North Carolina Style Barbeque
Sep. 28th, 2005 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancytalkI'm posting the recipe for Carolina Pig Pickin' Sauce. I've gotten into arguments with people about what barbeque is and is not, so I'm including a little Barbeque 101.
Barbeque in NC refers to pork. It's not ribs, sausages, chicken or anything else cooked on a grill. It's pork. So this sauce is based on the idea that it's going on a slab of pig. On the eastern side you get the vinegar and pepper chopped pork. On the west, you get light tomato pulled pork. Chopped, sliced or pulled that's up to you.
Vinegar and Pepper - The most basic and oldest barbeque sauce. Found primarily in the Eastern part of North Carolina. There is some argument whether this style started in North or South Carolina. Since I'm biased, it's NC. This is the type of sauce that I'm posting.
Mustard - Vinegar and Pepper with mustard added. This is a German influence found mainly in South Carolina.
Light Tomato Sauce - Vinegar and Pepper with tomato ketchup added. Lexington, NC is the place of invention. Commonly referred to as "Western Carolina Barbeque".
Heavy Tomato Sauce - The type of Barbeque sauce that you find bottled in the grocery store. This is the type of sauce found in most of the rest of the U.S.
(this is for a small batch)
1 quart apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons salt, or to taste
1 tablesppon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon molasses (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a non-metal container, let stand at least 4 hours before using.
Store unused sauce indefinitely in a cool, dark place.
My side notes -
You can reuse the vinegar bottle to store the sauce.
You can also adjust any of the ingredients to taste.
If you prefer white vinegar or only have white vinegar, you can use that instead. Do half and half. Go exotic with other kinds of vinegar.
The same goes for the sugar. Dark brown or light brown sugar or regular table sugar. If you want to use a sugar substitute that's fine too.
If you want to concoct a mustard-style sauce, use about 1 cup of base (you may want to go light on all the pepper for this one) add mustard until you get a thin but not watery consistency. Refrigerate it and throw it away after a couple of weeks. I've also seen this one with a little ketchup added, not my preference, but you can experiment.
Same goes for making the Western Style light tomato sauce. Use about 1 cup of base, add ketchup until you get a good consistency. This sauce is also usually light on the red pepper and pepper flakes, but heavy on the black pepper. Again, use your own taste judgement.
Both of these sauces are usually used on the meat after the cooking not during. If you cook with either of them, let me know how they turn out.
As for the base sauce, you can use it at least three ways and in any combination - marinade, baste, and douse.
I'm also assuming everyone is will be using pork. It makes chicken taste great too. I haven't attempted seafood or red meat.
Unless you own or have access to a Pig Cooker from HellTM then your oven will have to do.
Go buy a pork butt (or shoulder), just make sure you have enough to feed everyone. If you have access to the above mentioned Pig Cooker then you would go a buy either a whole pig or half a pig and invite everyone over.
Pre-heat your oven to about 350 degrees F. Basically you want to cook the pork long and slow, but you don't want it to take all day. Depending on the size of your pork butt, it should take 2 -3 hours. I used a meat thermometer to check.
You can either marinade the pork in the sauce or you can salt and pepper it to start.
Put the pork in a roasting pan. Put the pork on a rack so you don't have to scrub you pan to death. Cover loosely with foil and stick it in the oven. I checked mine every 30 - 45 minutes to baste some sauce on the pork.
When it's done, let it rest about 5 minutes before you start cutting. You can pull or slice it. Douse with extra sauce or Texas Pete (or whatever hot sauce you prefer). You can eat it alone or between two slices of bread, or hush puppies.
Chopping the pork is an art form and takes practice. Chop it too fine and you get rolled bits of pork, don't chop it enough and you get sliced pork. My mom has a hand held chopper thing that does the trick. A lot of times restaurants douse with extra sauce while they chop.
You should be eating well for a couple of days.
I think I went a little overboard there. Sorry, I'm passionate about my barbeque. And I couldn't leave everyone with "store in cool dark place". That doesn't give you any idea of what to do with the sauce.
