North Carolina Pit Cooked Bar B Que

[Franco]

I'm looking for a good recipe for Carolina style pit cooked BBQ, Not that crap they sell every where else. The sauce is usually vinegar based with molasses
Blur Runner might have a clue, he is a Tar Heel I think

The sauce and the wood are the keys.

You must use Hickory for the smoke.

The sauce is vinegar based with pepper and other secret spices.

I am sad to say that I don't have a recepe for sauce, I buy mine from Gary's BBQ in China Grove NC. Been eatting pork from there since I could walk.

Their phone number is 704-857-8314, I'm sure they would ship you some.

[Franco]

I know all about the Hickory, it's the sauce I'm looking for,

Beach Bully in Va Beach is pretty good!

[tsubaki]

Don't forget the mustard base!!

[Franco]

TS, you now I love ya like a brother, but mustard is for hot dogs!

[tsubaki]

Sorry, didn't look close enough.
NORTHCarolina Pit cooked Bar B Que
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Blue_Runner]

Ok ok RB has the hickory wood right. I'll even use oak if I don't have hickory on hand but don't tell anybody ;)

I'll tease you just a little more before I tell you about the sauce....another thing that you've absolutely got to have before you can claim NC bbq is RED slaw. You might as what the heck red slaw is? Its also called bbq slaw. In a nutshell you use catsup instead of mayonaise to make it, and the usual vinegar, salt and pepper.

The bbq sauce itself in it simplest form is just catsup and apple cider vinegar with sugar, salt and pepper. All the different restaurants in Lexington add a little something to make their different but all pretty much the same for the most part. If you get online and search for Lexington Style BBQ you should find some recipes. Whenever we do it its as a family thing so my dad has the recipe at his house or I would list of the exact ingredients we use but here's one I found line:
Lexington-style barbeque dip

Categories: Sauces and October96 Garner
Yield: 1 Servings
3 cup Apple cider vinegar
⅔ cup Brown or white sugar
½ cup Ketchup
2 tablespoon Texas Pete hot sauce
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Onion powder
2 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce

Then cook that shizzle my nizzle! Bring to a boil for a bit, then simmer and she's ready ;D

The story about how BBQ got started in Lexington is cool too. Back in 1919 2 guys set up a tent across from the court house and would start cooking in the wee hours of the morning slow cooking the meat over hot coals all night. The smell would carrie in the wind across the whole city and supposedly the judge would take special breaks to go "pig" out. Those 2 original guys taught some of the other guys from town and handed down the tradition and that's how it started.

Then here is some stuff I found online about what makes Lexington BBQ so special:

What makes Lexington barbecue so special? The fare is pork, of course - and shoulder is the cut of choice in Lexington. The pork shoulders are cooked long and slow - about an hour a pound - over hickory wood until it is fall apart tender. The shoulders are basted with "dip", a mixture of vinegar, ketchup, water, salt, and pepper. As the dip and fat drip onto the coals, smoke is created that rises up, surrounds and permeates the meat, and gives it a rich, smokey flavor. The meat is served chopped, although sliced can be requested, with more of the basting sauce on the side. Barbecue from Lexington is so famous that Craig Claiborne included it on the menu of the Williamsburg Economic Summit, where the world's leaders got a taste of real American food. Some restaurants offer "air-express" barbecue delivery, where they overnight barbecue requests all over the United States.

[Blue_Runner]

Franco I just wanted to add, that dip recipe is not the one we personally use when we make our own. *We don't use that browning sauce and I can't remember on the onion powder and worschester sauce.

Do some research on Lexington style barbecue (spell it BBQ, barbeque too) sauce recipes and just pick one. *Its all good dawg *;D

Another thing while I have your attention - if you order a hot dog in lexington it comes with red slaw. ;) We like our red slaw. ;D

[tsubaki]

For those of you that think BBQ sauce comes from the grocery store, there are more sauce combo's than homemade beer.
Depending on the geography, it may be an entire insult to ask for a tomatoe based, mustard based or even any sauce at all.
One event I went to the cook would only allow two sauce types, Tabasco and Texas Pete served on white bread (not buns).
The Carolinas have the highest reguards for their types, usually most of SC pig cookers want a mustard based, whereas NC preferrs a tomatoe based.

[tsubaki]

By the way Franco.
You should have plenty of access to citrus wood.
Next time you do anything throw a little on the fire.
I've moved from hickory to that.