Have you ever visited some family down south, and been treated to some juicy melt in your mouth Barbecue(pork butt), or if you are even luckier, had a opening to go "pig pickin'"? After a modern trip down there, I decided to learn how to do it myself, since I wasn't planning on heading back down there anytime soon.
I am going to walk you through step by step instructions for development melt in your mouth brisket or barbecue without using a smoker. I have a quarterly charcoal grill with a lid that I use and the results turned out great! Here are some things you are going to want to make sure you have before the day you are going to be cooking.
Smoker Grill
A good thermometer(bi-metal ones do not work, and neither do the ones on grills)--a candy thermometer(350 degree max or more) works perfectly, a bag of charcoal at least 3/4 full(just in case), a charcoal chimney(no lighter fluid, it leaves a bad taste), hickory wood chips or chunks, a cork, a cheap aluminum pan(can get at dollar store)and cheap yellow mustard. What does yellow mustard have to do with pork or brisket? Read and find out!
Before doing whatever with the pork, you are going to want to generate your finishing and/or mop sauces at least 24 hours in advance. Why? Because it gives it time for all the flavors to mix together and makes for a much great sauce. You can make it more in improve if you like--it will store for at least a month in the refrigerator. Now, you must perceive that there are more sauces than you could even imagine. However, we are going to focus on the Carolina sauces, because they are the originators of pork barbecue(just barbecue to them), and their sauces are awesome. There are de facto 5 types of sauce and depending on what region you are in, you will get a separate sauce. We have Western Carolina Sauce, Lexington "Dip", Eastern Carolina Sauce, Mid South Carolina Sauce, and Western South Carolina Sauce. For my taste, Western Carolina and Lexington sauces are fairly close to each other, and I prefer the Lexington "dip" so I will omit the western North Carolina ketchup sauce. The first sauce I am going to give you is the Lexington "dip":
Ingredients
1 cup distilled vinegar (do not use cider vinegar)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients together and put them in a container
Next, Eastern North Carolina Vinegar Sauce---the "original sauce", habitancy from Eastern North Carolina are very intolerant of other sauces. It likely was the primary sauce the slaves used to flavor their meats and is very simple, but unbelievably great with the pork.
Ingredients
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™), or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Put all ingredients into a holder and shake vigorously.
Next, we will do the Mid South Carolina Mustard sauce. Now habitancy from North Carolina think South Carolinians have no idea how to barbecue. A large think is because of their love for mustard, which North Carolinians view as near heresy. T is pretty good, I have to admit though, and being a "damn yankee" as they would call me, I have no such ingrained dislike for mustard with my pork.
Ingredients
1 cup cider vinegar
6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey(I like honey)
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
1 cup vegetable oil(i like olive oil)
2 teaspoons salt
Ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients into a holder and mix well
That brings us to our final sauce, and my personal favorite(sorry Eastern Carolinians), the Western South Carolina Barbecue sauce, which, surprisingly enough, is a ketchup based sauce, not a mustard based one. In Georgia and parts added south, they use a thick ketchup based sauce, and this area of South Carolina has taken it and adapted it slightly. It is a thick sauce, but is exceptional. I took all the sauces to work and my coworkers loves this one so much they ran out before all the pork was done.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion
2 medium garlic cloves
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup ketchup
Either mince or food process the onions or garlic until it is very chopped up(almost a runny consistency), and heat in a medium saucepan with the oil until they grow soft and translucent in color. Toss in all the other ingredients besides the ketchup and bring to a boil. Once it hits a boil, turn down the heat and mix in the ketchup, which will cause it to thicken as it cools down. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, then put in container.
Whew! That was a lot of typing, but I am just getting started. Now its on to the pork! You will want to get what is called a pork butt, pork shoulder, or Boston Butt. Make sure it has the bone still in it. It will help maintaining shape while cooking. I commonly look for an 8-10lb butt, because I like lots of leftovers, but you can get a smaller one if you like. Remember, the bigger it is, the longer it will take to cook. Many people, along with myself like to put what is called a rub on their meat before cooking. It gives the meat a great flavor and helps keep it moist while cooking. Ideally, we want to put the rub on the night before, to allow it to dispell into the meat. The ingredients for the rub are as follows:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix them up well.
However, before putting the rub on, we want to take the Pork Butt out and slather on a nice coating of yellow mustard all over it---the top, sides and bottom should all be covered in yellow mustard. Now take your rub you just created and put it liberally onto the meat, development sure all of it is covered in rub, and then, well for lack of a great term, rub it into the meat. Wash your hands, since they will be marvelous messy, then put the pork butt on a tray and cover with cling wrap and put back in the refrigerator to sit overnight.
Take a big bowl and fill it with water(some habitancy use white vinegar instead). Take your hickory chips or chunks and soak them overnight in the bowl. This is done to preclude the wood from burning too fast and too hot. You also will not get a good smokiness if the wood is not wet enough.
Now, you are ready to go to sleep and wake up early in the morning to make some barbecue. Yes, this takes a long time to cook, but boy is it ever worth it. You want to give yourself at least an hour per pound cook time, plus about an hour of rest time after the meat is done cooking. This allows all the juicy goodness to mix together inside the meat and adds to the tenderness.
How to generate a Smoker For Pork Butt Smoking
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