Sweet Pickles: a treasonous Easter?

I reveal this information with a great amount of trepidation. For I am a food purist, and I fear I’ll be treated like Hester Prynne should I attempt to cross the border back into North Carolina. Adrienne and I both love (lust after might be more appropriate) Eastern North Carolina style barbecue, and as you might guess, real Eastern NC barbecue is nowhere to be found in these parts. For our friends from Metro Detroit, the Eastern versus Western Carolina barbecue debate is akin to the war between Lafayette and American Coney Island—by the way, don’t you dare go to American. We hadn’t had any proper barbecue since our friend Alyssa brought some with her from North Carolina when she visited us in Denver last April, so we were getting desperate.

I’ll just cut to the chase: we don’t own a smoker, the traditional method for preparing the pork, so I had to look for other techniques to create the magic. After much searching I settled on…hold your breath…state of North Carolina please don’t hate me…using a slow cooker. Yep, a slow cooker. Maybe it’s not as big a crime as I think, but it felt like I was slathering ketchup all over a hot dog. But let me tell you, it could not have been easier and the results were quite stellar. Not as good as Allen and Son, on par with Hog Heaven, and superior to Q-Shack. Here’s the recipe, but don’t blame me if they don’t let you into the Tar Heel State.

the meat…

1 (5 pound) bone-in pork shoulder roast
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
.25 to .5 cup liquid smoke optional (if you want a smoky flavor)

1. Place the pork shoulder into a slow cooker and season with salt and pepper. Pour the vinegar and liquid smoke around the pork. Cover, and cook on Low for 12 hours. Pork should easily pull apart into strands.

2. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and discard any bones. Strain out the liquid. Shred the pork using tongs or two forks.

the sauce…

I cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce but Tabasco works)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine the white vinegar, cider vinegar, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for one to two days before using so that the flavors will blend. Shake occasionally and store for up to two months in the refrigerator.

The barbecue was such a treat, we decided to make it for Easter; I think we’ve started a tradition.

fine barbecue deserves nothing less than fine china…