Barbeque in NC refers to pork. It's not ribs, sausages, chicken or anything else cooked on a grill. It's pork. So this sauce is based on the idea that it's going on a slab of pig. On the eastern side you get the vinegar and pepper chopped pork. On the west, you get light tomato pulled pork. Chopped, sliced or pulled that's up to you.
Vinegar and Pepper - The most basic and oldest barbeque sauce. Found primarily in the Eastern part of North Carolina. There is some argument whether this style started in North or South Carolina. Since I'm biased, it's NC. This is the type of sauce that I'm posting.
Mustard - Vinegar and Pepper with mustard added. This is a German influence found mainly in South Carolina.
Light Tomato Sauce - Vinegar and Pepper with tomato ketchup added. Lexington, NC is the place of invention. Commonly referred to as "Western Carolina Barbeque".
Heavy Tomato Sauce - The type of Barbeque sauce that you find bottled in the grocery store. This is the type of sauce found in most of the rest of the U.S.
(this is for a small batch)
1 quart apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons salt, or to taste
1 tablesppon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon molasses (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a non-metal container, let stand at least 4 hours before using.
Store unused sauce indefinitely in a cool, dark place.
My side notes -
You can reuse the vinegar bottle to store the sauce.
You can also adjust any of the ingredients to taste.
If you prefer white vinegar or only have white vinegar, you can use that instead. Do half and half. Go exotic with other kinds of vinegar.
The same goes for the sugar. Dark brown or light brown sugar or regular table sugar. If you want to use a sugar substitute that's fine too.
If you want to concoct a mustard-style sauce, use about 1 cup of base (you may want to go light on all the pepper for this one) add mustard until you get a thin but not watery consistency. Refrigerate it and throw it away after a couple of weeks. I've also seen this one with a little ketchup added, not my preference, but you can experiment.
Same goes for making the Western Style light tomato sauce. Use about 1 cup of base, add ketchup until you get a good consistency. This sauce is also usually light on the red pepper and pepper flakes, but heavy on the black pepper. Again, use your own taste judgement.
Both of these sauces are usually used on the meat after the cooking not during. If you cook with either of them, let me know how they turn out.
As for the base sauce, you can use it at least three ways and in any combination - marinade, baste, and douse.
I'm also assuming everyone is will be using pork. It makes chicken taste great too. I haven't attempted seafood or red meat.
Unless you own or have access to a Pig Cooker from HellTM then your oven will have to do.
Go buy a pork butt (or shoulder), just make sure you have enough to feed everyone. If you have access to the above mentioned Pig Cooker then you would go a buy either a whole pig or half a pig and invite everyone over.
Pre-heat your oven to about 350 degrees F. Basically you want to cook the pork long and slow, but you don't want it to take all day. Depending on the size of your pork butt, it should take 2 -3 hours. I used a meat thermometer to check.
You can either marinade the pork in the sauce or you can salt and pepper it to start.
Put the pork in a roasting pan. Put the pork on a rack so you don't have to scrub you pan to death. Cover loosely with foil and stick it in the oven. I checked mine every 30 - 45 minutes to baste some sauce on the pork.
When it's done, let it rest about 5 minutes before you start cutting. You can pull or slice it. Douse with extra sauce or Texas Pete (or whatever hot sauce you prefer). You can eat it alone or between two slices of bread, or hush puppies.
Chopping the pork is an art form and takes practice. Chop it too fine and you get rolled bits of pork, don't chop it enough and you get sliced pork. My mom has a hand held chopper thing that does the trick. A lot of times restaurants douse with extra sauce while they chop.
You should be eating well for a couple of days.
I think I went a little overboard there. Sorry, I'm passionate about my barbeque. And I couldn't leave everyone with "store in cool dark place". That doesn't give you any idea of what to do with the sauce.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 05:41 pm (UTC)Piggy wouldn't mind having a little taste. Then your other half can consume the rest.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-30 12:14 am (UTC)*hands shake violently from umpteeth cup of coffee*