Good old fashioned Southern barbecue

Very soon after moving to Georgia from Utah, I was invited to a gathering where I was told there would be "barbecue" for dinner.  Like anyone who comes from the northern side of the Mason-Dixon line, I assumed there would be hot dogs and hamburgers or something of that nature, and I was sure it was going to be barbecued on the grill.  I could not have been more wrong.  In the South, pulled pork on a bun and slathered with your favorite barbecue sauce (a.k.a. "barbecue") is not only a classic dish, but a staple.  My husband has had barbecue on the brain for several weeks now and after watching "Throwdown With Bobby Flay" where Flay was scorched by a lady barbecue champion, we were decided.  Barbecue would be on the menu!  We decided to make it in the crock-pot, as we don't have a smoker and it seemed to be the best way, and so we bought a 10 lb. bone-in Boston Butt (Pork Shoulder) and last Friday night at about 11pm I put a spice rub on it and set it in the crock-pot (fat side up) all by it's lonesome self.  It cooked all night and I think I woke up about 6:45 and the whole house smelled like meat.  I couldn't get back to sleep after that.  When I took it out of the crock pot it just fell apart.  It was so tender and juicy (and fatty).  It didn't take very long to pull it!  At around 11:30 my brother and his family came over for lunch.  Man did we have a lot of pork!  Ben likes a mustard-based (South Carolina) barbecue sauce, but I like the traditional tomato-based barbecue sauce, so we had some of each.  I had made some coleslaw the night before, and traditionally you put the coleslaw right on top of the pork and sauce.  I like it with the coleslaw on the sandwich, Ben does not.  (Go figure.)  I wish I had taken a picture of the sandwich once I got it made.  It was beautiful!  And it tasted even better.  Everyone ate well, with 10 lbs. of meat, and we still had half of it left.

We had a fabulous time chatting with each other and after lunch, I decided to make some cookies.  Of course my neice and nephew wanted to help, so here we are making some cookies which turned out AWESOME!

So the verdict is, we need to make pulled pork more often.  In fact, I was watching a cooking show online and the gal said that pork shoulder is actually a really good bargain--it's only about $1 per lb.  Considering how far that goes ...  So, here's to pulled pork and some good ol' fashioned Southern barbecue!