This inspiration for this recipe includes many of my favorite things: Pulled Pork, The Big Lebowski, Slow Cooking, Sam Elliott, Sarsaparilla, Sam Elliott's Mustache, and BBQ sauce. Basically as I was putting The Big Lebowski Party together, I knew I had to come up with something referring to The Stranger (played by both Sam Elliott and his mustache) ordering a Sarsaparilla. After poking around the Interwebs I found a couple delicious ideas, and came up with a recipe that took influence from a few different sources (a couple examples both here and here). Since Sarsaparilla is more difficult to find than it is to spell (which ain't exactly easy), root beer was employed (but find a good root beer).
3 things are going to make this uber-tasty: good ingredients (pork, root beer, spices, and buns), 2 step cooking process (searing, then slow cooking), and time (they call it "slow" cooking for a reason). So please don't skimp on any of these. You can use any sort of rub, and BBQ sauce that you like, I'm just going to keep it very basic through these steps since it is a fairly involved process.
1 (2 lb) Pork Loin
1 (12 oz) can of Root Beer
1 (18 oz) Bottle of BBQ Sauce
2 bags of Dinner Rolls (Hawaiian Sweet Roll are great for this)
Salt and Pepper (or your preferred dry rub)
1) Rub the Pork Loin with Salt and Pepper
2) Sear the Pork Loin in a hot pan (lubricate with cooking oil, but be careful not to hit the smoke point and burn the oil, peanut or safflower oil have nice high smoke points, and you only need about a Tbsp), give it about 2 minutes on all 4 sides, try and move it to the hottest part of the pan to get the best sear
3) Place the seared Pork in the slow cooker (if you don't have a slow cooker, get one, they are worth it and open up so many different recipes that you can not duplicate without one)
4) Pour Root Beer over the Pork in the slow cooker (this is a good point to season with some more S&P if you wish). Try to get as much of the pork into the root beer as possible
5) Cover and walk away*. Go do something. Don't touch the cover, just leave it be. The pork can sit in there for 5 hours to over a day (8 hours is just about perfect). The more time you give it the more the pork will fall apart
6) Using a couple forks "pull" the Pork apart (if it is fighting you too much, let it cook a while more)
7) Add a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, stir in with the pork (it will be stringy and soft and as you stir it it will begin to look like the pulled pork you know and love). You could serve now, but another hour or so will help the flavors blend
8) Fill Buns with the pork mixture. 1 or 2 forkfuls should fill them just fine. (if the sauce is still a bit loose let drain for a moment or two before you fill the bun)
They might need a moment to cool, but they are ready to serve (I actually like to add some Caramelized Onions too). And they actually hold up alright even after they cool if you are serving at a party and they are going to sit out for a few hours (I doubt they will last that long). I hope these little achievers would do Sioux City proud...
*walk away within reason- while I do from time to time leave my slow cooker unattended, don't leave it within reach of your dog, or plug it in the baby's crib (the point is to be patient and not open the slow cooker every few minutes). Also, don't use your hairdryer in the shower...
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