Rhinoceros

When I lived in Bend, a friend brought his family to visit for a few days.  We hiked to waterfalls, explored lava caves, and floated through town on rented inner tubes.  It was great.

We made quite a shoe mountain on the porch after every hike.

I did my best to feed them during the visit knowing that there were three children, and an adult who doesn't "eat anything that swims."  I managed ok.  One of our dinners became a running joke; I had filled the Crock Pot before we left that morning, and when we returned, one of the kids asked what we were having for dinner.  Their dad told them "rhinoceros."  They didn't believe him, but then I extracted a large piece of bone, which happened to be shaped very convincingly like a rhinoceros horn.  "Sure it is," I told them, holding up the bone.  "See?"  I don't know whether the kids believed us, but when the mom posted on Facebook that we were eating rhinoceros sandwiches for dinner, she was immediately met with responses of "where ARE you??"

NOTE:  it wasn't really rhinoceros.  I like rhinos, and I'm very sad that the black rhino was recently declared extinct.  That's horrible.  But calling pulled pork sandwiches "rhinoceros" is too much fun to pass up, so the name stays.

The recipe is from Betty Crocker.

Pulled Jerk Pork Sandwiches
2.5 lb boneless pork shoulder (get it with a bone if you want to convince children it's rhinoceros)
1 T dry Jamiacan jerk seasoning
1/4 t dried thyme
1/2 C chopped onion
1 C cola
2 C barbecue sauce
sandwich buns

(If pork is tied or in netting, leave it in place for now)  rub jerk seasoning over pork, sprinkle with thyme.  Place in slow cooker and sprinkle onion over it.  Pour in cola.  Betty will tell you to to pour it over the pork, but that will wash away a lot of the seasoning you just applied, so I usually pour it down the side of the crock.  It'll be in there for hours; there's no chance of it getting too dry because you didn't dump a cup of liquid on top of the meat.

No rhinos were harmed during the making of this delicious meal.

Cover and cook on Low 8-10 hours.

Remove pork from cooker and put on a large platter or (my preference) in a big bowl.  Shred with two forks, and remove any netting or string.  Remove juice from cooker, reserving 1/2 C.  (You can set the rest aside and re-heat it for au jus style dipping, if that's your thing, but it's not mine)  Return pork and 1/2 C juice to cooker.  Stir in barbecue sauce.  Cook on High 30-45 minutes.  Serve on buns.  Watch Animal Planet.