It's a Hit! Asian Shredded Beef in the Crockpot a/k/a I Will Eat Anything with Chow Mein Noodles

Since today was Valentine's Day and I *love* my husband, I decided it was guinea pig day and that we needed to try a new dish in our crockpot rotation. Isn't that what love is all about, experimentation?

Not so much in this house, but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. And it was good. Very, very good.

Taken from my favorite food blogger, The Crockpot Lady, I went with:

A Year of Slow Cooking: Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Beef Recipe

These are the ingredients you need. I used an almost 4 lb roast. We have plenty left over.

First you need to plop your roast in the pot like so:

Then add 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of Chinese 5-spice. Add to that 6 tablespoons of ketchup and 6 tablespoons of honey. Then on top of that add 1/2 cup soy sauce and a 1/2 cup of hoisin sauce so it looks messy like this:

Set the crockpot to low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, cut up the roast in big chunks and turn to high for another hour. Then the roast will shred so simply with a fork like so:

Okay, maybe not the most attractive picture, but you have to trust. I served it with white rice and chow mein noodles. So beautiful:

Verdict:

B said this was really good. I liked it, but felt it was a bit salty and needed a bit more flavor.

Things I learned:

I really don't like salt so I may either get a half sodium soy sauce next time or cut the amount in half

I like things with a bit of kick so I am looking for an ingredient to slightly spice this up

I may either add more honey or some brown sugar next time for a bit of a sweeter taste

Chow mein noodles rock (but I already knew that)

Shredded beef is more than just for sandwiches

Tell me:

Any thoughts on what I could use to sweeten and/or spice this dish up?