Recipe - North Carolina Pulled Pork Barbeque

2 lg Boston Butt pork roasts
Kosher salt

EPIPHANY FINISHING SAUCE
2 One half cup Apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Brown sugar
1 tablespoon Nuoc mam
2 cup Warm water
1 tablespoon Kosher salt

This is a simple, inexpensive, and absolutely unbelievably effective and
authentic way to make real North Carolina pulled pork barbeque. All you
need is a cheap Brinkmann or like model vertical water smoker (about
$30US), a shovel, and some free time.

Take the water smoker, remove the legs, and sit it on the ground. Take your
shovel, mark out a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the smoker
barrel, and dig a hole about 18 inches deep. Dig another, larger, hole
nearby, or use a burn barrelthis will be your preburn pit. Get some oak
and/or hickory wood and some kindling.

Get a fire going in your preburn pit. Take the pork butts (or shoulders,
or a whole shoulder if you're lucky enough to get one) and generously salt
the exterior. Take the barrel of the cheap water smoker and set the grill
on the lower setting, about halfway down the barrel (this would be where
the water pan would go normally). When you have some good coals in your
preburn pit, shovel them into the smaller hole, put the barrel of the
water smoker over the hole (without the lid, of courseyou won't be
needing the lid), put the pork roasts on the grill fat side up, and grab a
beer or some sweet tea. Add some more logs to the preburn pit. Relax.

About every 3045 minutes, replenish the coals under the pork (you can just
lift the smoker off the top of the hole, add coals, and put the smoker back
over the hole when you're done). Add some larger chunks of coals if you
want a smokier flavor (no worries about creosote, cause this is basically
an open pit). After six hours, lift the smoker off the hole, churn up the
coals real good, and flip the pork roasts so that the fat side is down. Put
the smoker back over the coals, churning as necessary for about 30 minutes
to prevent flameups as the fat drips on the coals. Continue replenishing
coals at 3045 minute intervals for an additonal 3 hours, then bring the
pork in, pull (or chop) it, discarding the *inside* fat (you want to use a
good portion of the outside fat for flavor), and sauce it according to the
directions below.

FOR THE SAUCE:

Mix ingredients together, let stand about 4 hours before using. When using
as a finishing sauce, add to pulled pork along with 1 tablespoon of salt
dissolved in about 2 cups of warm tap water. Quantities are for about 3
pounds of pulled pork barbeque.

Simple, really, but oh is it good!

Recipe by: Tom Solomon

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