Pulled Pork BBQ – North Carolina

Jayne: When visitors come to North Carolina, where swine is divine*, they often ask for Pork BBQ, which to us means pulled or chopped pork.  This is slow-cooked pork butt or shoulder, over low heat, smokey and charred in places and served with sauce. 

Roasting a whole hog is a major production and takes a full day.  My pest control guy doubles as a BBQ caterer, who with his uncles and cousins, competes in cook-off’s and hires out for parties.  They start the night before, building the fire and watching it carefully all night.  The 170-pound hog is basted, flipped once, and then tended to through the night for serving later the next day. 

Most of us, though, don’t have a pit in our backyard or a full day to devote to the task.  While a backyard pit or smoker produces the most amazing BBQ, a home cook can make really good BBQ with a Dutch Oven and a backyard grille with less time (some use a slow cooker or Instant Pot).

The cut of meat is either pork butt or picnic shoulder.  They are both from the “shoulder cut”, with the pork butt cut higher up on the animal than the picnic shoulder, which is essentially the leg.  The latter cut is larger and comes with bone and skin and is tougher than the butt.  If you want to understand this more (…and why “butt” got its name as it isn’t near the rear of the animal), SeriousEats offers some explanation. I use the pork butt cut.

Depending on where you live in the state, you will be served either the regional sauce or a choice of vinegar-based (eastern), tomato-based (western) or mustard sauce (“Carolina Gold”) (southern & into South Carolina).  People are passionate about the sauce.  I serve mine with vinegar sauce.   

The sides served with BBQ are important and always include cole slaw.  Other sides can include a choice of typical southern specialties like fried okra, slow-cooked green beans, BBQ baked beans, squash casserole, collard greens, potato salad, mac & cheese, corn bread, biscuits or hush puppies. 

My recipe comes from Sara Foster, a respected Durham, NC-based chef and restaurateur.  She is known for seasonal, southern food served informally at her Foster’s Market restaurant.  In her recipe, the “finishing” on the grille adds that charred crispiness and smokiness.  If you don’t have a grille, you could broil it instead.  To add smokiness, you could add a little “Liquid Smoke” or a smoked ham hock when roasting in the oven. I’ve never added either, but they sound like good ideas.  Vivian Howard, another fantastic chef and from eastern North Carolina, offers another route to smokiness in her new cookbook, This Will Make It Taste Good.

Ingredients:

Roast –

• One 5-pound bone-in pork butt
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ c. apple cider vinegar
• ½ c. water
• 2 c. Say’s Vinegar Barbecue Sauce (below), plus more for serving

Say’s Vinegar Barbecue Sauce –

• 2 c. apple cider vinegar
• ½ c. unpacked light brown sugar
• ¼ c. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbs sea salt
• 1 Tbs freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbs crushed red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
• 1 lemon, cut in half

Equipment:  Dutch oven, wood chip tray and wood chips (optional)

Instructions:

Roast –

1. Preheat the oven to 325 deg. F.
2. Rinse the pork, pat dry, and season with the red pepper flakes and salt and black pepper to taste, massaging the seasoning into the meat. Place the pork, fatty side up, in a large Dutch oven and add the vinegar and water to the bottom of the pan.  Cover with a tight-fitting lid or foil and roast, undisturbed, for 2 ½ – 3+ hours, until tender.
3. Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal or gas grill and let the coals burn to a gray ash; if using a gas grill, heat the grill on the lowest setting.  Place the tray of soaked wood chips in the grill, if using. 
4. Pour Say’s Vinegar Barbecue Sauce over the pork and transfer the meat to the grill.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes per side, until slightly charred all over and smoky in flavor, basting with the same sauce while cooking.
5. Remove the pork from the grill and let rest, loosely covered, for 10 – 15 minutes before serving.  Using a fork, pull the meat into large pieces, remove any extra-large chunks of fat, and serve warm with more barbecue sauce. 

Say’s Vinegar Barbecue Sauce –

1. Combine the vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 
2. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan and add the squeezed halves. 
3. Reduce the heat to a low boil and cook for about 20 minutes. 
4. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, and remove and discard the lemon halves. 
5. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use, or for up to 1 month.

*Loved this one – it comes from Taste of Home

**Garden & Gun has some excellent articles on BBQ and a great “how-to” cook a whole hog in “The Southerner’s Cookbook” , if you are interested.  

A special Thank You to Sara Foster and her recipe from Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen.