The Crock Pot and Shredded Pork

Last week, I decided to give my crock pot a try again with a pork shoulder I had in the freezer. You see, my freezer is packed almost completely full (Well, for me it is. If you asked my mom who has the worlds most packed freezer, it is spacious and has lots of potential). I'm trying really hard to minimize my used freezer space a bit more and to meal plan with my leftovers so as to reduce the amount I throw out. Also, I recently purchased a crock pot. I should note that I have an aversion to specialty appliances and that this purchase was considered for a long time before I pulled the trigger. I don't have a bread machine, a pizza stone, a panini press, a cappuccino machine, a standing mixer, a pasta machine, a wok, etc. While I cook a lot and enjoy trying new things, I hate the clutter of all those devices when most things can be made with something more universal that can be used for more things. I do actually have a crepe maker (love those despite not having used it in about 9 years), but I think that's my only real specialty product.

For someone that cooks from scratch all the time and is kind of picky about the food I make, the crock pot always represented crappy food to me. If you are just throwing everything in at once and walking away, how can it really be good? Well, I'm trying to reconsider this theory. I have to say that while I really want the crock pot to work out, I haven't really found any great recipes that have worked. I did a chicken that I overcooked; a beef stew that was just bland; and country style ribs that weren't good either. I did buy 2 books and am constantly on the lookout for crock pot recipes. I used it on Thanksgiving to keep the mashed potatoes warm for 3 hours before serving and it worked great for that at least! The stick of butter I had floating on top probably helped.

Anyhoo...I tried a recipe from Food & Wine for Carnitas Tacos. I had a 2 1/2 lb pork shoulder in my freezer that I cut up into 1 1/2 in. cubes. I tossed them in olive oil, salt, and oregano and put them into the crock pot. I put 1 large onion sliced thickly layered on top and cooked on low for 6 hours. I shredded the pork and lo and behold, it was good! I used the pork the first night for what ended up being burritos for Joe and I instead of the tacos in the recipe. Now I had all this leftover shredded pork to eat and found a recipe on Epicurious for Mexican sandwiches which involved making my own refried beans. They came out great and were so easy! I followed the recipe for the refried beans. I spread them on large Portuguese rolls with shredded cheddar, a little sour cream, the reheated pork, avocado slices, and some sauteed red peppers I had leftover. Yum, yum. I did over salt the beans a bit, but otherwise I was really pleased with the results of both meals! Yeah crock pot, you didn't let me down.