Recipe: North Carolina Style Pulled Pork (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source:  Originally posted to the Big Green Egg forum by user Elder Ward, and reposted to a permanent site by the Naked Whiz (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm)

I’ve had my Big Green Egg for a while now, and I’ve made some great barbeque on it.  The Egg really excels at traditional ‘low and slow’ barbeque, where meat is cooked for hours over low heat and smoke until it is falling apart tender.  This technique is great for dishes like beef brisket and ribs.  It is also great for pulled pork, and I’ve wanted to try making this barbeque staple for some time, but none of our local stores carry the large pieces of pork shoulder needed to make this dish.  I asked the local butcher last summer, and he said that not enough people buy it, and so they don’t stock it.     I guess more people need smokers.  Finally, I was on the opposite side of the city last weekend, and I remembered that there was an old-school butcher shop there, so I stopped in to see what they had.  Before my eyes were 5 or 6 10 lb. pieces of bone in pork shoulder.  I quickly grabbed one, and set off to make barbecued pulled pork for the first time. 

Although I hadn’t personally tried to make pulled pork before, it is one of the more frequently discussed items on the Big Green Egg online forum, so I knew where to turn.  Elder Ward’s pulled pork recipe outlines all the techniques needed to succeed at this cook, and is one of the resources that forum members point new people too.  Since this was my first time doing this, I chose to follow the recipe exactly as written, except that I eliminated the cheap hamburger buns for serving, as we already had way too much food, and didn’t need to add a bunch of carbs to the meal.  I made a minor substitution and used Spanish rather than Hungarian paprika since that’s what I had.  I also used apple wood for smoking, as I was out of the hickory recommended in the recipe, and I usually use apple with pork anyway. 

For those who haven’t tried doing true barbeque, this isn’t about throwing a steak over a fire for a few minutes and trying to keep it from charring.  The idea behind ‘low and slow’ is to take an otherwise lousy cut of meat (e.g. $.99/lb) and turn it into a delicacy by cooking it at a very low temperature over a long period of time, adding smoke from hardwood to enhance the flavor.  The ‘low and slow’ cook breaks down the connective tissues in the meat and melts away the fat.  This isn’t the kind of dish you can just decide to make after work, as it really only works with larger pieces of meat - smaller ones would just dry out - and takes about 2 hours / lb.  My 9 lb. pork shoulder took just over 18 hours to cook, which led to a somewhat funny exchange.  Once I was confident that I hadn’t burned the meat to a crisp, I called our friends who live nearby, explained that we had a large hunk of meat that needed to be eaten, and invited them over.  Their response was “have you started it yet?”  They were quite shocked when I told them it had been cooking since the previous day.  Don’t be put off by the huge amount of meat this makes.   It’s cheap, and because it’s cooked to a high temperature and smoked, the leftovers will keep for a while, and are useful in numerous other recipes. 

Of course, part of being able to cook a meal like this is having the right tools, and the Big Green Egg really excels at long low temperature cooks.  It can cook for at least 24 hours on a single load of lump charcoal, and it maintains its temperature very well.  This translates into few trips outside in the middle of the night to check on the smoker.  Unfortunately, this isn’t a meal that can be translated to a regular grill.  You really need a smoker, and one that can go for long periods of time unattended unless you really feel the need to sit up all night with it.  To supplement the Egg on this cook, I also got to try out a new toy that I got for Christmas, but hadn’t had a chance to use yet - a Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer.  This great little device comes with two temperature probes, one for the meat and one for the smoker.   These connect to a weather-resistant transmitter that sits next to your smoker.  A wireless receiver shows you a constant readout of the temperature and can alert you if the temperature of the smoker drops too low, goes too high, or if your meat reaches it’s target temperature.  The Maverick worked great, giving me a view of what was happening from in the house, alerting me once during the cook when the temperature dropped, and letting me monitor the meat as it came toward it’s target temperature without having to stand over the smoker to take constant readings with my Thermapen. 

The pulled pork itself came out perfectly.  The meat was extremely tender and easily pulled apart for serving.  It had a nice smoky flavor and remained moist.  Most of the fat on the meat rendered off during the long cook, so it didn’t come across as heavy or greasy at all.  I also made two sauces to go along with the pork, as recommended in the recipe - a vinegar sauce and a mustard-based sauce.  When I was mixing them up, I liked the vinegar sauce more, and the mustard sauce didn’t taste that good at all.  But when we ate them on the pork, the vinegar sauce didn’t really provide a lot of flavor, and the mustard sauce was definitely the hands-down favorite around the table.  Overall, I was very happy with this first attempt at pulled pork, and I’ll be experimenting to get this even better in the future.  

North Carolina Style Pulled Pork (Serves a lot.   Approx. Cost Per Serving Not Available)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or other smoker
• Wood for smoking (I used Apple)
• Remote thermometer (Optional but recommended)

1 large pork shoulder / Boston Butt - 8 - 10 lbs.

