NORTH CAROLINA PULLED PORK

Prep Time – 1 hr

Cook Time – 12-14 hrs

ORIGIN | NORTH CAROLINA

COURSE | MAIN

SERVINGS | 10-15

My grandmother Jean has always been my culinary inspiration. Despite growing up in Illinois I was able to grow up eating many of the comfort foods she enjoyed as a child growing up in both North & South Carolina. Items like grits, country ham and biscuits were popular, but pulled pork was a family favorite. I have now taken this pulled pork to the next level by smoking it using native woods to North Carolina in hickory and applewood for a longer period of time yielding a mouth-watering tenderness and flavor that pays tribute to the way pork shoulder has been cooked in North Carolina for generations.

DIRECTIONS

Meat Prep

  • Place your pork shoulder fat side up and inject pork shoulder every couple of inches with mixture of 1 cup apple cider and 1 cup apple cider vinegar, creating a grid pattern with your injections.

Dry Rub Prep

  • Combine all dry ingredients making sure to break up brown sugar to avoid clumping.

  • Apply and rub mustard all over pork shoulder as a binder for rub to adhere. (Don't worry there will be no mustard flavor from the mustard binder).

  • Apply rub liberally all over pork shoulder and allow 30 minutes for rub to soak into meat.

Smoker Prep

  • Heat up your charcoal and add to firebox in smoker once coals are glowing red, then add a log of hickory on top of coals. Adjust air vents or whatever apparatus your smoker has so temperature in smoker stays in the range of 225-250°F.

Cooking

  • Place pork shoulder in middle of smoker, fat side up.

  • Let pork shoulder smoke for 2 hours. Once a bark starts to develop on the pork shoulder, spritz every 30-45 minutes with the remaining 1 cup of both apple cider & apple cider vinegar.

  • Keep adding hickory and applewood log every hour or so or when you notice the temperature in the smoker dropping.

  • Preheat oven to 250°F.

    • After pork shoulder has been smoking for roughly 8 hours remove from smoker. Wrap tightly in two layers of aluminum foil and put in foil pan.

  • Put probe thermometer in pork shoulder and set temperature to 205°F.

  • Place pork shoulder in oven and remove when internal temperature reaches 205°F.

  • Remove from oven and set shoulder in a cooler wrapped in a couple of towels.

    • Let shoulder rest in cooler for 2-4 hours. This step is extremely important as it lets the juices redistribute throughout the shoulder ensuring it is tender and juicy.

  • Remove shoulder from foil, place in foil pan and pull/shred the meat.

    • It should be tender enough to shred with tongs, but forks will also suffice.

  • Serve on buns with coleslaw, pickle chips and bbq sauce, although the bbq sauce isn't necessary as the juices from the shredded pork can serve as a sauce to drizzle over your sandwich.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Bone-in Pork Shoulder (5-10 lbs - See Prep Notes for additional information)

  • 2 Cup Apple Cider

  • 2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

  • 2 Cups Brown Sugar

  • 2 Tbsp Dry Mustard

  • 2 Tbsp Chili Powder

  • 2 Tbsp Onion Powder

  • 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

  • 2 Tbsp Paprika

  • 2 Tbsp Salt

  • 2 Tbsp Pepper

  • 4 Logs of Hickory Wood

  • 4 Logs of Applewood

  • Mustard

  • Aluminum Foil & Aluminum Foil Pan

  • Charcoal

Optional Side Items

  • Instant Read Probe Thermometer (optional but extremely helpful)

  • Buns

  • Coleslaw (optional but preferred)

  • Pickle Chips

  • BBQ sauce

PREP NOTES

  • Account for .5 lb of pork per person.

    • For example an 8-lb pork shoulder should feed 16 people.

  • While this can be cooked in an oven or slow cooker, the preferred, authentic method is smoking low and slow over hickory and applewood to achieve that delicious bark.