NC (Lexington) style pulled pork

[jib]

I need some help.

While I’m very comfortable smoking brisket and ribs, my family is badgering me to make some Carolina pulled pork. Recently, we were back east and ate at an awesome BBQ restaurant in Lexington (sorry, I don’t remember the name), which is what they remember and want. I can’t disappoint my best fans, can I?

Can y’all provide a primer on the preparation? Most specifically the sauce to go into the pulled pork once it’s been pulled. The smoking/pulling information is available on the site, through the search function, but I have not found a good vinegar based sauce that sounds right. There are huge accolades for Roxy’s mustard sauce, but that’s not the right one for what we recall.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jack
_________________
WSM
Charbroil gasser grill
Currently planning a Stumps clone build

[Mike Lawry]

Maybe try this vinager sauce.


2 cups cider vinegar
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne
1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper



Mike Lawry.

[lantern]

You can start with this.

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Heat these until the ingredients are as one as they'll get.


Then work it to where you want it to go. Since you went to Lexington the style is called "Western NC style" the reason being it's smoked whole shoulders and a vinegar sauce with some KETCHUP.

Further east the ketchup goes by by and they go whole hog.


One more thing. I figured you noticed that the smoke flavor was light in the meat when you ate there. The reason is two fold. 1 the whole shoulder has the skin on it and doesn't allow for much smoke to penetrate and 2 they pull the meat at 170-180 and chop the hell out of it.

I'm a far Western NC boy. So I like butts with heavier smoke and have a wide variety of sauces that I enjoy....except mustard base. Mustard bbq sauce(Roxy's is a good one) I like with chicken tenders.


If you want to cheat a bit I HIGHLY suggest George's sauce in the hot variety(not hot I promise). I like it so much that I RARELY make my own Carolina sauce anymore! I buy the stuff by the gallon.

http://www.georgesbbqsauce.com/