Slow-Cooker Caribbean Pork Roast – Recipe!

Cool weather is the perfect time for slow roasting at home, and using a slow-cooker makes mealtime fairly simple, while creating a most delicious meal.  Pork shoulder, pork butt or blade roasts are an excellent cut of meat that require a longer cooking process, so that the meat becomes juicy and tender with an almost fall-off-the-bone consistency.  What’s great about pork is that it has so much natural flavor that there isn’t any need to marinate it for hours at a time.  A simple dry rub enhances the already succulent pork with all the right seasonings, while preserving its original taste.

Caribbean style food is unique in its own right, and usually involves some allspice, ginger, garlic and paprika.  These island flavors tend to be tropical, yet subtle, except if you’re cooking up some Jamaican jerk, which has a significant amount of heat from a Scotch Bonnet chili pepper.  That’s not the case here, this roast pork speaks for itself, and starts with a simple dry rub and finishes with an easy glaze at the end of cooking time.  True tropical flavors of rum, brown sugar and lime juice are poured over top, right before serving, giving this pork roast a Caribbean vibe.

I served my roast with Caribbean rice & beans, but that’s probably another recipe post.  White rice, a side of beans with similar spices to the rub, and a mixed green salad, completes this fantastic meal, and trust me, you’ll have leftovers for days to transform into almost anything imaginable.  You can also cook a smaller roast (half the size), just decrease the spice rub by half, and cut 2 hours off of cooking time, but then you might miss out on all those great new pork-ified recipes this week.

Ingredients

7 pound butt, blade or shoulder pork roast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Glaze

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup dark rum

juice of 1/2 lime

(Serves 8-10)

To Prepare:

1. Remove pork from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.  Mix salt, onion power, garlic powder, paprika, allspice, ginger, pepper and cayenne in a small bowl.  Rub all over pork on all sides.
2. In a slow-cooker insert or large pot, add 1 tablespoon oil and place over medium-high heat.  After 3 minutes, add pork and sear on all sides, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and place insert back into slow-cooker.  Add 1 cup hot water to cooker with meat.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
4. With 30 minutes remaining, mix together brown sugar, rum and lime juice.  Pour over top of roast and finish cooking.
5. Remove roast and place on cutting board, cover with foil for 20 minutes.  Spoon grease off top of pan sauce, and place insert back over medium heat on stove top to reduce sauce for 5 minutes.
6. Serve roast with pan sauce, and sides.  Enjoy!