Archive for the ‘pulled pork sandwiches’ Category

For some, grilling and barbecuing IS an addiction.

As a Southern Girl, I have grown up eating Bar-B-Que. Until I moved out of the South, it never really occurred to me that this food was not something that everyone in the US ate on a regular basis. These days, BBQ has caught on all over the country and you can find decent BBQ joints in places like NYC! When I refer to BBQ, I am referring to the Pork kind, though Spare ribs and brisket fall into the BBQ category as well. Growing up, I was accustomed to “Lexington Style” NC BBQ sauce which is a Vinegar and tomato based tangy sauce. There is an invisible line drawn in the middle of the state that divides the sauces- Western NC and the Piedmont region do the Lexington Style sauce. Eastern style sauce is a purely vinegar based sauce with no tomatos included. This sauce usually consists of cider vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. It is pungent! Local South Floridian’s can find Eastern NC Style sauce at our own Dixie Pig. Go to SC and find a mustard based sauce. Texas does “Brisket”, which is in another category all to itself. Memphis style sauce is a sweet, tangy tomato based sauce. BBQ joints all over are usually a mixture of these type sauces though I believe most fall under the Memphis style category…

Pork Ribs on the Green Egg- true perfection!!

My father is an avid griller and BBQ-er and we are going to “Memphis in May” this year which hosts the truly infamous “World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest” on May 13th-15th. This is the END-ALL-BE-ALL of BBQ competitions. We plan to travel in an entourage of a few of his good ol’ boy friends who are “good eaters”.

The competition is divided into different pork categories: Whole hog, pork shoulder and ribs. There is no gas allowed- only wood and charcoal. For the newbies, there is the “Patio Porkers” category for those wanting to whet there Championship appetite. I see myself competing there in the future, just to get a feeling for the competition. I have not grown up in a BBQ team or with a PitMaster but that should not deter us from trying one day!

Basting your ribs regularly will make them extra juicy!

My father, also known as “Tropical Storm Eddie” for reasons I won’t disclose, have decided that we are going to go this year and see what we can learn. He is a wonderful griller and has his own green egg, the “Cadillac” of Grills/Smokers. He has been working on his own dry rub recipe and wants to get ideas. I believe he has aspirations of one day entering the “Ribs” category. We shall see! I’m coming prepared with my elastic waistband pants, plenty of beer and a good appetite. Looking forward to some good eating and learning some new coleslaw recipes!!

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As a Southern Girl, there will always be a special place in my heart for BBQ. That is why this recipe is great- it’s super easy to make, and uses a leaner cut of meat so it is a little healthier too. While this recipe is very easy, it does require a good 2.5-3 hours of time in the oven so make it when you plan on doing some stuff around the house- like on a weekend .

Pulled Pork Sliders with coleslaw and red stripe beer.

Buy a pork tenderloin from the grocery store – this will usually equate to being about 3 lbs or so, and when you take it out of the package it is actually 2 pices of meat. So, if each piece is sold separately, it will be about 1.5 lbs each.

Here’s your ingredient list:

• 3 lbs pork tenderloin (see notes above)
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tblsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 tblsp. brown sugar
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tblsp. smoked paprika
• water or yeast rolls ( a pack of 6 or more)

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and start making your vinegar sauce.

Make your sauce:

Bring 1 cup cider vinegar, 2/3 cup water and red pepper flakes to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes. While simmering, add the brown sugar.

Meanwhile, rub the pork in olive oil, grated sea salt, fresh ground pepper and smoked paprika. (Just grate the S/P) on top of the meat and add the tablespoon of paprika all over…)

Once the oven has preheated, put your pork in a casserole dish and cover with 1/4 of the sauce. (remember to save about 1/8 of the sauce to serve at the end if you want). Cook with a cover on- this will help steam the meat with the sauce and it will also cook more quickly.

Every 30 minutes, baste the pork in the sauce and add a little more sauce every time. Flip the pork every so often so it gets basted in the juices adequately on both sides.

You will be keeping an eye on the pork as you will be basting quite often over the cooking period. Once the pork starts looking shriveled and water logged, test it out with a fork. If you can easily pull the pork off with a fork so that it shreds, it is most likely done. If you can do this throughout the meat you are ready to go and pull it out of the oven. If it seems to be taking too long, You can push the oven temperature up to 300 degrees.

Once ready, shred the meat and pour the remaining sauce in and mix throughout. As the pork will already be quite vinegary, I don’t serve it with more vinegar based sauce.

While the pork is baked and basted in a vinegar based sauce, it is tangy for some so I reserve the sauce for those who want to try it and also put out my favorite store bought sauce- Stubbs. Stubbs spicy chipotle BBQ sauce is my favorite.

I serve with my chipotle cilantro coleslaw on water buns. A great addition is tater tots or sweet potato fries. For the sake of easiness, the sweet potato fries can be bought frozen and heated up are always good and usually turn out better for me than making them from scratch!!

Your friends will love this dish and it is great when you have people over because it will make a lot of food and the leftovers are even better the second day!!

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