Carolina Smoked Pork Recipes

Steps:

• For the rub:
• Combine all the spices in a small bowl. Brush both sides of the racks with oil and rub with the spice mixture. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
• In a large pot over low heat, add all the mop ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.
• Remove the ribs from the refrigerator 45 minutes before smoking to allow them to come to room temperature. Add the mix of hickory and applewood chips to the smoker according to package instructions. Heat a smoker to 220 degrees F. Put the apple cider in a small heatproof pan in the smoker.
• Put the ribs directly on the smoker rack. Smoke for 6 hours, brushing the ribs with the mop every hour for the first 5 hours. During the last hour, brush the ribs with the North Carolina Barbecue Sauce every 10 minutes. Remove the ribs to a serving platter and serve.
• For the BBQ Sauce:
• Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add the onions and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the ketchup and water, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes.
• Carefully transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then pour into a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature. Sauce will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator, stored in a tightly sealed container.

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.

Steps:

• 1. If using the rub, combine the mild paprika, brown sugar, hot paprika, celery salt, garlic salt, dry mustard, pepper, onion powder, and salt in a bowl and toss with your fingers to mix. Wearing rubber or plastic gloves if desired, rub the spice mixture onto the pork shoulder on all sides, then cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, preferably 8.
• If not using the rub, generously season the pork all over with coarse (kosher or sea) salt and freshly ground black pepper; you can start cooking immediately.
• 2. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and place a drip pan in the center.
• If using a gas grill, place all of the wood chips in the smoker box and preheat the grill to high; when smoke appears, reduce the heat to medium.
• If using a charcoal grill, preheat the grill to medium-low and adjust the vents to obtain a temperature of 300°F.
• 3. When ready to cook, if using charcoal, toss 1 cup of the wood chips on the coals. Place the pork shoulder, fat side up, on the hot grate over the drip pan. Cover the grill and smoke cook the pork shoulder until fall-off-the-bone tender and the internal temperature on an instant-read meat thermometer reaches 195°F, 4 to 6 hours (the cooking time will depend on the size of the pork roast and the heat of the grill). If using charcoal, you'll need to add 10 to 12 fresh coals to each side every hour and toss more wood chips on the fresh coals; add about 1/2 cup per side every time you replenish the coals. With gas, all you need to do is be sure that you start with a full tank of gas. If the pork begins to brown too much, drape a piece of aluminum foil loosely over it or lower the heat.
• 4. Transfer the pork roast to a cutting board, loosely tent it with aluminum foil, and let rest for 15 minutes.
• 5. Wearing heavy-duty rubber gloves if desired, pull off and discard any skin from the meat, then pull the pork into pieces, discarding any bones or fat. Using your fingertips or a fork, pull each piece of pork into shreds 1 to 2 inches long and 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide. This requires time and patience, but a human touch is needed to achieve the perfect texture. If patience isn't one of your virtues, you can finely chop the pork with a cleaver (many respected North Carolina barbecue joints serve chopped 'cue). Transfer the shredded pork to a nonreactive roasting pan. Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the vinegar sauce, enough to keep the pork moist, then cover the pan with aluminum foil and place it on the grill for up to 30 minutes to keep warm.
• 6. To serve, mound the pulled pork on the hamburger buns and top with coleslaw. Let each person add more vinegar sauce to taste.

Steps:

• Make the rub: add the mustard, paprika, salt, peppers, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne in a bowl; stir to mix.
• Sprinkle rub all over the pork, patting it onto the meat with your fingertips; let the pork cure at room temperature while you make the mop sauce.
• Mop sauce: combine the vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl; add in ½ cup water and whisk until salt dissolves.
• Set up grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium-low-for a gas grill, place all the wood chips in the smoker box and run the grill on high until you see smoke, then decrease heat to medium low.
• When ready to cook, place the pork, skin side up, in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat, and cover the grill.
• Cook the pork until darkly browned on the outside and very tender inside, 4-6 hours.
• Test for doneness with an instant read thermometer; the internal temperature should be about 195°; if the pork starts to brown too much, cover it loosely with foil.
• Every hour, for the first 4 hours, swab the pork with some of the mop sauce, using a barbecue mop or basting brush.
• Make the mustard barbecue sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat; add in onion and garlic; cook until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, and hot sauce; add ½ cup of water; let sauce simmer, uncovered, until thick and richly flavored, 6-10 minutes.
• Taste for seasoning, adding more hot sauce as needed and seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
• Let the sauce cool to room temperature before serving.
• When the pork is done, transfer the cooked pork to a cutting board, cover it loosely with foil, and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• You could pull the pork or chop the pork, but Steven likes to thinly slice it across the grain.
• Place the pork slices in a foil pan if you are not quite ready to serve, cover the pan with foil and place it on a warm, not hot, grill or in an oven turned on low.
• To serve: brush the buns with melted butter and lightly toast them on the grill; load each bun with sliced pork and slather with mustard sauce.
• Top the pork and sauce with pickles and serve at once.

Steps:

• For the sauce: combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved; let cool.
• Prepare your water smoker about 30 minutes before smoking the pork.
• Pour 2 cups of the sauce into the waterpan, then fill with water to one inch from the top of the pan; place it in the smoker.
• Place pork on rack above water and brush liberally with sauce (you should have 2 cups left after filling the water pan); put the cover on the smoker and smoke 5-6 hours, basting with sauce and turning the pork from side to side to color evenly every 30 minutes.
• Keep fire burning hot enough to hold smoker temperature at about 225-250°.
• When thermometer inserted in center of pork registers 140 degrees, baste the pork with sauce and place into a shallow roasting pan.
• Continue roasting in your conventional oven at 325° until meat almost falls apart, about 1 1/2-2 hours.
• Cool the meat slightly and shred it, pour any leftover sauce over the pork (I sometimes pour the pan juices over as well, after defatting them a bit); serve on buns.

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.