Crockpotting

I love cooking in the crock pot. I think I mainly enjoy the fact that the work of the meal is so far removed in time from the eating of it, that it feels like a shortcut. I have always been fond of tossing a roast in the pot on Saturday night, turning it on Sunday morning, and coming home from church to a cooked meal waiting for me. And it always turns out fairly well. But, in keeping with my new recipe vow, I was determined to find a new way to slowcook my roast. So, courtesy of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, I took on a Pot Roast in Cider.

The recipe calls for a 1.5-2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast, but I substituted a 6 pound blade roast instead, which is pretty much the largest thing I could fit in my crock pot. The first step is one I've seen in other recipes but have always skipped in the past: brown the roast on all sides in 2 tablespoons of oil. Let me tell you, it was not easy to wrangle that piece of meat around with hot oil spitting at me. But I did it and it looked quite nice afterward. I sliced up a medium onion into the bottom of the pot, put the browned roast on top, and poured 1 1/4 cup of apple cider, mixed with 2 teaspoons of beef bouillon, 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, over the whole thing. I cooked it on high for about 6 hours and it was seriously the best pork roast I've ever eaten in my life. It even got the stamp of approval from the picky 10-year-old, which is really saying something.