Pulled Pork North Carolina

Vinegar sauce:

1. Mix apple cider vinegar, apple juice, ketchup, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper and pepper in an acid-proof bowl and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. the sauce should be piquant but not overly sour. This peppery-spicy vinegar sauce is the preferred seasoning in eastern North Carolina. In the west of the state, the sauce contains more tomatoes, while in the southern parts of the two Carolinas, mustard sauce is more preferred.

For marinating:

1. For the seasoning mix, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Rub the pork shoulder with it on all sides (wear rubber or plastic gloves if necessary) and inject butter into the shoulder with a hypodermic needle + syringe. Then let it steep in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours (better still 8 hours or overnight).
2. Prepare the grill for indirect grilling and place a drip tray in the middle. For the gas grill, place the wood chips in the smokehouse and heat the grill on the highest setting; as soon as smoke appears, shift down to medium to low level. With the charcoal grill, heat up to low to medium heat and adjust the ventilation slots so that the temperature is never more than 110 ° C.
3. When the grill is ready, sprinkle 1 cup of wood chips on the coals for the charcoal grill. Place the pork shoulder with the fat side up on the hot grid over the drip tray. Cover the grill and cook the meat for 10-16 hours until it is very tender and the meat thermometer shows an internal temperature of approx. 90 ° C. (The cooking time depends on the size of the piece of meat and the temperature in the grill.) When using charcoal, add 10-12 briquettes every hour and sprinkle more shavings over them every time 1/2 cup per side, a total of 1 cup with each addition). With the gas grill, all you have to do is check to see if the gas bottle is full.
4. Place the finished roast on a cutting board, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Then cut away the rind and throw it away (put on thick rubber gloves if necessary). Then pluck the meat into small pieces, throw away the bones and pieces of fat. Use your fingers or a fork to pluck the pieces into fibers 2 1 / 2-5 cm long and 3-6 mm wide. This takes time and patience, but only “manual work” will make it perfect. If patience is not one of your virtues, you can also finely chop the meat with a cleaver. (Many famous BBQ restaurants in North Carolina serve BBQ chopped.) Place the plucked meat in a grill bowl and pour 1-1 l / 2 cups of vinegar sauce over it so that the meat remains juicy, then cover with aluminum foil and leave it on for up to 30 minutes Keep the grill warm.
5. To serve, spread the plucked pork on rye rolls (recipe follows) and cover with cole slaw (recipe follows). Everyone helps themselves with the vinegar sauce.