Pulled Pot Roast Sandwiches

I know I’ve just posted a ton of pot roast recipes, but this one is different. Actually, each one was different because, if they were all the same, I would have only posted one. But this one is really different. Honest.

First off, this recipe uses NO veggies at all, except for onions. No potatoes, no corn, no beans, no nuthin’! Second, we’re going to shred it like you would pulled pork. Then we’re going to skip the “put it on a plate with mashed potatoes” step and go straight to what would normally be considered Leftover Territory. We’re going to pile it onto a sammich. (Ahem… sandwich.)

The other thing that makes this one different is that we’re going to use roasted garlic. A lot of it. Don’t get nervous; when roasted, garlic tones down quite a bit. And I’m telling you – it’s perfect for this recipe. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

1 bottle of good medium to medium-dark beer
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika – smoked or hot
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 onion – white or red
4 lb. pot roast – give or take
2 full bulbs of garlic
Olive oil

To serve:

Good dense rolls, buns or other bread

Optional:

Shaved onions
Pepperoncini peppers
Sliced or shredded cheese

Instructions:

Turn slow cooker on to HIGH (for 6-8 hour cook time) or LOW (for 12 hours).

Pour the beer into a medium bowl. Add Worcestershire sauce, all of the spices and the sugar. Stir a little, then set aside.

Slice the onion as thinly as you can. You want them to pretty much disappear during cooking and the best way to do that is to slice so thin that you can see through them. Some people call this “shaving.”

Add the onion to the slow cooker, then place the roast on top. Finally, stir the beer and spices one last time, then pour over the roast. Make sure you scrape all of the spices out of the bowl. You don’t want to miss a thing!

Cover the slow cooker and let the magic begin!

About half way through the cooking time, preheat the oven to 375°.

Cut tops off of garlic bulbs, so that you can see the tops of the the individual cloves.

Lightly rub tops to remove any loose outside skin.

Place garlic bulbs in baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Let stand for about ten minutes, then drizzle more oil over them and let sit another ten minutes. I know you have to wait. Patience, apprentice! Go watch the game. Just come back at the commercial to do the next step.

After they’ve set long enough, cover the baking dish with foil and bake the garlic for 45 minutes. By then, you should be going nuts because it smells so good.

Remove garlic from oven and remove foil. Let sit until they’re cool enough to handle.

Pinch the bulbs at the bottom to force the cloves out onto a cutting board. Get them ALL out! Every. Last. One.

Using the flat blade of a large knife, mash the garlic. Then chop through it to make sure there are no large pieces. What you really want is sort of a garlic puree… smooth and creamy.

Add the garlic to the slow cooker and do your best to not take too big of a piece of the roast for testing.

When the roast is done – meaning you can’t stand smelling it anymore – grab a pair of forks and start shredding (pulling). Shred it up well – no big chunks. This is also a great time to remove any gristle and fat lumps. They don’t look good and can mess up a great sammich. (Sandwich!)

Stir everything up well so that all of the meat is coated in cooking liquid. Put the top back on the slow cooker and get everything ready to serve. As soon as you’ve got the plates ready, scoop the shredded pot roast onto the buns/rolls, and drizzle a bit more cooking juice over the top.

Serve immediately with shaved onions and/or Pepperoncini peppers and lots of napkins.

Notes:

The grocery store where I shop has really nice, hefty rolls. Sure, kaiser rolls are an automatic go-to, but they have others, as well. Don’t go for flimsy rolls or buns, as they’ll just fall apart for no good reason.

As for the beer, I don’t really recommend average beer. Yawn! Much better to use a beer with some real body to it. I’m talking a basic Sam Adams lager or Newcastle Brown Ale. Something like that.

I learned early on to make extra roasted garlic. First, it’s a great snack on good bread while waiting for the roast to finish. Second, they’re absolutely wonderful on your sammich.

These sammiches are just fine on their own, but some folks like to add cheese. If you’re one of those, I suggest Mozzarella, Provlone or other mild cheese. Either put the cheese on the bun first, so the meat will soften it, or put it on top, then slide the whole thing under the broiler for a minute. Personally, I just don’t have the patience for that, so if I use cheese at all, it’s going on the bun. But that’s just me!

Sides? Why?!?! But if you must, serve some good fries or cole slaw. You’ll get extra Healthy Man Points if you serve a salad or nice green vegetable. Just know that if you do this during a football game or other sports activity, your friends are allowed to poke fun at you. It’s in the rule book.

Serve this up today – or tomorrow for the big game and watch it disappear like there’s no tomorrow. And don’t forget:

Play with your food!

Lane

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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