Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

My mom made this recipe when I was last home to visit and it was so good I decided to give it a shot. It has a great spicy undertone and the extra step of caramelizing the onions first made a big difference (even if I'm not sure that we'll ever clear the onion smell from our house now!)

I also realized while making this that I've never cooked with huge piece of butcher-cut raw pork before, and to be honest, de-fatting it was a little gross, but worth it.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 large onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup raw cane sugar, such as Demerara or turbinado

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 cup chili sauce (I used a southwest red chili sauce from Whole foods)

4-5 tsp minced chipotle chile in adobo sauce (I increased this substantially from the original recipe)

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or blade (butt) roast, trimmed

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 3 to 6 minutes. Add sugar and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the onions are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes more. Add garlic, oregano, pepper, and salt and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add vinegar and bring to a boil. Cook until mostly evaporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in chili sauce and chipotle to taste.

2. Place pork in a 4-quart (or larger) slow cooker and cover with the sauce. Cover and cook until the pork is almost falling apart, about 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low.

3. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and shred using two forks. Stir back into the sauce.

(Can be made ahead and frozen as well)