Pulled Pork Carolina Style (ish)

I love pulled pork. Pulled pork is smoky, juicy and packed with flavor. I’ve been smoking pork butts/ pork shoulders for several years trying to make the perfect pulled pork. In this recipe I decided to smoke the pork butt without wrapping it at all throughout the cook. Not wrapping the pork butt creates an amazing bark for your pulled pork. To make the bark even better, you can mop the pork butt every hour until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. All of the mopping adds layers and layers of flavor to create the perfect bark on your perfectly cooked pulled pork. Carolina style pulled pork use a vinegar based sauce to give your pulled pork a tangy flavor. I prefer the Carolina style pulled pork to any other version. Although my recipe isn’t 100% accurate, it’s definitely inspired by Carolina pulled pork.

Ingredients:

• 7-10 pound Pork butt/ Pork Shoulder (they are the same cut of pork)

• 1/2 cup Kosher salt

• 1/2 cup cracked black pepper

• Your favorite sweet BBQ rub to lightly coat the exterior of the pork butt

• Mustard

Directions:

• Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees

• Trim the pork but of any loose meat

• Lightly coat the pork in mustard

• In a shaker bottle (or a bowl if you don’t have any shaker bottles) mix salt and pepper together

• Liberally and evenly coat the entire pork with the salt/pepper mixture. Gently pat in the salt and pepper

• Lightly add another layer of your favorite sweet based BBQ rub

• Allow the pork to rest for 20 minutes before putting it on the smoker

• Place a water pan in the smoker then place your pork into the smoker

• After 1 hour gently mop the pork with the mop sauce (See recipe below)

• Every hour mop the pork until the pork is done cooking

• Once the pork has reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees remove it from the smoker and wrap it in aluminum foil

• Allow pork to rest for at least 30 minutes ( I like to let it rest for an hour)

• Unwrap the pork, being careful to reserve all of the juices so that you can add it back into the pork once you have shredded it.

• Shred the pork into chunks or into smaller strands. Add some of the reserved mop sauce to the pulled pork before serving.

ENJOY!

Mop Sauce:

2 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper

1 Teaspoon freshly gowned black pepper

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Set aside 1/4 cup to add to the finished pulled pork.