North Carolina style pulled pork barbecue is a classic dish that is sure to please everyone at your next gathering. This flavorful and tender dish is made with a combination of spices, a slow-cooking method, and a tangy sauce. Whether you prefer a vinegar-based sauce or a tomato-based sauce, there are many delicious variations of this dish to choose from. In this article, we will explore the different ingredients and techniques used to make this iconic dish and provide you with the best recipe to create the perfect North Carolina style pulled pork barbecue.
Let's cook with our recipes!
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.
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 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.
NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE PULLED PORK
This pulled pork is made with a vinegar sauce in the North Carolina tradition, and the boneless pork shoulder is slow-roasted in the oven.
Provided by Diana Rattray
Categories Dinner Entree Lunch Sandwiches
Time 7h10m
Yield 8
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Gather the ingredients.
- In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil; remove from heat.
- Save about 2 cups of the vinegar mixture for serving, and use the rest for basting.
- Sprinkle the pork roast with salt and pepper; place on a foil-lined baking or roasting pan.
- Roast, uncovered, at 275 F for about 7 hours, or until the roast reaches 200 F on a meat thermometer or oven probe inserted in the center of the thickest part of the roast.
- Baste about every hour with the sauce saved for basting. The roast should be very tender.
- Remove the roast and shred with 2 forks, discarding large pieces of fat.
- Warm the reserved sauce and pass at the table for people to spoon over their pork. (You can also serve barbecue sauce with this pork; it's delicious as a topping with coleslaw and pickle slices.)
- Serve with slaw, pickles, toasted buns , and baked beans or your favorite sides.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 607 kcal, Carbohydrate 3 g, Cholesterol 179 mg, Fiber 0 g, Protein 46 g, SaturatedFat 16 g, Sodium 443 mg, Sugar 2 g, Fat 43 g, ServingSize Serves 6 to 8, UnsaturatedFat 0 g
NORTH CAROLINA-STYLE BBQ PULLED-PORK SANDWICHES
Provided by Food Network Kitchen
Categories main-dish
Time 15h30m
Yield 8 to 10 servings, with leftovers
Number Of Ingredients 21
Steps:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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
EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA BARBECUE
Provided by Food Network
Categories main-dish
Time 10h50m
Yield 6 large servings
Number Of Ingredients 8
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 PULLED PORK
Provided by Steven Raichlen
Categories dinner, project, roasts, main course
Time 5h
Yield 10 to 12 servings
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Preheat grill to 325 degrees, building fire on opposite sides of grill if using charcoal, or on one side or opposite sides if using gas. Season pork with rub.
- If using charcoal, every hour for first 4 hours add fresh coals and toss 1/2 cup wood chips on each mound of coals. If using gas, place wood chips in smoker box, and preheat until you see smoke (depending on model of gas grill, use all 4 cups at once or 1 cup every hour for first 4 hours).
- Place pork, fat side up, on grill over drip pan, away from fire. Barbecue until nicely browned and cooked through, for 4 to 6 hours, or until internal temperature is 195 degrees, so that the meat will shred properly.
- Meanwhile, combine ingredients for vinegar sauce in a bowl with 3/4 cup water, and whisk to mix. Add additional salt or sugar to taste, if desired.
- Transfer cooked pork to cutting board, cover with foil, and let it rest until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Pull meat into pieces, and discard any skin, bones or fat. With fingertips or a fork, pull each piece of pork into shreds about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. (Or finely chop the meat with a cleaver.) Transfer to metal or foil pan, and stir in 1 cup vinegar sauce, or enough to keep meat moist and flavorful. Cover with foil, and place on grill to keep warm until serving. Serve on hamburger buns with cole slaw and remaining sauce on side.
NORTH CAROLINA PULLED PORK
I got this from an North Carolina native and it is the best. It is pretty much foolproof. This is made in the slow cooker.
Provided by skibunny2k
Categories Main Dish Recipes Pork 100+ Pulled Pork Recipes
Time 9h15m
Yield 6
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Preheat slow cooker on Low for 15 minutes.
- Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper; place pork in preheated slow cooker. Mix ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar in a bowl; pour over pork.
- Cook on Low for 8 hours. Transfer pork to a large platter and slice into 3 to 4 pieces. Shred meat with 2 forks and return to slow cooker. Continue to cook for 1 hour.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 209 calories, Carbohydrate 17.8 g, Cholesterol 56.8 mg, Fat 6.4 g, Fiber 0.1 g, Protein 19.7 g, SaturatedFat 2.3 g, Sodium 265.1 mg, Sugar 16.3 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
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
Tips:
- Choose the right cut of pork: Pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) is the best cut for pulled pork because it is well-marbled and has a lot of connective tissue, which breaks down during cooking and creates a tender, juicy texture.
- Use a good quality rub: The rub is what gives pulled pork its flavor, so it's important to use a good quality one. Look for a rub that contains a variety of spices, including paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder.
- Cook the pork low and slow: Pulled pork is best cooked low and slow. This allows the connective tissue to break down and the flavors to develop. Cook the pork at a temperature of 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 hours, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Shred the pork: Once the pork is cooked, remove it from the smoker or oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Then, use two forks to shred the pork into bite-sized pieces.
- Serve the pulled pork with your favorite sides: Pulled pork is traditionally served with coleslaw, baked beans, and potato salad. However, you can also serve it with other sides, such as macaroni and cheese, green beans, or corn on the cob.
Conclusion:
North Carolina-style pulled pork is a delicious and versatile dish that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It's perfect for a backyard barbecue, a potluck, or a casual weeknight meal. With a little planning and effort, you can easily make pulled pork at home that tastes just as good as the stuff you get from a restaurant.
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