Slow Cooker Pulled Beef Sandwiches with Cabbage-Cilantro Slaw

My husband loves BBQ. I have had to listen to endless hours of conversation revolving around why his charcoal grill is better than gas. The sad thing is that my father had similar conversations growing-up, so apparently I am surrounded by men with BBQ obsessions. I don't mean obsession as a joke, my husband reads books, watches cooking shows and searches the Internet for new BBQ recipes and ideas. While I love BBQ, I don't have the patience to wait all day for BBQ on the charcoal grill. I love the taste, but would rather have something that takes less effort and still has great flavor. One method that I have found for BBQ pulled sandwiches is the crock-pot. The crock-pot is quick and easy and is great for making large cuts of meat. Today I tried a new recipe for Pulled Beef Sandwiches with Cabbage Slaw from the June 2012 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 8 hours 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I made a number of modifications to this recipe. First the magazine recipe is actually for pulled pork. However, when I arrived home from the grocery store and started unloading my items I noticed that I had bought beef shoulder. Rather than going back to the store and spending more money I decided to substitute the beef for the pork in the recipe. I did brown the beef in the skillet before adding to the slow-cooker. I always brown meat before adding to the crock-pot it helps to seal in the juices and makes for more tender meat. Since I am trying to limit granulated sugar, I substituted molasses for the brown sugar called for in the recipe. Finally, since I eat gluten free I did not eat my serving on a potato roll, but instead ate the BBQ pulled beef as is with the coleslaw as a side. Make sure to adequately salt the coleslaw it will need it.

I was surprised by how well the beef turned out in this recipe. Pulled beef oftentimes turns out dry and tough, especially when made in the crock-pot. This pulled beef came out tender and using molasses in the BBQ sauce lent a nice flavor. I wasn't a big fan of the sour cream in the coleslaw, I would have preferred using olive oil mayonnaise. However, the cilantro in the coleslaw was delicious.

For the recipe go to Pulled Pork Sandwiches.