Shredded Pork with Beans

Fall. Deer season prep, stand maintenance with Rémy, venison chili. The season of gumbo weather and hunting mornings and the slow darkening of the days that matches the slow darkening of the roux, and both are beautiful, and both are necessary, and the dark is where the flavor lives.

The dinner table conversations are getting deeper as the kids get older. Colette talks about art and meaning and the responsibility of the artist to preserve what\'s disappearing. Rémy talks about food philosophy and sustainability and the relationship between the hunter and the hunted. These are my children, cher. These are the people the roux built. They think in layers. They see in seasons. They understand that the food on the table is not just fuel but language, and the language is Cajun, and the Cajun is alive.

There’s no gumbo without the waiting — and this week, with Colette talking about preservation and Rémy talking about the ethics of the hunt, I kept coming back to that same truth applied to everything slow and worth doing. I didn’t have all day to stand over a roux, but I needed something that cooked the same way it thinks: low, long, and layered. Shredded pork with beans is that dish for me — you put it together in the morning, you go do the work that matters, and by the time everyone sits down with something to say, supper is already saying it for you.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours | Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 lbs pork shoulder (bone-in or boneless)
2 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Season the pork. Pat pork shoulder dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, and oregano. Rub the spice mixture evenly over all sides of the pork.
Sear for depth (optional but worth it). Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the pork on all sides, about 3—4 minutes per side, until a dark crust forms. This builds flavor the slow cooker can’t.
Build the base. Add diced onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth to the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Stir to combine.
Add pork and beans. Nestle the seared pork shoulder into the slow cooker. Scatter the drained pinto beans around and over 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 completely fork-tender and falling apart.
Shred and return. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and shred with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat or bone. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker and stir to incorporate with the beans and braising liquid.
Rest and serve. Let everything rest together on WARM for 10 minutes so the pork can absorb the liquid. Serve over white rice, with cornbread, or straight from the bowl.

Nutrition (per serving)

Shredded Pork with Beans — The Slow Work That Feeds the People the Roux Built