Porkalicious

My sister Nora recently shared a recipe for Pork Char Sui - brined and barbecued pork tenderloin sandwiches. It was wonderful - but I'm seriously into simplifying my recipes. And I'm currently in love with my crockpot - It cooks while I'm at work! It's like having a a maid without the guilt of that comes with ordering people around.

I tweaked the recipe -- tossed a pork shoulder into the crockpot with some sauce and came up with this marvelously scrumptious and pathetically easy dish.

Pork Char Sui is a barbecued pork. Since this meat doesn't get anywhere near a barbecue, I'm calling it Pork Crock Sui.

1 boneless pork shoulder (about 1 1/2 lbs)

Sauce:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup ketchup
1 cup hoisin sauce
4 tbs toasted sesame oil
4 tbs minced garlic
4 tbs soy sauce


12 slices of canned pineapple
24 King's Hawaiian sweet rolls - the whole wheat dinner rolls from Winco work just fine, too
1 cup cilantro sprigs

2. Put pork in the crock pot.
3. Mix sauce ingredients.

4. Pour 1/2 the sauce over the pork - reserve the other half.
5. Cook pork on low for 5-6 hours.
6. Take out the pork and slice into 1/4 inch slices or shred, if that works. Just get it into manageable pieces. Place it back in the crockpot to stay warm.
7. Fry or grill pineapple slices til light brown. (Or you could skip the grilling part and just put the pineapple on the sandwich naked and cold - it's OK, really.)
8. Cut rolls in half. Spread about a couple tablespoons of reserved sauce on bun, put some pork on top, and add a piece of pineapple and a cilantro sprig.

Thank your lucky stars for tastebuds and pigs .... and enjoy.