Pulled Meat

Since thanksgiving in Texas, 2009, JBird and I have been obsessed with any kind of pulled meat.  Our buddy, Bob, made us a delicious brisket the day before we left and we enjoyed the leftovers while waiting on thanksgiving-standby at the airport.  It was a huge hunk of meat, I forget the cut, six hours slow baked and then smoked for another similarly lengthy amount of time.  The smoked flavour is one I will never forget, and the tenderness of that brisket was amazing.  We’re definitely carnivorous!  In Baltimore, thanks to a critique on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the food network, we discovered a diner that made a delicious pit beef sandwich.  I’m not sure what they did to make it so tender but it’s apparently a Baltimore BBQ specialty.  This year, we bought a $3 slow cooker at the local goodwill store.  We will never be able to reproduce that delicious Texan brisket. But I believe I have discovered a secret to lovely, soft, falling off the bone meat.  The hard part is making sure I use it well: there’s a fine line between soft, yummy meat inside a good sandwich with perfectly chosen condiments and Grandma’s Sloppy Stew.