Slow Cooker Bacon Wrapped Pulled Pork

 Sure enough, just when I was excited about being back to updating my blog life got in the way, and it's been months now since I posted.  Oops.  I've taken lots of pictures of Jefferson with the intention of then posting a recipe, but I have no excuse other than life.  And we just got back from a pretty amazing trip to Europe, so in all honesty a lot of my free time before the trip was spent doing trip planning and watching YouTube travel videos.  

Anyway, this was fresh in my mind because I just made it Monday, so I figured before I start working this morning I'd do a quick write up about it.  I had plans Monday night to play bunco, and normally if I'm going to be gone for dinner my husband and kids get some kind of take out for dinner or everyone fends for themselves.  I used to always make something then realized they would just get pizza, so at some point I figured why go to the trouble.  But we were going to get takeout on Tuesday, so I didn't want the money spent two nights in a row.  Pork shoulders were on sale, and we hadn't had this in awhile, so the stars aligned for this to be dinner on Monday.

I'm not a huge barbecue fan.  I don't dislike it, but unless we're somewhere like Austin or Kansas City I am not usually inclined to make barbecue my first choice.  Technically I'm not sure if this recipe counts as barbecue since it's done in a slow cooker, but whatever...pulled pork is decidedly barbecue, right?  I do like this recipe as it's super easy to put together and really versatile, and it's one that everyone in my family really likes.  Since you don't actually cook it with any barbecue sauce you can use the meat for all kinds of things.  Last night I threw some of the leftovers in a skillet with some El Pato tomato sauce then put it in quesadillas.

Remember a few years ago when those Tasty cooking videos were so popular?  Man I loved watching them.  That's where I got this recipe.  The original post is linked below, but I don't make it with the coleslaw, I just do the pork, so that's the recipe I'm posting.

Slow Cooker Bacon Wrapped Pulled Pork

Source: Buzzfeed/Tasty cooking video

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ tablespoon liquid smoke

8 strips of bacon

Quarter pork to portion into approximately ½-pound pieces.  Place pork into a large bowl. Add salt, garlic powder, and liquid smoke, and mix until each piece of pork is evenly covered.  Wrap each pork with bacon.  Place pork into the slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Take pork out onto a baking sheet. With 2 forks, pull apart the meat into desired size.  Broil on high for a few minutes to until the ends of the pork start to crisp up.  Serve on a bun with added barbecue sauce if desired.

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Pork chunks wrapped in bacon.  I don't actually weigh mine, I just cut into chunks and then wrap in bacon.  Usually one piece of bacon fits around the pork with the size I cut.

Shredded pork!

Pork shredded and back in the slow cooker to keep it warm.  The bacon gives it good smoky flavor and adds a little fat that crisps up nicely under the broiler.

No pics of it being served or plated since I wasn't here for dinner.