Slow-cooked barbecue pot roast

The sauce for this was based on a barbecue sauce recipe from the back of a Grandma's Molasses bottle. While this sauce would be totally inadequate for that purpose, it does taste a lot like some of the zestier Ashkenazi recipes for flanken (boneless short ribs). Coca-Cola (or ginger ale) is the secret ingredient to many of these recipes.

In college, I discovered that a well-marbled shoulder chuck, when slow-cooked, developed the consistency of flanken. So for when you make that banana ketchup, here is an exotic variation on a well-rehearsed Yiddishe soul-food.

(If you don't have any banana ketchup, you can substitute 12 oz. (2 cans) tomato paste, 3/4 cup molasses, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice, some garlic, and a bit of ginger for that part.)

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce--

• 2 cups banana ketchup (see below) or the substitution described above
  
• 3/4 cup Coca-Cola
  
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup coke or ginger ale
  

Pot roast--

• 3-4 lb. shoulder chuck pot roast
• 2 large onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients for sauce and set aside.
2. Slice the onions and place at the bottom of a slow cooker.
3. Brown pot roast on all sides and place in slow cooker.
4. Pour sauce over pot roast. Set slow cooker to low and allow to cook overnight (8-10 hours).

Serve with barley.