Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sliders with Jicama Slaw

As I sat in the dentist’s chair during a cleaning, I started to daydream.  I mean, what else can you really do while you sit in the chair?  Of course, I started thinking about food.  Then, I started thinking more specifically about jicama… which is strange.  Why is that strange?  Because I had never had it.  I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you what it looked like.  Now that I think about, how can you even daydream about something you’ve never had?  Maybe it wasn’t daydreaming?  Maybe I was just thinking about it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I had it in my head it was crunchy.  I don’t know why I thought that, but alas, that is what I thought I knew about jicama.  And indeed, I was actually right about that!  So I thought, hmm, maybe it would be cool in a coleslaw kind of thing.  But then, I don’t really want to eat just coleslaw.  So what could go with it?  After I got home, the question was still burning, so I asked Seth.  He suggested pulled pork.  Bingo!  Plus, it was an opportunity to give some love to a much neglected piece of equipment in our kitchen, the slow cooker.  So, thanks to a trip to the dentist, here are some juicy and tender pulled pork sliders with red cabbage, carrot, and jicama slaw dressed in a cider and walnut oil vinaigrette.  I wonder what the dentist would think about all this…

Ingredients
For the pulled pork:
3-4 pound pork shoulder, bone in
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
20 ounce container ketchup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 bottle beer (we used Fat Tire amber ale)
King's Hawaiian sweet rolls
Frank's Red Hot Sauce (optional)

For the slaw:
2 cups julienned red cabbage
1 cup julienned carrot
2 cups julienned jicama
2 teaspoons walnut oil
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon lime juice
2 tablespoons sour cream

Instructions
Sprinkle salt and pepper on the pork shoulder then place in crock pot.  In a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the garlic, shallots, and jalapeno and sauté until soft (about 3 minutes).  Stir in ketchup, vinegar, maple syrup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke.  Simmer for 3 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the beer, and then pour the entire mixture over the pork shoulder in the crockpot.  Turn on high and cook for 6.5 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone.

Place the cabbage, carrot, and jicama in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, stir walnut oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, lime juice, and sour cream.  Pour the walnut oil mixture over the vegetables and toss to coat.  Refrigerate until serving time.

To assemble, cut King's Hawaiian sweet rolls in half, and stack with pulled pork, hot sauce, and jicama slaw.