Got a bunch of company coming this weekend, so I am going to smoke a pork butt and make pulled pork sandwiches. I have the pork and coleslaw covered, and my buddy is bringing Italian rolls from Philly, but does anyone have a good Carolina vinegar bbq sauce recipe? I’d like to make it on Tuesday so it can sit for a couple days and get tasty.
Open Thread
by John Cole| 49 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
General Stuck
That shit’s good, man. Specially when you roll them with Zig Zag
xian
the hardest part is keeping it lit
Valdivia
Having only began eating pork in the last few years and gotten addicted, I have to say I am totally salivating reading that.
Yutsano
@Valdivia: God is not fair to Jews and Muslims. Pork is such a fantastic and versatile food. And we shan’t start on the wonders of bacon. However trichinosis was a rather nasty way to die. Fortunately it’s been virtually eliminated.
The prophet Nostradumbass
I recommend this:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp Tabasco
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
Basically, combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer. You can use either warm or not.
General Stuck
@xian:
Don’t bogart that oink, my friend, pass it over to me.
Nick
http://ruhlman.com/2012/02/east-carolina-barbecue-recipe/
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
this is exactly why I had not eaten it for years. Then I totally became a sinner and there was no going back.
MikeJ
No. Nobody has one. Such a thing doesn’t exist.
I know several places in Memphis that will overnight the good stuff to you.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Nick: Fish sauce? WTF?
Hoosierspud
That’s not barbecue sauce. That’s a nasty acid liquid they use to ruin good smoked meat.
From a former Kansas Citian.
Violet
Love me some NC BBQ. Nothing compares. I haven’t been to a pig pickin’ in a long time. Sigh.
Clime Acts
Why does the sauce have to be from Carolina?
BTW: North or South?
Nick
@The prophet Nostradumbass: It’s in no way essential (nor authentic) but it adds a nice depth to the sauce.
ax
Requested North Carolina Sauce:
1cup distilled white vinegar
1cup cider vinegar
1tablespoon granulated sugar
1tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1tablespoon hot pepper sauce
Bonus South Carolina sauce I like much better:
1cup cider vinegar
6tablespoons Dijon mustard
2tablespoons maple syrup or honey
4teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1cup vegetable oil
2teaspoons table salt
Ground black pepper to taste
Punchy
Carolina vinegar sauce? Theres about four things wrong in that 3 word description.
Jerome McDonough
Nice eastern and western N. Carolina recipes from Elder Ward here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm. I’d go with the eastern:
The Traditional North Carolina Sauce (A) I grew up with.
This would be from my mothers side of the family who are a bunch of flatlanders near the coast. We only came down out of the hills to see them just enough to keep the peace in the family and my mother from running back home for good. She hated the mountains. We all loved her folks.
1 C white vinegar
1 C cider vinegar
1 Tbs. sugar (Hawaii style when you can)
1 Tbs. cayenne pepper (fresh ones split 2 of em instead soak 2 days or more is best)
1 Tbs. Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
Makes 2 Cups
Place in a bottle with small neck that will allow you to shake it out a little at a time.
Jamie
@5 – that’s roughly how I’ve made it, although I like it hotter, and use brown sugar. You can get fancy with the vinegar, going for different flavors. Also, I just have mixed it, not boiled, and let sit for a couple days in the fridge.
But then the closest I’ve lived to the Carolinas was Tennessee, and was a vegetarian then. And now I live in California, and so am obligated to to put either artisanal pesto or… Actually, I can’t talk about the rest. The rest of you will find out in ten years.
sfinny
Trolled some recipe sights but didn’t find one similar to Grammy’s. Unfortunately she didn’t write specific recipes so this is going off forty year old memories.
Several cups of cider vinegar (3-4)
About 1 cup olive oil or butter
Two small cans of tomato paste
Some tabasco
Some lemon juice
Some worcesteshire
Dash of red pepper flakes
Salt/Pepper
Joey Maloney
I don’t comment at Radley Balko’s blog any more since I was banned for the heinous sin of something like being better at freeping a poll than he was – but wtf is up with him and George Zimmerman?
Hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t post a link to some sympathetic article about poor, poor George and how his life is being ruined by the Nanny State and mean old liberals, ever since that stupid n*gger threw himself in front of George’s bullet.
Yesterday it was something like “surprise, George Zimmerman is actually a three-dimensional person.” Yeah, swell, I guess that means they’ll have to construct for him a special prison cell that has length and width and height.
Again, I ask, WTFingF?
Bnut
@Yutsano: My youngest cousin is a girl of 15. She wants to be a Rabbi and loves her bacon. American Jews, a strange lot we are.
Console
The most traditional sauce would be vinegar (apple cider preferably) with red pepper, black pepper and salt to taste. There’s no real recipe to follow. If you want to make it more palatable to midwestern white people, then you can add brown sugar. Start out with a little and add more to get it to your liking. But if you’re making a sandwich with creamy coleslaw, then I’d leave out the sugar. It isn’t really necessary.