For the Rub
2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons ground cumin seed

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

4 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons ground sage

For the ‘Traditional North Carolina’ (vinegar-based) sauce
1 cup white vinegar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

For the ‘Western North Carolina (Piedmont)’ (mustard-based) sauce
1 cup ketchup

1 cup water

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 onion chopped fine

3 cloves crushed garlic

 2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Determine when you want to eat, and plan your cook accordingly.  The meat will take approximately 2 hours/lb. to cook, though you will judge doneness strictly by temperature.  So for a 9 pound piece of meat, you’ll want to put it in the smoker at least 18 hours before you want to eat.
Prepare your fire.  Since an 18 hour cook would usually start in the middle of the night to be ready for dinner the next day, I set my smoker up before dark, so all I have to do is go outside and light it when I’m ready.  To maximize the chances your fire will burn properly, clean out your smoker thoroughly, removing all ash.  If you’re using a BGE or other smoker that uses lump charcoal as a fuel, build your fire with the largest chunks of charcoal toward the bottom, and fill in with smaller pieces above.  This will prevent the air holes from getting clogged with ash over time and putting out the fire.  See Elder Ward’s writeup for more detailed instructions on this.

1. About an hour before starting the cook, mix the rub ingredients together and liberally coat the meat.  I had some rub left over, and applied a second coat right before putting the meat into the smoker. 
2. Start your fire, add your smoking wood, and set up your smoker for indirect cooking with a drip pan under the meat.  Put in the meat, either on a V-rack or directly on the grill.  Insert the probes from your remote thermometer if you are using one, and stabilize your smoker at around 210 degrees Fahrenheit.  Note that putting such a large piece of cold meat into the smoker will cause the temperature to drop.  Make sure you get it stable with the meat in the smoker before going to bed, or the remote alarm will be waking you up later. 
3. Let the pork cook.  If you’re using a ceramic smoker like the BGE, you don’t need to really worry about the meat drying out.  Just leave the lid shut.  On other types of smokers, you may need to baste the meat periodically.  You can either use the vinegar sauce, or another complimentary flavor, such as a 50-50 mix of apple juice and cider vinegar. 
4. Eventually, the internal temperature of the meat will hit a plateau in the 175 to 185 degree range, and will stay there for a while.  If you notice that your pork has done this, you can raise the heat to 250-275 degrees to help it on its way.  Eventually, the temperature will move past the plateau and continue to rise. 
5. At some point during the cooking process, prepare the sauces.  The vinegar sauce is easy - just stir all the ingredients together and put in a plastic squirt container or some other appropriate serving vessel.  For the mustard sauce, mix the ingredients together and simmer in a medium saucepan for about 20 minutes.  This one needs to be served warm, so if you make it ahead of time, reheat it before serving. 
6. When the internal temperature of the meat hits 200 degrees, remove from the heat.  Since this isn’t an exact science, just wrap it in foil until you are ready to eat.  If it’s done really early, wrap the foiled pork in a large towel, and put it in a cooler until you’re ready.  It will stay warm for at least 90 minutes this way. 
7. When you’re ready to serve, use a couple of forks to pull the meat apart with the grain, which should result in piles of string-like pieces of meat.  If you’re going to serve as sandwiches, use a cleaver or chef’s knife to cut the meat into smaller chunks.  Otherwise, just serve on a plate, with the sauces on the side. 

Comments

[Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food.]

I love pulled pork. This sound delicious!

[Chris]

WOOHOO! Love me some pulled pork! I smoked two butts friday night and they turned out great. Mine ran 15 hours at 250f.

I like the piedmont style sauce (still a vinegar based) versus the Eastern NC vinegar ones. Looks like the bark came out good on yours, nice job.

The best part about being the person doing the pulling is the "quality control" snacking.

[Sophie]

Waw, that looks imressive!! MMMMMMMM....!! I have never heard from pulled pork before,.......MMMMMMMMiii Fabulous!!!

[Fearless Kitchen]

Sophie - I'm pretty sure Pulled Pork is an American thing, specifically a Southern thing, and I don't know if there are a lot of proper barbeque joints outside the US and Canada (could be a good opportunity for someone entrepreneurial). If you ever come to Boston, we'll make you some. If you ever go to the South, I really recommend looking for a good reputable barbeque joint.

Chris - My husband was so happy to make pulled pork that we're doing it again this weekend...

Nutrit - It wasn't bad. Pulled pork isn't my favorite, but it made people really happy.

[Sophie]

Thank you so much for the info & for the invitation!! Some day, I will!! Thanks a lot!!!

[Fearless Kitchen]

Sophie - :) You're always welcome. Barbeque is better at home anyway, at least in my humble opinion.

[Buy Viagra]

Pulled pork is a form of barbecue originating in Mexico. It is known as Carnitas in Mexico. It is a method of preparation in which pork, usually shoulder cut (sometimes referred to as Boston butt) or mixed cuts, is cooked using a low-heat, long-cook method. With these extended times at low temperatures, the meat becomes tender enough that its weakened connective tissue allows the meat to be "pulled", or easily broken into individual pieces. Pulled pork is found around the world in a variety of forms.

[Laura, cooking pulled pork in NY]

I may be wrong, but I think brown sugar is often used to make North Carolina sauce.

[peter]

Ihave 8hrs do you think i can do this w/5 lb butt chefs choice in amatuer comp.

[Fearless Kitchen]

Peter - I'd be really concerned about a 5 lb butt drying out no matter how long you cook it. Good luck in your competition!