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You know how some things may seem daunting at first glance, but come to find it was all in your head and wasn’t scary at all? For me, these are things like speaking in front of groups of people – big or small. In my head I play out the worst case scenario – forgetting my words, not being able to say any words, or repeating ‘like’ or ‘umm’ too many times, a big no-no. I stress over those days more than I should, but then a funny thing happens. I get up there and all is well – my words come out as practiced and I avoid the epic failure that was building up in my head.
Sometimes even silly things set off my worrisome radar. Things like serving food I’ve worked so hard on to other people or worst of all, sharing my recipes for the world to criticize. Because isn’t the scariest part of life rejection?
You may ask why I’m talking about situations that seem daunting at first but actually aren’t. And that’s because today’s recipe is one of those. While it’s nothing close to public speaking or being rejected, there are a lot of ingredients which might send your radar off, immediately labeling this as a “complicated” recipe that’s intimidating. And while I do admit there are a lot of ingredients, the steps are ridiculously easy and require practically no skill whatsoever.
The spice rub for the pork comes together in seconds and the only “cooking” you have to do is brown the meat before tossing into the slow-cooker where all the hard work is done. Ingredients for the blackberry barbecue sauce are all mixed together in a saucepan, cooked until the flavors mesh together then thrown into the blender for a smooth texture. So what may appear to be complicated is actually something that comes together with little effort on your part but with maximum results.
- Blackberry Barbecue Sauce
- 4 ounces blackberries
- ¼ cup blackberry jam
- ½ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ small onion, diced
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon canola oil1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Red pepper flake
- Pulled Pork
- 1 3-4 pound pork butt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, sliced thinly
- ⅛ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- For sauce:
- Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 20-25 minutes.
- Transfer to a blender or food processor – you could also use a hand immersion blender – blend until smooth. If you would like the blackberry seeds disposed, send the sauce through a sieve to discard seeds.
- For Pork:
- Mix brown sugar, chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and salt in a small bowl, set aside.
- Season pork butt with a liberal dousing of salt.
- Heat a large sauté pan over a high heat, add oil and brown all sides of the pork. Sprinkle onions in the bottom of your slow cooker, pour chicken stock over.
- Dry pork off and rub the spices all over the pork, place on top of onion.
- Turn the slow-cooker on low and cook for 7-9 hours until pork is fork tender.
- Shred pork and add ¼ - ½ cup barbecue sauce, mix until combined – (This step is optional.) Serve pork on biscuits or large onion buns and lots of extra barbecue sauce.
Karyl says
Recipes that require practically no skills: that sounds right up my alley! This looks amazing Nicole; can’t wait to make it.