And to get the full NC treatment, you have to cook with the sauce.
suzanne
This is why I hate the South and essentially starve on the rare occasions I find myself there. There’s bacon on EVERYTHING. Even the damn vegetables. GROSS.
Joey Maloney
@Bnut: A priest and a rabbi are discussing their respective career paths. The priest says, “Rabbi, as I understand it your people are forbidden to eat pork, which of course Christians can enjoy at any time. Does that mean you have never tasted bacon?”
The rabbi says, “Well, if I’m to be honest, there was one time before I was ordained, I was on business in a city where no one knew me and so I took off my yarmulke, went to a deli, and ate a BLT. And I will admit that it was very tasty.”
The priest wants to have a little fun at the rabbi’s expense so he rubs it in a bit. “Yeah, bacon sure is delicious, mmmm, yummy bacon.”
Then the rabbi says, “But let me ask you a question, Father. I understand that priests are supposed to remain chaste and celibate, while rabbis can marry. Does that mean you’ve never known a woman’s love?”
The priest replies, “Well, there was a time before I was ordained, I wanted to know what I would be giving up so I contacted a lady of negotiable virtue and she came to my house and we engaged in intercourse.”
“Beats the hell out of bacon, doesn’t it?”
Yutsano
@Bnut: Largest consumers of turkey per capita? Israel. Go figure.
And I had a rabbi invite me out for Thai once. Not quite sure how he was going to square that circle. I regrettably ended up not going (our schedules when I was in Atlanta were way incompatible) but was curious how he was going to get around the shellfish thing.
Joey Maloney
@Yutsano:
Turkey thigh meat is used to make schwarma, sort of Middle Eastern gyros, and probably the most common fast food. It’s actually very difficult to find whole turkeys for sale.
Bonus fun fact: the Hebrew word for turkey is also the name of a country, but not Turkey. It’s the name for India.
Bnut
@suzanne: BURN THE BACON HERETIC!
@Yutsano: What’s to square? Shellfish is delicious. A real Jew knows priorities. Taste.
Yutsano
@Bnut: And in his case good protein. He’s a bodybuilder too. Quite the interesting duck he is. Plus to be honest I could never give up sea bugs. Except oysters.
Bnut
@Yutsano: OMG, no. The Oyster Bar at Grand Central is where me and my father connect spiritually. The same off the boat Irish woman who served him when he was a Colombia undergrad still works there and she has the dirtiest mouth and best oyster knowledge ever.
p.a.
Don’t know what region it’s from, but I remember a recipe to use with pulled pork that’s so simple it’s ridiculous: add mustard to the leftover juice from a jar of sweet pickles. Mustard of your choice, pickles of your choice, additions of your choice. I do know you don’t want it thickened; it should flow freely from a generic-type red ketchup squirt bottle.
O/t: no matter what type of ketchup, I always think it tastes better out of one of those bottles than out of the original container. Don’t know why…
Schlemizel
@General Stuck:
That was awfully early in the thread to take the win but you got it!
And, since you have plenty of recipes for that abomination I’ll forgo adding one while seconding the comments suggesting that good, barbeque, sauce and Carolina don’t seem to be words that should all be used in the same sentence 8-{D
the fugitive uterus
i have never smoked a pork butt – i bet that’s pretty trippy shit
Juju
This is what I use, http://www.georgesbbqsauce.com
I prefer the original, but their hot is also good. I’ve tried making my own, but this is so much better. It is in the grocery stores here in eastern NC, but they do send.
The previous recipes seem about right, but don’t go crazy with the tomato paste.
noodler
Super stuff, this:
8 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon tobasco (or wicked pete’s)
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add tomato paste, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne, and vinegar to pot, raise heat, and boil, whisking constantly, until sugar and salt dissolve, 1 minute.
Remove from heat; whisk in lemon juice and hot sauce. Serve warm.
Friday Jones
@MikeJ: I live in eastern North Carolina and it embarrasses my poor DH (who is from here) that I REFUSE to eat Carolina BBQ. I’ve been calling is ABC BBQ since I saw it for the first time…Already Been Chewed, because that’s what it looks like. Ugh. Dry rub plus homemade (tomato based) red sauce is the only way for me.
Jax6655
Hi John,
Hope it’s not too late. My dad is from NC and the best vinegar sauce for smoked pork is undoubtedly Scott’s BBQ sauce out of Goldsboro, NC. It’s a family-owned business and legend has it that the original Mr. Scott was known for being one of the only places that would sell to Blacks (although at the back door) during the times of Jim Crow. When my aunt died in the 90’s, his grandson sent over a TON of food. We always brought cases of the stuff back to Michigan every summer throughout my childhood and I still order a couple bottles every year.
