Prepare to embark on a culinary adventure as we delve into the art of creating authentic North Carolina-style BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. This regional delicacy, renowned for its flavorful fusion of smoky, tangy, and sweet, is a true testament to the rich barbecue traditions of the American South. In this comprehensive guide, we will take you through the essential steps to achieve that perfect harmony of flavors, from selecting the ideal cut of pork to mastering the art of slow-cooking and crafting the perfect finishing sauce. Whether you are a seasoned pitmaster or a novice cook eager to impress your friends and family, this guide will provide you with the knowledge and techniques to create undeniably delicious North Carolina-style BBQ pulled pork sandwiches that will leave your taste buds dancing for joy.
Here are our top 9 tried and tested recipes!
CAROLINA STYLE PULLED PORK SANDWICH
I like to call this "The Worlds Greatest Sandwich". Cooked overnight in a crock pot, the meat is tender, juicy, and messy..the way a BBQ sandwich should be. Top it with your favorite cole slaw, and you have one tasty meal. This is South Carolina style BBQ. (Thanks for everyone who clarified that for me)
Provided by graftonr
Categories One Dish Meal
Time 9h
Yield 18-22 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 27
Steps:
- The Meat --.
- Place the quartered onions in a crock pot.
- Combine brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper: rub over the roast.
- Place the roast over the onions in the crock pot.
- Combine the vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne; stir to mix well.
- Drizzle about 1/2 of the vinegar mixture over the roast and cover. Refrigerate the remaining vinegar mixture.
- Cook on low for 8 hours. Drizzle the other half of the vinegar mixture over the roast during the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
- While the meat is cooking, prepare the barbecue sauce. Mix all ingredients except soy sauce, butter and smoke. Simmer, uncovered, on low heat for 30 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for 10 more minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Remove the meat from the crock pot and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes. (Very important step -- longer is better).
- Remove the onions and chop to a fine consistency.
- Pull apart the meat with a couple of forks. Meat should have a shredded look to it.
- Mix chopped onions and shredded pork along with a little bit of juice from the crock pot to taste. Add sufficient barbecue sauce to the mixture to achieve desired taste. Meat should have distinctive barbecue flavor.
- To serve, spread barbecue sauce on bottom of a hearty bun.
- Put layer of pulled pork on bun. Spread barbecue sauce over meat.
- Add layer of your favorite cole slaw on top of meat. Layer some more barbecue sauce over cole slaw.
- Spread top of bun with more sauce.
- Grab a fist full of napkins, and enjoy.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 453.2, Fat 20.6, SaturatedFat 7, Cholesterol 71.9, Sodium 762.4, Carbohydrate 40.5, Fiber 2.6, Sugar 14.3, Protein 24.8
NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE PULLED PORK
This recipe is delicious, especially when smoked with hickory chips on a charcoal grill. A spicy rub and a zesty vinegar sauce turn pork into a North Carolina favorite.
Provided by Doug
Categories Main Dish Recipes Pork 100+ Pulled Pork Recipes
Time 15h
Yield 10
Number Of Ingredients 19
Steps:
- In a small bowl, mix mild paprika, light brown sugar, hot paprika, celery salt, garlic salt, dry mustard, ground black pepper, onion powder, and salt. Rub spice mixture into the roast on all sides. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight.
- Prepare a grill for indirect heat.
- Sprinkle a handful of soaked wood over coals, or place in the smoker box of a gas grill. Place pork butt roast on the grate over a drip pan. Cover grill, and cook pork until pork is tender and shreds easily, about 6 hours. Check hourly, adding fresh coals and hickory chips as necessary to maintain heat and smoke.
- Remove pork from heat and place on a cutting board. Allow the meat to cool approximately 15 minutes, then shred into bite-sized pieces using two forks. This requires patience.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together cider vinegar, water, ketchup, brown sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and white pepper. Continue whisking until brown sugar and salt have dissolved. Place shredded pork and vinegar sauce in a large roasting pan, and stir to coat pork. Serve immediately, or cover and keep warm on the grill for up to one hour until serving.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 425.9 calories, Carbohydrate 12.1 g, Cholesterol 134.9 mg, Fat 23.1 g, Fiber 0.8 g, Protein 39.1 g, SaturatedFat 8.3 g, Sodium 1698.4 mg, Sugar 10.1 g
NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE PULLED PORK
Melanie Dunia didn't know much about barbecuing when she was hired as a sous chef at The Pit in 2013, but her experience working in Asian restaurants turned out to be a real help: On one of her first days, The Pit's head chef asked her to roll a couple hundred of the restaurant's beloved BBQ Soul Rolls - North Carolina-style pulled pork, collards and carrots in an egg roll wrapper. "They were so impressed, but it was nothing for me!" she says. In just a few years she shot to the top spot in the kitchen and became the only woman in the region running a pit.
