North Carolina Barbecue Food

EASY NORTH CAROLINA BARBEQUE

Steps:

• Trim the fat from the roast; place in slow cooker and cook on Low overnight, at least 8 hours.
• To make the sauce, whisk together the vinegar, melted butter, salt, lemon juice, crushed red pepper, hot sauce, black pepper, and sugar in a bowl.
• Carefully remove the roast to a cutting board. Pull the meat from the bone with a fork. Return the pork to the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the pulled pork. Simmer for 1 hour more.

NORTH CAROLINA BARBECUE

Steps:

• Rinse meat and pat dry.
• Sprinkle meat with ground red pepper (I use lots!).
• Place in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours.
• Place meat under broiler for 5-7 minutes for a crusty top.
• Shred meat with fork and a knife and slowly add vinegar and red pepper flakes.
• Add salt to taste (I usually add a little black pepper as well).
• Keep warm until time to serve.

EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA BARBECUE

Steps:

• Add hickory, oak, and maple chunks or chips to your smoker. Refer to the directions for your smoker to determine the correct amount of chips for the meat and for lighting instructions. When the chips are ready, add the pork and smoke it for 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 250 degrees F. Remove the pork and wrap it in heavy-duty aluminum foil.
• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F.
• Cook the pork for 6 to 8 hours or until the meat is tender and falls apart when the bone is removed. Chop the pork coarsely and mix in salt and barbecue sauce, to taste. Serve with more barbecue sauce on the side.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the vinegar, red pepper, garlic, and salt over high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-high. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes and then remove from the heat. Let cool then add the black pepper.

NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE VINEGAR BARBECUE SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine the bacon, beef stock, cider vinegar, white vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, red pepper flakes, chile powder and 1 tablespoon salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the bacon renders its fat, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside to let the flavors develop, 20 minutes. Remove the bacon. Reheat the sauce before serving.

NORTH CAROLINA PULLED-PORK BARBECUE

Steps:

• Bring vinegar to a boil with sugar, red-pepper flakes, 2 tsp salt, and 1 Tbsp pepper in a small nonreactive saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then cool. Set aside 2 cups vinegar sauce to serve with sandwiches.
• While sauce cools, score pork skin in a crosshatch pattern with a sharp knife (forming 1-inch diamonds), cutting through skin and fat but not into meat. Pat meat dry and rub all over with 1 Tbsp each of salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before grilling.
• Prepare grill for indirect-heat cooking over low heat, leaving space in middle for disposable roasting pan.
• When coals have cooled to about 300°F (45 minutes to 1 hour; when most coals will have burned out), put disposable roasting pan on bottom rack of grill between the 2 remaining mounds of coals, then fill pan halfway with water. Add a couple of handfuls of unlit charcoal to each charcoal mound, then put grill rack on so hinges are over coals.
• Oil grill rack, then put pork, skin side up, on rack above roasting pan. Grill pork, with lid ajar (for air, so coals remain lit), basting meat with sauce and turning over every 30 minutes (to maintain a temperature of 250 to 275°F, add a couple of handfuls of coals to each side about every 30 minutes), until fork-tender (a meat fork should insert easily) and an instant-read thermometer inserted 2 inches into center of meat (avoid bone) registers 190°F, 7 to 8 hours total.
• Transfer pork to a cutting board. If skin is not crisp, cut it off with at least 1/4 inch fat attached (cut any large pieces into bite-size ones) and roast, fat side down, in a 4-sided sheet pan in a 350°F oven until crisp, 15 to 20 minutes.
• When meat is cool enough to handle, shred it using 2 forks. Transfer to a bowl.
• Serve pork, cracklings, and coleslaw together on buns. Serve reserved vinegar sauce on the side.

NORTH CAROLINA STYLE BBQ CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and all ingredients are thoroughly combined, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat, cover and let sit for an hour, or refrigerate overnight before serving.
• Simmer chicken breasts in water to cover, until cooked through and tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. Add onion and celery leaves to the coking water for enhanced flavor, if desired.
• When chicken breasts are done, remove them to a cutting board or plate. When cool enough to handled, shred or chop the chicken and add the barbecue sauce.
• Keep the mixture warm in a slow cooker, if serving buffet style.