Carolina style Pulled Pork 'n slaw

What's going to make it Carolina style you ask? For one thing it's the sauce, BBQ sauces are highly regional, and even in North Carolina there are different favorites. I made a simple one, but boy is it good. Read on for the recipe.  Also making this "Carolina style" is the Red Slaw. That recipe is also below. My mouth is watering, and I just had it!

About 4 hours in I removed the lid to add the chicken (a different post in the works). They are definitely getting there!

After 7 hours

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While that was cooking I made  a Carolina "Red" slaw from this month's Saveur magazine (issue 139). It is pretty spicy.

Lexington-Style Red Slaw

Ingredients:

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp hot sauce

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp ground black pepper

1 medium head of cabbage cored and finely chopped

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients except cabbage.

Add cabbage and toss to combine.

Allow to rest for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Chill.

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I also made a super simple BBQ sauce appropriate to Carolina. It's not a thick sweet sauce that is favored in the U.S. Midwest, rather a tart/sweet thin sauce. (Before you jump all over me, there a million variations of this, I'm sure they are all good)

Simple Carolina BBQ sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup each - Ketchup, water, cider vinegar, sugar

1 big pinch of crushed red pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, allow to come to room temperature then chill.

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At this point I chopped the pork. Normally I would pull it but I was in a hurry. I made way more than I can use but it does freeze very well, and I'll give some to some friends.

Now what I needed dinner! So here it is...

That plate lasted about 5 minutes.  Two recipes in one post, not a bad deal.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener
email: thegastronomicgardener at gmail dot com

Epic Smoke AKA Meatless Monday takes a holiday

Few things say 4th of July  in the U.S. like a cookout, and today will be an epic one. I'm smoking two pork butts, and two racks of pork ribs. The smoked pork freezes very nicely so I'll put some of that up, there will be lunches for the week and a feast tonight!

The Student is eyeballs deep in study, so I was able to putter at a comfortable pace all day.

Everything gets a a generous massage with my rub. The butts I tied up, makes them easier to remove without having them fall apart. The ribs are trimmed, and the silver skin removed from the bone side.

The butts went on about  noon - I was running late. I kept the smoker running at 225-250F for the whole smoke. I really like the Weber smoker - I am able to keep a nice even temp for a long time without fussing with it.

At  3:00 the ribs went on. Which gave me my first peek at the butts.

I added apple wood chunks at the same time. And let this smoke another 5 hours -

Tender, smokey with just enough bark. The butts look awesome as well. Beneath that gruff exterior is meltingly tender and flavorful meat. I need to let this rest before I can shred it.

The ribs I finished on the grill with a brushing of my favorite BBQ.

A couple ribs, some bacon beans, a bit of slaw and a stack of napkins to wipe my face. This is fine 4th of July fare!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Shiny New Toy trial run

For those of you following along, I built and used a cold smoker last fall and winter.  Since then I've been looking into a hot smoker.

Leading up up to my purchase, I looked at some of the cabinet smokers at the big box store - but they seem poorly built.

I don't have the metal working or welding skills (yet!) to construct my own. So, after more research on the internet, I went with the 18.5" (diameter) Weber Smokey Mountain, a charcoal fired smoker with two racks.

Today I fired it up for the first time - 1 large rack of pork spare ribs and a pork shoulder.

A generous amount of my homemade rub:

RUB Recipe

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 TBS Coarse salt
1 TBS Sweet Spanish paprika "Dulce"
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder

The shoulder needs to go about 8 hours so we'll start that first.

Next, fire up the smoker..... I'm using the "Minion Method"

I did throw on 3 chunks of  applewood, filled the water pan, set the lower rack and added the pork shoulder.

As this the first firing, I'll have to check often to keep the temp in the 225-250F range. I'm checking it every 10 minutes initially, hopefully I can stabilize it and let it go for 3 hours before I add the ribs. It did stabilize at 225 for several hours.

I added the spare ribs to the top rack.

I did have to add a bit more charcoal, and wood to take this to 9 hours total.

Glaze with your favorite sauce.



















Plate up with some beans and slaw....

This was delicious, and it has a nice smoke ring.

The butt is cooling until I can shred it. Is it just me or does that sounds odd?

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener