More adventures with fruit and meat

I usually try to make it home for Easter Sunday with my family. Not that I'm religious or anything, but they have a nice get-together every year with a big meal, so I get to visit them all and get some free food at the same time. But this year I had some stuff going on at work that necessitated my staying in Columbus, so I decided to call them after their meal instead. And in lieu of eating with the family, I decided to take the time to do my own home-cooked meal, rather than the frozen dinners or carry-out I usually get.

Anyway, I settled on a pork roast as a suitable dinner. More specifically, that wonderful and surprisingly inexpensive cut that has been rather unappealingly labeled "pork butt." Seriously, do they just call it that so that your casual meat-buyer will pass it over, thus keeping prices down for those who know better? Bearing in mind my grandmother's philosophy that half of cooking is knowing what foods go together, I tried to come up with something to pair with pork, either as a side dish or a sauce. And then it hit me- apples.

Here's the recipe I formulated:

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork with Applesauce Topping
1 5-lb pork butt (bone-in pork shoulder)
1 tbsp garlic salt
1/2 cup water
5 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup apple cider
1 lb egg noodles, cooked

The night before you plan to serve, rub down the outside of the pork butt with garlic salt. Place in slow cooker with water. Turn slow cooker to low level and cover. The next morning, add apples, sugar, and cinnamon, turning the heat to high level. 1/2 hour before serving, remove pork butt from slow cooker and turn heat back to low. Pour cider in slow cooker. Let pork butt stand 15 minutes, then pull into small pieces with two forks. Just before serving, place noodles in slow-cooker with applesauce mixture.

It takes a little planning ahead, but it's easy and very tasty. The pork alone was worth it- literally falling off the bone. I hadn't originally intended to use the cider, but the trouble with pork butt is that it produces so many juices that they overwhelm the apple taste. 1/2 cup is just about the right amount of cider to balance with the pork juices, although you can add more or less to taste. Oh, and don't forget that when you serve this, serve in a deep place or a bowl, because it gets pretty sloppy.

Now the only problem is what to do with the leftovers. I'm storing the pork and the noodles separately, so I could potentially pick up some BBQ sauce next time I go grocery shopping and use it for that. Maybe I should just start dating again, so that I won't have to waste this awesome innate cooking talent on myself (he said modestly). Hey, there's an idea...