This Southern thing might be rubbing off!

I love living in the South.  Mostly because of the weather.  I'm over the whole snow thing......been there.....froze that.  But, while I love living here, I've never really tried to "be Southern".  My personality and attitude are strictly Yankee.  There's no "how nice" boshizzle here, dahlin!

That being said, I looooove Southern barbecue.  Love.  It.  But have always been too intimidated to try making it.  I don't have a BBQ pit in the back yard big enough to roast three whole pigs, but I do have a kick-ass All Clad slow cooker.  So, I bit the bullet.

I stopped by the meat counter at Whole Foods the other day and they had this:

A Boston Butt.  It's not Matt Damon's (he's from Boston.....work with me here), but it was adorable, none the less.

I had also seen this spice packet in WF a while ago and love anything chipotle, so I got a couple of packets and figured I'd find something to do with it......that's when the bell's rang and the lights flashed.....chipotle spice rub.....Boston Butt....match made in Heaven!

In case you can't find this or don't live hear a WF, here's the ingredients:  Spices (black pepper, cumin, mustard, coriander, oregano, red pepper, chipotle, celery seed, cloves, cinnamon, allspice), turbinado sugar, sea salt, paprika, garlic, onion).  Nice, right?

I was also looking for a little smoke flavor and since I don't own a smoker, I put in a tablespoon of Pimenton which is a Spanish smoked paprika.  I have this in sweet, bittersweet and hot.  I would have preferred the hot version, but I want to be able to serve this to the Fam next week and they're wimps when it comes to spicy, so I went with the sweet version.  If you've ever smelled this stuff, you know what I'm talking about when I say smokey!!  I love it.

I got mine at www.tienda.com.  It's great on everything from pork to fish.  You need this in your pantry.

So, I combined the spices and rubbed it all over my Butt (that made me smile) and then wrapped my Butt in saran wrap (Tawanda!!) and threw it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning I put it in the slow cooker, turned it on low for eight hours and went to play tennis, workout, did some shopping, went to the BFF's for dinner, had a cocktail and came home to this:

Now it may not look like much here, but did it smell f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s.

I did the whole "two fork pull" and I actually had pulled-pork!  Yes Virginia, I am Southern!!

Which lead me to the realization that you can't exactly have barbecue with just the meat....you may need some sauce.  So, in staying with the chipotle theme,  I thought "who does chipotle better than Bobby Flay?"  I Googled Mr. Flay and found this recipe:

Chipotle-Molasses BBQ Sauce

by Bobby Flay

Yield:  about 5 1/2 cups

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped (I only had yellow onions in the house)

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 cups canned plum tomatoes and juices, pureed

2 cups water

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup molasses

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons ancho chile powder (this is sometimes hard to find, but you can get it at Spice Barn....it's worth it to find it)

2 chipotle chiles, canned

salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed medium sized saucepan.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent, 3-4 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and water and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for an additional 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.   Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour into a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature.  Will keep for 1 weeks in the refrigerator stored in a tightly sealed container.

This sauce is delicious.  My first taste, I was afraid it was going to be too sweet, but then you get this subtle heat and smoke, and it just this perfect combination.  Just a great barbecue sauce....great for chicken also.

I took about two cups and mixed it into the meat and put the rest in a plastic container.

I put the pork into the refrigerator overnight, heated it up the next day with some additional sauce and wow....really good.

Mr. B's coming home from a snowy, COLD Detroit this afternoon, so I think in combination with the 70 degree temperatures of Alabama, some barbecue would be perfect for dinner!  Sorry, yankees.