I have mentioned before what a gift the slow cooker is to the kitchen… especially for busy/amateur cooks everywhere.  Whether it cooks a less expensive cut of meat to fall-apart goodness or allows you to go about your day knowing that when you get home, dinner will be waiting… it is a must-have in your kitchen!  Dutch ovens and ovens can certainly create slow cooked goodness, but not without a little monitoring.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Chef Spike Gjerde in the December 2012 edition of chesapeakehomeandliving.com.  I changed very few of the ingredients to make it Paleo.  I used my favorite mustard, coconut oil instead of canola, and played with the amounts of each ingredient.  The biggest change was the method of cooking.  The first time I made this, I had a much larger pork rib roast than the original recipe, so the cooking times were way off and it took FOREVER.  The second time I made this recipe, I simply used my slow cooker, and it took all the guesswork out of cooking!  I didn’t need to worry about getting the pork to the proper temperature, and certainly didn’t need to monitor the cooking process!  I ended up with pork that had bathed in its own juices for ten hours and melted away from the bone.

I chose to use a center cut bone-in pork rib roast (called for in the original recipe), but you could use this method of cooking and “glaze” on any cut of pork!  Whether it is a pork butt/shoulder or center cut boneless loin, these flavors will pair extremely well!  The rib roast had a thick layer of fat on the top, so if you keep all of it on just make sure you sear it on that side for 4-5 minutes to start to crisp it up.  Also, do NOT discard the fat/juices that end up at the bottom of the slow cooker!  There is a lot of delicious flavor and moisture!  When you refrigerate the leftovers, the fat will separate and create a layer of white above the brown juices.  Therefore, when you go to serve, you can choose as little (or as much) fat as you want to serve with the yummy juice gelatin that has formed around the pork.

I served this pork with a side of my Paleo Kale and Mushrooms.  I reserved about a tablespoon of drippings from browning the pork roast and used that to sautee the kale and accompanying veggies.  I added a little mustard to tie the kale and pork together, and the result was magical!  Kale is a healthy and perfect pairing to any entree!

Ingredients

• 1 (4-5 lb) center cut pork loin rib roast
• 1-2 tbs coconut oil or bacon drippings
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup brown mustard (I used Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard)
• 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 small shallot, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

• 1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium/med-high heat
• 2. Trim some fat off of the top of pork (if desired), then season with salt and pepper, to taste
• 3. Using tongs, brown the meat on all sides, concentrating the most browning the top layer of fat
• 4. Reserve about 3 tablespoons of pan drippings, then pour the rest into the slow cooker, and set pork on top (bone-side down)
• 5. In a medium bowl add egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, shallots, thyme and 1 tsp pan drippings, and whisk until well-incorporated
• 6. Spoon mixture over the top of the pork, and if it drips down the sides, rub it into the sides of the pork
• 7. Cap slow cooker and set on LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours
• 8. Enjoy!