Pulled Pork with Zero Carb BBQ Sauce

I had pulled pork cooked in an green egg a few weeks ago at a friend’s house in Georgia. A green egg? It’s a high end ceramic charcoal cooker that keeps temperatures regulated throughout the cooking process and it’s shaped like a green egg (see photo). It tasted delicious, but unfortunately, the green egg costs over $1,000, requires a deck or balcony (which is impossible in NY), and takes 8 hours of monitoring. Instead of all that, I just use my handy slow-cooker. And what about the BBQ sauce? Aha – this is where it gets exciting…Zero-calorie delicious BBQ sauce – keep reading and all will be revealed.

Instructions for Cooking the Pulled Pork:

1. Get some pork butt or pork shoulder and place it into the slow cooker. (The photo shows 3lb of pork butt.)
2. Pour some sea salt into the pot (2 tablespoon for 3lb).
3. Add 1 cup water.
4. Optional: add some garlic and onion powder and some of the zero-calorie zero-carb BBQ sauce (see below).
5. Cook on low (300F) for 10-12 hours (it’s ready after around 8 hours, but I like it super tender).
6. Shred using two forks.

Zero-carlorie, Zero-carb BBQ Sauce:

There are 2 incredible parts to this secret sauce:

FIRST, Walden Farms makes these amazing zero-calorie zero-carb dressings and sauces (and even a chocolate dip). You can buy it off Amazon for $3.99 plus shipping or at random little stores like the one on the corner of 9th Ave. and 36th St. without the shipping. There are 4 flavors, and I’ve tried 2 so far: Honey and Thick N’ Spicy. Ok, if you’re reading their reviews on Amazon or you’ve tried it, it’s not exactly amazing. The Thick ‘N Spicy is pretty good if you can handle a lot of spice. The Honey isn’t spicy, but you can taste the fake sugar in it. But, if you add the second part of this secret sauce, it transforms….

SECOND, Crystal Hot Sauce, which you can buy from Amazon for $7.99 and free shipping. It may not sound that amazing, especially since the ingredients are so simple: Aged Red Cayenne Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Salt. But, it is just that…amazing. It adds so much flavor without being too spicy. I love spicy food, but I can’t take huge amounts of spice, so this is perfect.

The trick is to combine the Crystal sauce with the Walden Farm Honey BBQ and then adding a touch of salt. The hot sauce flavor completely covers up the fake sugar taste in the BBQ sauce so that you’re simply left with a delicious sauce! Pour onto your pulled pork, or pulled chicken or whatever meat you want. Zero calories. Zero Carbs. I could write something very cheesy right now, but I’ll stop here.

A Taste Better Than Just Chicken?

I always shy away from the chicken dish at a restaurant, because chicken just tastes like chicken – rather bland and not all that interesting. Part of the problem is that restaurants tend to serve chicken breast, which I’ve always found to be dry and seriously lacking in any flavor. Well, this recipe was amazing – a huge burst of flavor. I found it on food.com, and I’ve so far only made it with drumsticks and wings, but I can’t wait to try it with chicken breasts to see if they can spice them up too! It’s a slow-cooker recipe, which means it’s super easy – but it does require a lot of spices (although you can probably make it with just salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and onion powder). It’s also a very very cheap dish!

Ingredients (makes 5 drumsticks and 5 wings)

• 5 drumsticks and 5 wings (or you can use a whole chicken or 5 chicken breasts)
• 4 teaspoons of salt
• 4 teaspoons of paprika
• 1 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons of onion powder
• 2 teaspoons of thyme
• 2 teaspoons of white pepper
• 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoons of black pepper
• 1 onion

1. Mix all the spices together in a bowl to make a rub for the chicken. If you don’t want your chicken to be spicy, then leave out the cayenne pepper and instead add in more onion powder, but note that the paprika will still make it slightly spicy.
2. Chop up the onion into approximate half inch squares and place at the bottom of the slow-cooker and add a cup of water so that the onions are barely covered.
3. Wash the chicken meat in cold water briefly. Place the washed chicken meat into the bowl with the rub, and rub the spices onto the meat thoroughly – try to get it under the chicken skin if you can. The wings and drumsticks work well here because you can rub the spices under the skin easily.
4. Place each piece of chicken covered with the spices into the slow cooker.
5. Set the slow-cooker on medium (325F if your slowcooker has a temperature controller), and cook for 5 hours or until the chicken meat falls off the bone (slow cooker times can vary dramatically).
6. You can serve the chicken with the bone on or take the bones out since the meat falls off so easily.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

There are some simple inventions that I wish I could have thought of! Toilet seat covers is one of them (I never understand why people laugh at me when I tell them that!) and the slow cooker is another. I’ve always hated cooking meat. I usually either undercook the meat or burn it until it disintegrates into bits of black soot. The slow cooker is simple. It’s pretty hard to undercook it or overcook it! No matter what you do – the meat always comes out tender and full of flavor! So, here’s my recipe (modifications you can make to the basic recipe are at the end):

What you will need:

1. Slow cooker. I have the Presto 06001, which doubles as a convenient deep frier, but I would probably recommend one with a timer as well as temperature settings, like the Hamilton Beach 33967.
2. 2lbs of beef (I like to use a cheap cut like the bottom round roast, but you can use most cuts that would be suitable for a roast). Cut the meat into 1lb pieces like the ones shown in the photo.
3. 2 cups (0.5 quarts or 500ml) of soy sauce (you can use the gluten free or low sodium or even coconut aminos depending on what you’re avoiding in your diet).
4. 3 tablespoons of sea salt.
5. 1 tablespoon of onion powder or minced onion.
6. 1 tablespoon of garlic powder.
7. 1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves (this is optional – you can also use fresh cilantro).

Cooking Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker.
2. Fill the slow cooker with enough water to cover the meat (approximately 4 cups). You can let the meat marinade in the slow cooker with no heat for 2 hours so that the meat is more flavorful, but this is optional.
3. Put the lid onto the slowcooker, turn on the heat to 325F, and cook for 8 hours.

Wasn’t that simple?? I like the 8 hours cook time because if your slow cooker doesn’t have a timer (like mine), then you can put the meat in just before bed and then voila it’s all cooked when you get up in the morning. You can then take it out of the slow cooker, place it on a plate to cool for a bit and then stick it into the fridge.

You can eat the meat just by itself or with some extra soy sauce or chili sauce for more flavor. I like to put the meat in the fridge so that it hardens a bit and then to cut it into thin slices. I then dip it in soy sauce or chili sauce.

Modifications

1. For a more Chinese flavor to the meat (as if the soy sauce wasn’t enough!), you can add in 3 or 4 star of anise and 1 tablespoon of Sichuan (or SzeChuan) peppercorns (see photo). I buy these down in Chinatown, New York. I’m sure your local Chinese supermarket will carry them, or if you prefer, Amazon.com also sells them!
2. For a more traditional pot roast, replace the soy sauce with 3 cans of beef broth.
3. If you want some tasty vegetables with your pot roast, try adding some carrots or daikon (also known as white radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish or lo bok). Cut the carrots or radishes into half inch thick slices and throw them into the slow cooker an hour before the meat is done. All the flavor gets cooked into the veggies, making them soft and delicious.