By Memorial Day again, and this year Larry drove in for it. He has been on the road more than usual this spring, longer hauls, farther distances, and when he walked through the door Saturday afternoon he looked thinner than the last time I saw him and I noticed it the way you notice a crack in a wall: you see it, you file it away, you decide to worry about it later. Larry is sixty-four. He has been driving for forty years. He looks like forty years of driving: lean, weathered, strong in a way that is also fragile, like a bridge that holds but you can see the strain.
The parade was the same as always. Third Street, fire trucks, the marching band, the VFW. Justin watched the veterans and was quiet again, and I let him be quiet because quiet is sometimes the loudest thing a person can offer. Larry stood next to me and we watched together, father and daughter, two truckers on a day off, and I thought about how I learned everything from this man: how to drive, how to be alone, how to eat cornbread crumbled in buttermilk at four a.m. in a truck cab, how to keep going when the road is long and the dark is everywhere.
Dave grilled. The potato salad was mustardy. Gayle brought the baked beans. The chocolate sheet cake made an appearance because the chocolate sheet cake makes an appearance at everything. The kids ate until they were round and then ran with sparklers in the dusk, the same as last year, the same as always, and I sat on the porch and watched and thought: this is the good part. This is the part we are going to remember.
Larry ate two hamburgers and a piece of cake and fell asleep in the lawn chair, which is what he does, and I covered him with a blanket because the evening was cool and because covering your father with a blanket is something you do not get to do often enough. He woke up at nine and drove home and I followed him with my eyes until his truck disappeared down the road, and I said be safe the way I always say be safe, and he waved without looking back the way he always waves, and the distance between us grew the way it always grows, and I went inside and washed the dishes and missed him already.
Dave did the grilling this year and we had the usual spread—hamburgers, potato salad, Gayle’s baked beans, the chocolate sheet cake that never misses a gathering—but if I’m putting a recipe in your hands today, it’s these pulled pork sandwiches, because they are the kind of thing you set in the slow cooker before the parade and they’re ready when everyone comes home hungry. Larry would have eaten three of them. The best cookout food is the food that lets you stay on the porch with the people you love instead of standing over a grill, and this is that recipe.
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours | Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 4 pounds bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt)
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup BBQ sauce, plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 12 hamburger buns or brioche rolls
Instructions
- Season the pork. Mix smoked paprika, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Pat the pork shoulder dry and rub the spice mixture all over the meat.
- Layer the slow cooker. Place the sliced onion and smashed garlic cloves in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Set the seasoned pork shoulder on top, fat side up.
- Add the liquids. Whisk together the BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Pour the mixture around the pork.
- Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is fork-tender and falls apart easily.
- Shred the pork. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and transfer to a large cutting board. Discard the bone and any large pieces of fat. Shred the meat using two forks.
- Sauce it up. Skim the fat from the cooking liquid. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker and stir to coat in the juices. Add more BBQ sauce to taste and let it warm through for 10 to 15 minutes on low.
- Serve. Pile the pulled pork onto buns and serve with extra BBQ sauce, coleslaw, or pickles on the side.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 410 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 680mg