Recipes : North Carolina-Style BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwiches : Food Network

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North Carolina-Style BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwiches
From Food Network Kitchens Get Grilling, Meredith, 2005

Ingredients
1 (8-pound) bone-in pork shoulder, with skin
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
3/4 cup Memphis Shake, recipe follows

Directions
5 cups apple or other wood chips, soaked in water for
at least 30 minutes and drained

Ingredients
2 batches North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce,
recipe follows

8 to 10 soft hamburger rolls
Dill pickles

Directions
Make small holes all over the pork shoulder with a
thin sharp knife and stuff in garlic cloves. Rub the meat all over with the
Memphis Shake; cover and refrigerate overnight.

Prepare an outdoor grill with an indirect medium-hot fire with a mix of briquettes
and hardwood charcoal in half of the grill. Set grate over coals. Place pork, skin
side up, in an aluminum pan with about 1 1/2 cups water on the cooler side of the
grate. Toss 1 cup of the soaked and drained wood chips onto the coals and cover
the grill, making sure the lid's vents are directly over pork.

When the coals cool to medium-low heat, preheat a chimney-full of hot briquettes
and hardwood charcoal. Whenever smoke stops coming out of the vents, about every
hour, add more hot coals and 1 cup of soaked and drained wood chips to the fire.
The goal is to maintain a medium-heat, smoky fire (but don't worry if it is hotter
when the coals are added and cooler while preheating the coals). Rotate the pork
when you add coals so it cooks evenly. Cook the meat until an instant-read
thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork registers 180 degrees F,
about 6 hours.

Set aside 1 quart of the North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce. Once the pork
reaches 180 degrees F, begin mopping the entire surface of the meat every 20
minutes with some of the remaining sauce and the pan drippings. Continue to cook
the pork, covering the grill between mopping, until an instant-read thermometer
registers 200 degrees F, about 1 to 2 hours more.

Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let rest for at least 15 minutes. Remove
the outer skin and discard. Cut large chunks from the bone and shred, using 2
forks or your fingers, (when cool enough to touch) or chop. Toss with about 1 cup
of the reserved barbecue sauce for every 3 cups of meat. Tuck the pork into the
soft rolls and serve with pickles.

Cook's Note: Toss the extra sauce with shredded cabbage, or you can serve it on
the side for those who want more spice. Use leftover pork for nachos.

Ingredients
Memphis Shake:
1/4 cup sweet paprika
3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon celery salt

Directions
Whisk paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic, ancho
powder, salt, and celery salt in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container in a
cool, dry place for up to 2 months.

Makes about 3/4 cup

Shopsmart: Ancho powder is simply finely ground dried ancho chiles. Anchos are the

sweetest of the dried chiles and are not terribly hot, so don't be put off by the
amount used in this recipe.

Ingredients
North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce:
3 cups cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the vinegar and sugar in a medium saucepan over
medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Off the heat, stir in the ketchup, honey,
salt, red pepper, and black pepper.

Cook's Note: BBQ experts assert that the vinegary North Carolina sauces are the
original American sauces. Within the state, you know which side of the Piedmonts
you are on by what sauce douses your pulled pork. Along the coast, sauces are
reduced to the basics-vinegar and red pepper. Up in the mountains, tomato makes an
appearance, and the sauces are thicker.

Makes about 1 quart