North Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue with Eastern and Lexington (or Piedmont) style sauces

North Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue

North Carolina is well known for its pulled pork barbecue. Some even say that this is older and more original barbecue than even Texas barbecue. Like most regional barbecue, the history goes back to what kind of livestock farmers were raising. The history of Carolina pork bbq goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries when hogs and vinegar were common. Eastern-style sauce is vinegar-based with hot peppers. Lexington-stye, or Piedmont-style, is still vinegar-based, but with the addition of ketchup. Ketchup was popularized in the mid-1800s. Lore tells us that men from German ancestry settled in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and tried to recreate a German dish of pork shoulder with a sweet and sour sauce. They took vinegar, the increasingly popular ketchup, and added brown sugar which started the trend of Piedmont-style bbq sauce. I'm no historian. I'm just sharing the stories I've heard and read. However, you can find out more about Carolina Barbecue in the book, Holy Smoke: The Big Book of Carolina Barbecue.

INGREDIENTS

Pork Shoulder
1 Bone-in pork shoulder (also called Boston Butt)
Hellslayer Heating- The Spear Rib Rub

Finishing Sauce
1 Cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Hellslayer Heating- The Sword All-Purpose Seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
-Mix ingredients together and warm over the stove until the sugar dissolves. Easy peasy.

Eastern Carolina style Barbecue Sauce
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups water
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
-Mix ingredients together and warm over the stove until the sugar dissolves. Easy peasy.

North Carolina Piedmont style Barbecue Sauce
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
-Mix ingredients together and warm over the stove until the sugar dissolves. Easy peasy.

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Instructions

Start your smoker and get it up to temperature. I like using Apple, Pecan or another mild wood to smoke pork. Regarding the temperature, pitmasters will argue all day long about the correct smoking temperature. The more important temperature is when you pull it from the smoker.

While the smoker is warming up, generously rub the shoulder all over with Hellslayer Heating Company- The Sword Rib Rub. Some people leave the fat cap on, I Iike to trim most of it off, leaving 1/8-1/4 inch of fat. This way, more rub hits the meat. The fat cap is going to come off at the end along with much of the rub you added to it. Some people think I'm crazy to cut the fat cap off... do what you want. It's going to taste awesome either way.

A pork shoulder is a forgiving piece of meat, and it will turn out delicious at wide range of temperatures. Experiment and find out what your preference is. Too low, and it'll take forever to cook. Too high, and you might end up roasting it. Here are some guidelines:

225 degrees- Pretty standard temperature. May take 1.5-2 hours per pound. For an 8 lb. shoulder, this could take 12-16 hours (or more).
250 degrees- My preference for backyard barbecue. May take 1-1.5 hours per pound. For an 8 lb. shoulder, this could take 8-12 hours (or more).
275 degrees- Some say this temp is great, some say it doesn't allow the fat enough time to render properly. It'll cook faster. I've smoked some delicious pork shoulder at 275. Plan on 1 hour per pound. An 8 lb. shoulder may take 8 hours (or more).

Don't depend on the amount of time to cook it. Cook it to temperature! I like to pull my pork shoulder from the smoker at 200 degrees. Again, pitmasters argue over a range of 190-205 degrees. One thing is for certain, if you pull it when it's lower than 190, you risk the fat not having enough  time to render, and the pork won't pull. You'll end up serving sliced pork. 

After you cook it, the aim is to let it rest for an hour. This is the best practice. In real life, what happens is that you promise everyone that it'll be ready by 5:30pm, but the dang shoulder hasn't reached 190 degrees yet. By 6:15, everyone is hungry and getting mad at you, but it's finally done. If you pull the pork, and start shredding right away, it will still be delicious, maybe just not competition-ready... but we're talking backyard barbecue here.

Place the pork shoulder in a large container like a glass baking dish. Pull off any pieces of unrendered fat, pull out the bone, and shred the meat. I often take two forks, and pull the meat apart with them. 

Once you have the meat pulled, add some finishing sauce (recipe above), per your taste. This isn't meant to be the barbecue sauce you'll add, but will add some flavor to the barbecue before you serve it and allow people to sauce the meat themselves.

Enjoy! Let me know how it turns out for you.