Friday, February 3, 2017

Joey's Slammin' Pork Sliders



OK, lemme start right off by saying I have no idea where I got the idea for this recipe. Somewhere, somehow, I saw a recipe for slow cooker pulled pork that used Catalina French dressing as its base. It sounded good, so I bought the pork and the salad dressing. Unfortunately, when I went back for it, I had NO IDEA where I had seen the recipe. Hmm. I googled and googled. Nope. Still couldn't find it. Actually, I did find a similar pork chop recipe, but my original inspiration was nowhere to be found. So of course, I figured, "well, I guess I'll make my own!" And this is the result!
 Basically, I added ingredients based on my hopes for the final product. I knew I wanted it to be sweet and spicy and tangy and saucy. The Catalina dressing was a great place to start the sauce, a little honey for sweetness, a few crushed red pepper flakes for some heat, soy sauce to balance the sweet, and onions and garlic for a savory depth of flavor. It all worked PERFECTLY! The end result is kinda like BBQ sauce, only not. And it definitely hits all the notes I wanted it to hit. Fun, huh? They're perfect for your Super Bowl party, actually ANY party, for that matter. And it's so easy, a cooking novice can do it! You simply MUST try 'em!



1 3-4 lb pork roast
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 8oz bottle Catalina French dressing
1/3 cup honey
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook for 7-8 hours on low. Using two forks, pull the meat apart into shreds. Stir to coat the shredded pork with sauce. Serve on soft slider rolls.



Tips:
The amounts are just guidelines. If you like a lot of something, add a lot! Add extra onions or garlic, sweeten it up with a little extra honey. Want more heat? Add more pepper flakes! It all works!
I served this with a side of cole slaw and some sweet pickles, but you do you! Also a little drizzle of Sriracha is AMAZING here. Just sayin'!
I bet you could swap out other salad dressing for the Catalina. I think I might try regular French dressing or maybe red Russian dressing next time.
This makes just the right amount of sauce to go with a small roast. If you're making a large roast, you might want to double the amounts of the sauce ingredients.

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