Provided by Food Network
Categories main-dish
Time 9h
Yield 15 to 20 servings
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Preheat a grill to medium low and prepare for indirect cooking: On a gas grill, preheat the grill, then turn off the center burners. On a charcoal grill, light the coals, then push to the edges of the grill, creating an open space in the middle; put a disposable aluminum drip pan in the middle of the grill under the grates.
- When the grill registers 250˚ F, place the pork on the grill grates over the cooler part. Cover the grill and cook the pork until the skin is crisp, the meat easily falls off the bone and a thermometer inserted into the center of the pork (away from the bone) registers 190˚ F to 200˚ F, 7 to 10 hours (if using charcoal, adjust the air vents and add more coals as needed so the temperature stays around 250˚ F).
- Meanwhile, make the barbecue sauce: Combine 1 cup water, the vinegar, hot sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, 2 1/2 tablespoons salt and 2 teaspoons black pepper in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar and salt dissolve. Let cool.
- If using a gas grill, turn off the heat and carefully transfer the pork to a cutting board. If using a charcoal grill, do this quickly, as the grease may cause the coals to catch fire. Let the pork rest at least 30 minutes, then pull the meat off the bone with tongs and a large fork; discard the bones and any large pieces of fat. Chop the crispy skin and stir into the meat. Transfer to a bowl and toss with 1 to 2 cups of the barbecue sauce. Serve on buns with the remaining sauce.
NORTH CAROLINA PULLED-PORK BARBECUE
This classic pulled pork is the ultimate holiday weekend grilling project.
Provided by Ruth Cousineau
Categories Backyard BBQ Summer Grill Grill/Barbecue Gourmet Graduation
Yield Makes 8 servings
Number Of Ingredients 4
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.
CAROLINA-STYLE PORK BBQ SANDWICHES
Arguably, some of the best 'cue in the country can be found in North Carolina, where two distinct types of slow-cooked pig prevail. The first is Eastern barbecue, which is distinguished by slow-cooking a whole hog and including both the white and dark meat in chopped sandwiches and platters. Eastern 'cue boasts just a hint of vinegar and red pepper, which is added to the meat mix rather than used as a sauce. Western North Carolina 'cue (aka Lexington-style) is made from pork shoulder only. In addition to incorporating plenty of vinegar, sugar, and spices, it also mixes in a good amount of ketchup to create an actual sauce for the pork. This slow-cooker recipe falls somewhere in between.
Provided by Kendra Bailey Morris
Categories Pork Sandwich Grill/Barbecue North Carolina
Yield Serves 10 to 12 (about 8 cups of meat)
Number Of Ingredients 24
Steps:
- Make the pork:
- Spray the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray.
- Put the onions in the slow cooker. Make slits in the pork roast and insert the garlic cloves. Rub salt, pepper, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes into the meat. Place the pork in the slow cooker fat side up and pour in the vinegar and apple cider. Cover and cook on low for at least 10 hours and up to 12 hours, until the meat is falling-apart tender.
- Transfer the meat to a large bowl and shred it with two forks. Set aside.
- Make the sauce:
- Pour 2 cups of the pan juices into a measuring cup; discard any leftover juices still in the pot. Let cool and skim off any visible fat. Pour this liquid into a saucepan. Add the water, ketchup, cider vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, paprika, dry mustard, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker and add 1 cup of the sauce mixture (more if you like it wet). Give it a stir and set the slow cooker to warm until ready to serve.
- Assemble the sandwiches:
- Serve the pork straight from the slow cooker with a slotted spoon, along with buns, slaw, and hot sauce. Serve the additional sauce on the side.
NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE PULLED PORK BARBECUE
Steps:
- Prepare the barbecue sauce the day before cooking the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
- In a large (6- to 8- quart) ovenproof casserole or flameproof roasting pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add meat, and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes a side. Remove meat and wipe out casserole.
- Place a rack in the bottom of the casserole. Put the meat on the rack, and cover with 2 1/2 cups barbecue sauce. Cover and cook for about 4 hours, basting occasionally, until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat reaches 150 to 180 degrees. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool.
- Gently heat remaining barbecue sauce. When meat is cool enough to handle, trim and discard fat. Shred meat coarsely by hand, or pull it with two forks. Put shredded meat in a large bowl, and toss with warmed sauce. Serve on rolls or slices of white bread, with coleslaw and bread-and-butter pickles on the side.
Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 315, UnsaturatedFat 7 grams, Carbohydrate 34 grams, Fat 12 grams, Fiber 1 gram, Protein 16 grams, SaturatedFat 4 grams, Sodium 838 milligrams, Sugar 24 grams, TransFat 0 grams
NORTH CAROLINA PULLED PORK BBQ SANDWICHES
Cooking this roast long and slow makes for a tasty, tender sandwich. Top the sandwich with some coleslaw for a crunchy, cool contrast. Have your favorite side dishes and some cold watermelon for dessert.
Provided by Allrecipes Member
Yield 10
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- BBQ Sauce: In medium bowl, combine vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, salt and hot pepper sauce. Divide sauce into two portions; set aside.
