Spicing Things Up

In an effort to broaden my horizons a little bit (in retrospect Crockpot BBQ is a bit of a confining name so I may diverge into other areas now and then) I decided to make something spicy. While I was at the butcher I noticed that there was a great looking cut of meat called pork tenderloin. It is a lot leaner than the pork butt (top of the shoulder), so despite concerns that it would dry out while cooking, I went ahead and bought it anyway. I also only bought 1 lb instead of my usual 3 lbs. I like to make new things often and rather than have the food go to waste or get suck eating leftovers for a week I figure I will make smaller batches unless I'm expecting more company.

I had two customers for tonight so 1 lb was perfect . The whole lot of it got eaten so I won't be having any leftovers this time around.

Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Onions and Mushrooms


Ingredients:
1 lb of pork tenderloin
2 teaspoons of hot sauce
2 tablespoons of BBQ rub (I use a blend I got at Penzey's Spices)
2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce (I think Old Cape Cod Chipotle goes great)
1 Large Texas sweet onion
1 8 oz box of mushrooms (I used baby bellas, but any will do just fine)

In a small container or bowl pour the hot sauce over the meat and give it a couple turns to evenly coat it. Add in the BBQ seasonings and turn a few more times to evenly coat. Repeat the same process for with BBQ sauce.

Peel the onion and cut into 5 or 6 thick slices and put them at the bottom of the crockpot. Rinse and pull out the stems of the mushrooms. Cut the caps in half and toss on top of the onions. Lay the pork loin on top of the bed of onion and mushrooms.


Set your crockpot on low for 9 hours. Once 9 hours is up, remove the pork tenderloin and shred it using two forks (it should come apart easily). Using a fork or tongs to pull out the onions and mushrooms. There will be a little bit of liquid left at the bottom. Use a baster or just pour it over the meat. This adds back some flavor and returns some of the moistens the meat as well.


I like having the meat on some bread ( I used English muffins in this case), but it'll be just fine on it's own as well. I recommend topping your meat with some extra hot sauce and BBQ sauce as well.

I think my food presentation skills are starting to improve a little bit.