Bubba Tom's Eastern North Carolina Style Barb

* Exported from MasterCook *

BUBBA TOM'S EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA STYLE BARB

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Main

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 5-8 lb Boston Butt Pork
-Roast, smoked
1 Masonjar Apple Cider Vinegar
4 tb Cayenne Pepper Flakes
8 Bulbs garlic
PAN SAUCE-----
12 oz Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tb Cayenne Pepper Flakes
1 tb Salt
2 c Water

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



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