- Pulled Pork: At least 1 hour before grilling, soak wood chips in enough water to cover; drain before using. Rub meat with salt and black pepper. In a charcoal grill with a cover, place preheated coals around a drip pan for medium indirect heat. Add 1/2 inch hot water to drip pan. Sprinkle half of the drained wood chips over the coals. Place meat on grill rack over drip pan. Cover and grill about 4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more preheated coals (use a hibachi or a metal chimney starter to preheat coals), wood chips and hot water every 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Remove meat from grill; cover with foil and let stand for 20-30 minutes. Using a fork, shred meat into long, thin strands. Pour sauce over shredded meat; toss to coat. Serve on toasted buns. If desired, top meat with coleslaw. Serve remaining sauce on the side. * Note: For gas grills, preheat and then turn off any burners directly below where the food will go. The heat circulates inside the grill, so turning the food is not necessary.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 475.9 calories, Carbohydrate 36.1 g, Cholesterol 92.7 mg, Fat 20.6 g, Fiber 2.1 g, Protein 32.3 g, SaturatedFat 6.9 g, Sodium 613.1 mg, Sugar 5.8 g
NORTH CAROLINA PULLED PORK BBQ SANDWICHES
Make and share this North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches recipe from Food.com.
Provided by Rita1652
Categories Lunch/Snacks
Time 4h20m
Yield 10-12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- BBQ Sauce:.
- In medium bowl, combine vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, salt and hot pepper sauce. Divide sauce into two portions; set aside.
- Pulled Pork:.
- At least 1 hour before grilling, soak wood chips in enough water to cover; drain before using. Rub meat with salt and black pepper. In a charcoal grill with a cover, place preheated coals around a drip pan for medium indirect heat. Add 1/2 inch hot water to drip pan. Sprinkle half of the drained wood chips over the coals. Place meat on grill rack over drip pan. Cover and grill about 4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more preheated coals (use a hibachi or a metal chimney starter to preheat coals), wood chips and hot water every 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove meat from grill; cover with foil and let stand for 20-30 minutes. Using a fork, shred meat into long, thin strands. Pour sauce over shredded meat; toss to coat. Serve on toasted buns. If desired, top meat with coleslaw. Serve remaining sauce on the side.
- * Note: For gas grills, preheat and then turn off any burners directly below where the food will go. The heat circulates inside the grill, so turning the food is not necessary.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 613, Fat 38.6, SaturatedFat 13.2, Cholesterol 128.9, Sodium 583.4, Carbohydrate 27.7, Fiber 1.1, Sugar 8.4, Protein 34.5
CAROLINA-STYLE PORK BARBECUE
I am originally from North Carolina (where swine is divine) and this recipe for the slow cooker is a family favorite. My husband swears my authentic Carolina 'cue is the best BBQ he has ever eaten! -Kathryn Ransom Williams, Sparks, Nevada
Provided by Taste of Home
Categories Lunch
Time 6h30m
Yield 14 servings.
Number Of Ingredients 15
Steps:
- Cut roast into quarters. Mix brown sugar, salt, paprika and pepper; rub over meat. Place meat and onions in a 5-qt. slow cooker., In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and seasonings; pour over roast. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until meat is tender., Remove roast; cool slightly. Reserve 1-1/2 cups cooking juices; discard remaining juices. Skim fat from reserved juices. Shred pork with two forks. Return pork and reserved juices to slow cooker; heat through. Serve on buns with coleslaw.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 453 calories, Fat 22g fat (6g saturated fat), Cholesterol 85mg cholesterol, Sodium 889mg sodium, Carbohydrate 35g carbohydrate (14g sugars, Fiber 3g fiber), Protein 27g protein.
Tips:
- Choose the right pork shoulder: Look for a pork shoulder that is well-marbled with fat, as this will help keep the meat moist and flavorful during cooking.
- Use a good quality rub: The rub is what gives the pork its flavor, so it's important to use a good quality one. Look for a rub that contains a variety of spices, such as paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder.
- Cook the pork shoulder slowly and low: The best way to cook pulled pork is to cook it slowly and low. This will help tenderize the meat and make it fall apart easily.
- Use a spray bottle to keep the pork moist: As the pork cooks, it will start to dry out. To prevent this, use a spray bottle to mist the pork with apple cider vinegar or water every hour or so.
- Let the pork rest before shredding: Once the pork is cooked, let it rest for at least 30 minutes before shredding. This will help the juices redistribute throughout the meat and make it easier to shred.
- Use a variety of toppings: Pulled pork sandwiches can be topped with a variety of things, such as coleslaw, pickles, onions, and barbecue sauce. Get creative and experiment with different toppings to find your favorite combination.
Conclusion:
Pulled pork sandwiches are a delicious and easy-to-make meal that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. By following the tips in this article, you can make sure that your pulled pork sandwiches are moist, flavorful, and fall-apart tender. So next time you're looking for a quick and easy meal, give this North Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich recipe a try.
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