Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

The following four ingredients take 5 minutes to assemble…

The resulting meat will be feeding your family and guests for days on end…

And they deliver the most versatile, easy, meal-making thing you’ll have had in your refrigerator in a long time.

Tender, juicy, and tantalizing Kalua Pork is amazing as is. Stuffed into a toasted roll – pretzel rolls being my personal favorite – is a meal in itself.

But there is so much more you can do with it; add to omelets or frittatas. Fill a wrap or toss into a salad. Pile into tortillas or crisp lettuce leaves, garnished with tomatoes, guacamole and salsa, for sumptuous tacos or lettuce wraps.

You get the idea – this stuff is versatile!

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

4 slices thick-cut bacon
6 to 8-pound boneless pork shoulder
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse pink Hawaiian sea salt

Line the bottom of a slow cooker with bacon slices.

Using a paring knife, make 6 small incisions in the pork and push the garlic cloves inside.

Rub the pork all over with the sea salt.

Place in the slow cooker, on top of the bacon, fat-side up.

Cover and cook on low for 14 to 16 hours or until the meat is basically falling apart, turning over after 7 hours.

When the pork is done, transfer to a rack that is set over a large baking sheet, allowing the fat to drip off.  I have to use a slotted spoon to get mine out of the cooker, it is falling apart that much. This is exactly what you’re looking for.

Pour the cooking liquid into a large measuring cup and refrigerate to allow the fat to come to the surface.

When the pork is cool enough to handle, shred with your hands, discarding the fat as you go.

Remove the liquid from the refrigerator and spoon off the fat that has risen to the top.

Season the pork, to taste, with a little bit of the remaining cooking liquid, taking great care to taste as you go, as the cooking liquid will be very salty!

Then enjoy!

Makes about 8 to 10 cups of shredded pork