INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

PAN SAUCE
While nothing can duplicate the sweet ambrosia of slow, pit-cooked, whole
hog Eastern North Carolina barbeque, this is a right close backyard
approximation for those of us who find themselves exiled in distant,
heathen regions of barbeque heresy.
First, get yourself some pork shoulders or Boston Butt roasts, as many as
your smoker will hold comfortably. I use a Brinkmann Professional Pit
Smoker with an offset firebox, but you can do this with a vertical
Brinkmann water smoker as well. The key is providing a moist, smoky,
indirect heat for a long period of time.
What I do is put a bag of charcoal in the firebox, open the vents, light
it, and let it burn down to coals. Then I add wood (generally oak, since
hickory is scarce up here)--two parts wet (soaked) wood to one part
dry--regulate the dampers, and put the shoulders or butts, fat side up, in
the cooking chamber. Beneath the meat I put a drip pan half-filled with
apple cider vinegar. You must keep the heat between 180-260 degrees
throughout the smoking process; the optimum range is 220-240 degrees.
Normally, I'll add apple wood to the firebox as well, and I always add
between 5-7 whole heads of garlic during the process. Keep the firebox fed
and a good smoke going for between 8 to 10 hours. Do not open the cooking
chamber to baste the meat--the only time you open the cooking chamber is
when the temperature spikes above 260 degrees, and you open it only long
enough to bring the temperature back in the proper range. By the time the
smoking period is finished, the outside of the pork will have a golden
amber to dark brown crust.
Now, take the meat and put it in a covered Dutch oven. If it's too dark
outside to continue, preheat your indoor stoves' oven to just under 300
degrees; otherwise, just raise the temperature in the cooking chamber a
like amount. Get a quart-sized Mason jar; fill it halfway with apple cider
vinegar, add one (or more) teaspoons of red pepper flakes, and fill the
rest of the jar with water. Dump this into the Dutch oven with the pork,
cover, and cook until the meat falls from the bone, about 2 more hours or
so.
When the meat is done, let it cool a bit. [NOTE: If you're too tired, you
can stop here for the day--cover 'em up, put them in the fridge, and warm
'em up the next morning and continue
the procedure]. While it's cooling, fill some 16 ounce bottles with apple
cider vinegar, adding about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes to each one (I
use Grolsch beer bottles with those pull-down caps, any excuse for buying
good beer...). When the pork has cooled enough to handle (I use latex
gloves) pull it into thumb-sized chunks, discarding as much fat as
possible. Pack roughly 3 pounds of barbeque into a large frying pan (I use
a Number 10 size cast iron skillet). Dissolve 1 tablespoon of salt into 2
1/2 cups of warm water and pour it into the pan. Add about 12 ounces of
your apple cider vinegar and red pepper sauce, turn the heat to medium, and
let the liquid slowly simmer off, stirring frequently, until the sauce just
barely oozes over the top of your spatula when you press down on the
barbeque with it. Remove from heat, and congratulate yourself--you've just
made a fine batch of Eastern North Carolina Style Barbeque.
Recipe By : Tom Solomon
Posted to bbq-digest by "Patrick Lehnherr" <lehnherr@isd.net> on May 8,
1998

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