pork shoulder in a crockpot

For Gail, learning the crockpot love! :)

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When I had a surfeit of fennel greens, a friend suggested I try this (oven roasted pork shoulder with fennel tops). And so I waited for a sale on the meat, and today I made it!

Pork is supposed to cook to 170 degrees (though you can take it out earlier because it'll heat up at least another 5 degrees before cooling).

I didn't really want pulled pork, and all the recipes I could find were for that and for very long temperatures. In my crockpot (which runs hot), after about 6 1/2 hours, the meat was about 185 degrees. Good bye trichinosis!

Honestly, the flavor does not amaze and astound me, and the smell of the fennel tops got noxious. And as I just took a bite I remembered: I don't really like pork. Oh yeah. So I will probably slather it in a BBQ sauce and eat on rice with vegetables, and life will be fine - and next time I'm inspired to cook pork, hopefully I'll look back here and remind myself I DON'T LIKE PORK! Or at least I will remember how long it needs to cook.

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*pork shoulder (called Boston butt - reverse-euphemism?) - mine was 4.2 pounds
*add any vegetables you'd like. I had a bunch of fennel tops chopped coarsely which I mixed with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then spread over the pork.

Put in crockpot - NO LIQUID NEEDED (really, Tiff!). It creates its own liquid, which I will strain and defat and freeze to use in the future.

Cook on low until it smells done (should have checked at 5 1/2 hours but I thought that was too early).

Let cool, remove bone and fat, shred if using for pulled pork. (And if doing BBQ pork, shred and then put back in the crockpot with BBQ sauce to cover, and let cook on low another hour or so.)