Slow Cooker Beef Barbecue

Slow Cooker Beef Barbecue

Serves 8 at minimum

2 large onions, peeled, sliced in half through the poles, then cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices

4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced in half

Nonstick cooking spray

1 3-4 pound boneless beef chuck roast

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

At least 8 sandwich rolls

Sauce:

1-1/2 cups ketchup

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1-1/4 teaspoons liquid smoke

2 teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Lightly coat the bottom of the slow cooker crock with nonstick spray.  Add the onions, then the garlic evenly over the sprayed surface.  Mix the sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

Trim off any large pieces of fat on the outside of the roast.  Then, if you have a few minutes, look for the fat line down the middle of the chuck roast.  Using a sharp paring knife, make a few cuts in it along the length of the fat line.  Then, using your hands, pull the roast apart – it should separate with some of the fat line remaining on each half.  Using that paring knife, cut off as much of that internal fat as a you can.  It’s fine to leave a little of it.  Salt and pepper the roast, then stack the two halves and put itall  on top of the onions and garlic in the slow cooker.  (If you didn’t trim the internal fat, salt and pepper the roast, then put in on the onions and garlic).

Pour the barbecue sauce over the meat, keeping most of it on top.  Put the cover on the slow cooker, and set it to cook on low power for 10 hours.  When it’s done, remove the lid, then shred the meat with two forks.  Mix it in with the onions, garlic, and sauce, and serve on the sandwich rolls.