After moving to northeast North Carolina, VunderWife and I have recently become addicted to eastern Carolina vinegar barbecue, and we regularly hit the barbecue joints around us, which are thicker than McDonalds were in Hampton Roads…
The stuff is almost a an Ogsend to the gastric bypass patient, which both of us are. It’s lean and has no sugar, and being shredded, we can tolerate it better than traditional meats. I have a lot of trouble with stringy meat; VWife is less sensitive to stringiness, but high fat content will get her every time.
So, can anyone here tell me how to make it? Cut of meat for a small batch, sauce, shredding methods, etc are all appreciated…
Step 1: Buy yourself a smoker. This is a good one for beginners, though Brinkmann has one for about 1/3 the price.
Step 2: What?
Okay, so you don’t have a smoker. The trick is to cook a 6-8ib, bone-in Boston Butt (easiest & most common cut) at around 225-250 degrees for several hours until a probe thermometer inserted into the center registers 190-200 degrees. The trick is keeping it moist. If you do it in the oven, you may want to cook it in a roasting pan one one rack with a casserole filled with water (and replenished) on the rack underneath. You can either rub it or brine it prior to cooking if you;d like, and google will help you with recipes for either. (Try “Barbeque Rub” or “Butt Rub”)
Sauce is usually cider vinegar, with red pepper flakes or salt added. Maybe worcestershire. Again, google will give you millions of recipes.
What Swan said, only don’t google “butt rub” unless you have safesearch on. Also make sure you specify you’re looking for Carolina style. And of course google “barbecue thermometers.” You really don’t want to overcook it.
You need to get a pork shoulder cut – you can probably find one in the grocery store in about the 6 lb. range, you can try a butcher for a smaller one. You need the Boston butt (which is shoulder despite its name) or picnic cut. Bone-in is supposed to be better.
Then you smoke it, at 200 to 225 degrees, about one and a half hours for every pound of meat. You can use charcoal but hardwood is better if you can manage it (hickory is traditional). You can also use a combination – charcoal with chunks of hardwood that have been soaked in water beforehand. It is done when the internal temperature reaches 180 to 190 degrees.
Once you take it out of the smoker, let it cool for about 15 minutes or so and then you shred it. You shred it just like you would chicken – pulling off strips by hand. You can chop it up finer after that if you want. Then you add the sauce.
There are about a grillion different recipes for Eastern NC sauce. Find a basic one that sounds like something you’d like and tool around with it until you get something you really like. Make sure to make the sauce a day or two ahead of when you cook the pork and stick it in the refrigerator – that gives the sauce time for the flavors to meld. Here’s a basic recipe:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Tabasco (hot pepper) sauce or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Adjust the sugar, cayenne and Tabasco to levels that you feel you can handle.
Another option is to get a pre-smoked shoulder or ham and put it in a crock pot with barbecue sauce for a few hours. I’ve done this when I didn’t feel like using my smoker.
The “probe” style thermometer is what you want. They can be found at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a host of other places for less than $20. They contian a probe (to be inserted in the meat) attached to a wire, which is then attached to a screen with a digital readout. Makes life very easy.
Well, there is a ton of connective tissue & fat in most cuts of meat used for barbeques. A lot of it renders out, but a lot of it stays in the meat. The remaining fat should be discarded when the meat is pulled, but it is obviously difficult to get every last bit out. This is especially true when large quantities are invloved.
To answer your question, I would imagine there is a decent bit of fat in barbeque.
You definitely want a well-marbled Boston butt for good pulling and moisture. I don’t particularly think of pulled pork as being lean, but it doesn’t really have huge globs of fat either, as most of it renders during the cooking.
Pork pulls at about 197 F. I know that temperature may seem a bit high to some, but that’s what it is. Any lower (in the 180s) and you have “chopped pork” (which is good in its own right.)
Smoking pork shoulder well really is an art into itself. I say, if you really want to do it right, get yourself a Weber Smoky Mountain, read through this website, and be on your way. Don’t bother with the Brinkman. I nearly gave up on smoking after buying that thing. Spend a few more dollars and get a WSM. I’m not saying you can’t get good 'cue with a Brinkman, it’ll just save you a lot of frustration if you get a Weber Smoky Mountain.
Here is my favorite pulled pork recipe. I added some garlic powder to the rub, and nixed the cayenne (I like it, but it doesn’t agree with Mrs. Fear). I used to do it all in the smoker, but mine is hard to maintain an even 225° for 14 hours (for a seven pound boneless butt). Now I smoke it for 3-4 hours, and finish it in an electric roaster. Comes out great!
You can cheat, of course, but just remember that what you get won’t be as good as what you are used to buying at the local BBQ joints, who go to the trouble of doing it right.
True, but it will give me a chance to mess with sauces while I find a drum to make a good redneck smoker out of. I have plenty of them left over from the previous owner.
And remember that the crock-pot method will give you a fattier end product, because the fat has nowhere to render away to. The meat will sit in it and soak it back up.
Finished pulled pork is surprisingly lean, given what you start with. As said, most of the fat renders out. What you’re left with is muscle fibers (meat) coated with a wonderful slippery-feeling layer of gelatin (melted collagen). That slippery mouth feel makes you think it’s fattier than is really is, which is why it’s so satisfying.
Cook it too high, or too fast, and the collagen won’t gelatinize, leading to disapointing mouth feel.
Unfotrunately I don’t have my pulled pork recipe on hand but I am going to give you a quick run-down of how I do it. The recipe & method came from my friend who’s from Athens, GA. The first time I made it, his parents happened to be in town and they said it was amazingly good, and just like the Q back home.
I use a Weber grill with charcoal that’s started in a “chimney,” and some soaked hickory chips. The coals get pushed into a circle around the bottom of the grill.
I fill a 10x10" foil pan with…this is not going to be accurate…1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Hot, a couple garlic cloves and…I think that’s it. Maybe a bit of molasses?
The pan goes in the middle of/on top of the coals. This gives you indirect heat, and a drip pan.
I buy a boston butt from wherever I can find it. I think 1/2 lb per person.
I only rub the meat with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
The meat goes above the drip pan, and I let 'er smoke. I’ve done it in 2 hours on a hot day…took 5 hours on a cold day.
I keep a spray bottle of water to spritz the meat if it looks too dry. I use large tongs to turn it once. And a probe thermometer is key to getting the right temp.
When it’s done, pull it apart with two forks. Viola!!
The key to REALLY enjoying the meat is some good mustard-based sauce, like Maurice’s. You may also want to make sure your meat is on a bun with a pickle
Well done, Zipper. (Though, as holder of 2 degrees from the University of Georgia, I can say that folks in Athens don’t know squat about BBQ. ) If all you have is a Weber Kettle, then that is an excellent recipe.
I would suggest you use a mop sauce instead of a spritzer. Otherwise, you have hit on a method that I’ve heard works damn well.
) If all you have is a Weber Kettle, then that is an excellent recipe.