Recipe courtesy of The Barbecue Joint

Eastern North Carolina Barbecue

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 6 large servings
  • Total: 10 hr 50 min
  • Prep: 20 min
  • Cook: 10 hr 30 min
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Ingredients

1 fresh pork butt, bone-in (this is the butt, or top portion, of the shoulder)

Kosher salt

Barbecue Sauce, recipe follows

Barbecue Sauce:

2 cups apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons crushed red pepper

1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Special equipment:
hickory, oak, and/or maple wood chunks or chips; smoker
  1. 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. 
  2. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. 
  3. 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.

Barbecue Sauce:

  1. 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.

Let's Get Cooking!

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Mike M.

This is by far the best Eastern Carolina BBQ ever!!   I was a kitchen manager in two restaurants and spent days touring Carolina sampling the most recommended BBQ joints by the locals.  The best one I found was outside Raleigh, sat about 25, and served everything on paper plates and plastic baskets with plastic flatware while the whole pig was smoking out back of the restaurant.  This recipe is a perfect replica!!   The only thing you need to different is to put about 1 cup of the sauce into the meat after you have pulled it, especially if you are serving it at a later time.  Mix this sauce 50% - 50% with a good red sauce, like Dinosaur BBQ sauce, and you have a perfect South Carolina sauce.

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