Pork 'n' sauce 'n' taters 'n' gravy

Even though I know it'll put me in a precarious position with barbeque purists to say so ... I can make a pretty good pile o' 'que in my kitchen, and it don't require no smoke.

I always cringe whenever I hear someone say that grilling meat on a, well, grill is "barbecuing." To make true barbeque, the meat must be cooked over low and indirect heat.

That said, I still refer to the pulled pork 'n' sauce that I sometimes cook in my Crock-Pot® as "barbeque," mainly 'cause I don't know what else to call it. (I guess I could call it "pulled pork 'n' sauce," but that don't really have much caché, culinarily speaking.)

This is one of my favorite homemade meals ...


... lemme tell you what I did (in this particular case):

I slow-cooked a Boston butt in my Crock-Pot for six hours. It simmered in onions, carrots, garlic, Cavender's Greek Seasoning, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. When it was done, I removed it from the Crock and strained the remaining liqued into a large bowl.

When the meat was cooled enough to touch, I shredded it into large pieces and returned it to the Crock-Pot. I covered it -- this time -- with Nick's mild sauce and a healthy "plop" of Howton's sauce, and I put the Crock on "warm."

Meanwhile, I boiled a half-dozen good-sized taters and mashed 'em with butter, salt and pepper. In a separate pot, I made a roux with two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour. I put about three cups of strained pork butt juice (!) into the pot and reduced it until it was a thick gravy.

So, no, I didn't make proper barbeque; but the barbeque I did make was very, very tasty. Try it ... you'll see!