Pre-thanksgiving cooking

There's something about cooler weather that makes me bring out the slow cooker. Maybe because I like the warmth that it radiates, as it ever so quietly turns a cheap, tough cut of meat into something incredibly tender. Today, I made some pulled pork. It makes for a really versatile end product; I can easily make sandwiches out of it (mix with barbeque sauce, top with pickled veggies), I can put it in the oven with some potatoes and an egg cracked on top, or I can use it as protein in a salad.

To start off with, I bought about 2 1/2 pounds of pork butt. This fatty cut lends well to the slow cooking process, and a lot of the fat cooks out (I didn't keep much of the residual liquids). I rubbed the meat with a simple mixture (salt, brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme) before placing it in the slow cooker with chopped onions and a clove of garlic. 7 hours later, and voila! Dinner is served.