The true awesome sauce.
http://www.scottsbarbecuesauce.com/
ETA: Sorry folks but NC sauce has no fat, no catsup or tomato sauce and no sugar!! It might taste good but it’s not authentic. Yes, I’m a bit of a food snob.
presquevu
I’m partial to the S Carolina mustard-based sauce. Southern Living in one of their annual cookbooks from the early 80s had an eastern NC vinegar-based sauce, and a western NC sauce that was made with ginger ale.
The best pig pickin’ I ever attended started the sauce by grilling some chickens, which went into the pot with vinegar, cayenne, red pepper flakes, butter, a little sugar, and a bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce. While mostly for dipping loaf bread in to graze on until the pig was ready, some of it was used to baste in addition to the regular eastern NC sauce.
The picnic or whole shoulder are arguably more authentic than the butt for pulled pork, but for something approaching the string meat along the backbone, I’ll occasionally smoke an espinazo from one of the Mexican mercado butcher cases.
Just Some Fuckhead
Just go to the grocery store and buy some Sauers.
NCSteve
@MikeJ: Hey! Regionalistic chauvinism regarding the four major barbecue styles simply has no place in civil discourse. Kansas, Memphis, Carolina, even that bizarre Texan concept that a cow is a fit creature for barbecuing. All are delicious national treasures to be savored on their on terms.
Except for that mutton thing they do in West Kentucky. Jesus. WTF is up with that? Oh, and that mustard sauce crap they use in South Carolina. That’s an atrocity.
Juju
I have some Scott’s in my refrigerator. I use a tablespoon or so to spice up the George’s if I want something equivalent to the George’s hot. Scott’s is good if you want painful, palette destroying spice. I would never buy Scott’s online because you don’t get to look at the bottles. Scott’s spicing is not consistent. You may find a bottle that has four inches of spice at the bottom, next to a bottle that has one inch of spice at the bottom. Scott’s can be a bit much for those who are not familiar with eastern NC barbecue.
tybee
@Schlemizel:
seconded
Jax6655
@Juju:
You do know your Scott’s. I’ve also noticed that it gets hotter as it ages so that’s why I only buy a couple of small bottles at a time. And it’s best to refrigerate unless you smoke a shoulder every weekend.
Still, that sauce and smoked pork are HEAVEN. It’s supposed to enhance the meat, not dress it. Folks can always add more. I visited Goldsboro nearly every summer of my childhood, and often had carry-out from Scott’s so I’m probably biased. I always thought inconsistent spices were because it’s homemade, sorta old school.
Frank in midtown
I agree that the 4 seminal bbq’s are all good and respectable in their own rights, but wish to point out that N. Alabama white sauce is quite good too.
Juju
@Jax6655:
I have a 10 year old bottle of Scott’s, and I don’t worry about it getting old or spoiling, because nothing could live in that stuff.
I like Geoge’s because it is the bottled barbecue closest to the local barbecue joint I like the best. If you are ever in Greenville, try B’s, but get there early, they usually run out of their pork and chicken by 12:30 pm.
I only went to Goldsboro when I had to, and for some reason I always ended up at the base. The guards were always nice and let me loop through without any hassle.
mikefromArlington
Last BBQ web site you’ll ever need.
http://www.amazingribs.com/
Great sauces on there too.
stands with a fist
This is more Memphis style but makes wonderful pulled pork sandwiches.
2 med onions minced
1/4 c marg
4 cans of Tomato soup
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/4 c Molasses
2 T mustard
1/4 to 1/2 t ground cloves
Melt margarine in pan. Saute onions until transluscent. Add the rest of the ingredients. Heat to boiling then simmer for five minutes.
Cover shoulder roast for great pulled pork sandwiches in crock pot.
Fiasco
For a single butt/picnic, you would want to cut this recipe by half. You’ll still have plenty.
2 quarts cider vinegar
¼ cup salt
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Texas Pete (or similar) sauce
In a large bowl, mix together cider vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, light brown sugar, and hot pepper sauce. Stir until salt and brown sugar have dissolved. Cover, and let stand at least 3 hours before using as a basting sauce or serving on meat.
I usually eyeball the crushed red pepper and the Texas Pete but, I like things spicy.
Enjoy.
Fiasco
Wake Forest, NC
Kelly
I hate his politics with a red hot passion but I love Maurice Bessinger’s mustard based bbq sauce. Mustard based is fabulous. If you haven’t tried it do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle. Pulled pork, mustard based bbq sauce and slaw is heaven. But his politica really are atrocious.
Riggsveda
All you’ll ever need:
Dry rub (apply day before):
http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/2515967-Wild-Willy-s-Number-One-derful-Rub
Moppin’ sauce (start moppin’ one hour after placing in smoker and every 30 mins thereafter):
Tablespoon of above rub
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup mild (cider) vinegar
1 med chopped onion
12 oz Pilsener (nothing too hoppy)
Add tablespoon mustard for SOUTH Carolina style
Cook until onions are soft.