Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork

Thirty-seven. My birthday dinner was pork chops — Kevin grilled them because he's taken ownership of the grill in all weather conditions, and November in Iowa is definitely weather conditions. He stood on the deck in his winter coat grilling pork chops at forty degrees and called it "character building." I called it stubborn. Both accurate.

Dad drove down from Grinnell. This is the first time he's visited the Des Moines house, and he walked through the rooms with the careful attention of a man cataloging a place he didn't build. He said it was nice. He meant it was not the farm. The kitchen especially — he stood in the doorway of the kitchen and looked at the counters and the electric stove and the fluorescent light and I could feel him comparing it to Marlene's kitchen in Grinnell, to the farm kitchen in his memory, to every kitchen that was better because it was attached to land.

Mom made cinnamon rolls. She brought the dough, already risen, in a cooler and finished them in my oven Saturday morning. The house filled with that smell — yeast and cinnamon and butter, the smell of Saturday mornings on the farm, the smell of Marlene's hands working the dough, the smell of everything I used to wake up to. She frosted them with cream cheese glaze, extra thick, extra sweet. Dad ate two. That's the most I've seen him eat in months.

The kids gave me cards. Noah's was a schematic drawing of a kitchen appliance (I think it was a mixer) with "Happy Birthday Mom" in his precise handwriting. Emma's was covered in glitter and hearts and contained a poem that rhymed "mother" with "no other" and "cooking" with "good-looking," which is a stretch but I appreciated the effort. Jack gave me a marigold seed he'd saved from his garden, wrapped in a napkin. A single seed. I held it in my palm and felt the weight of it, which was nothing and everything.

Kevin gave me garden gloves, as requested, and a framed photo of Jack standing next to his sunflowers. The photo is slightly blurry because I took it with my phone and I'm not a photographer. But the boy and the sunflowers are in focus enough, and the reaching — both of them reaching for the same sky — is sharp.

Thirty-seven. Still feeding. Still planting. Still here.

Thirty-seven felt like a lot to hold — the birthday cake, the glitter card, the single marigold seed sitting weightless in my palm — and I wanted to cook something that could just take care of itself while I sat with all of it. Slow cooker pulled pork is exactly that kind of recipe: you put it together in the morning, and by dinnertime the house smells like something good happened without you having to force it. The pineapple is Dad’s influence; he’s always said sweet belongs with savory, and I’m finally old enough to agree with him. Here’s how I made it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 8 hrs | Total Time: 8 hrs 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 1/2 to 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder (butt roast)
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice (from a 20 oz can)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Sliced green onions and sesame seeds, for serving
Brioche buns or steamed rice, for serving

Instructions

Make the sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together crushed pineapple, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, smoked paprika, onion powder, black pepper, salt, apple cider vinegar, and sesame oil until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
Prep the pork. Trim any large exterior fat deposits from the pork shoulder, leaving a thin layer for flavor. Pat dry with paper towels and place in the slow cooker insert.
Add the sauce. Pour the pineapple mixture over and around the pork, turning once to coat all sides. The liquid should come about a third of the way up the meat.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is fork-tender and pulls apart easily. Do not lift the lid during the first 4 hours.
Shred the pork. Transfer the pork to a large cutting board or shallow baking dish. Use two forks to shred the meat, discarding any large pieces of fat. The pork should pull apart with very little resistance.
Reduce the sauce. Pour the cooking liquid into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Skim any excess fat from the surface.
Combine and serve. Return shredded pork to the slow cooker or a serving bowl and ladle enough reduced sauce over the top to keep the meat moist and glossy. Toss to combine. Serve on brioche buns or over steamed rice, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork — The Birthday Dinner He’d Brave the Cold For