party enjoyed them as well.