Gene's Eastern NC Barbecue

The most important part of barbecue is the meat, of course.  But what separates eastern north carolina style pulled pork from other barbecues is its vinegary sauce.

The Sauce

My dad's BBQ sauce recipe:

• 1 qt cider vinegar
• 1 T crushed red pepper flake
• 3 T Worcestershire sauce
• 2 oz tomato juice
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 T mustard

I prefer a variation that substitutes 1/2 cup texas pete for the 2 oz tomato juice.

Bring all the ingredients together in a large saucepan and simmer until the mustard dissolves and all the spices are integrated into the sauce (except the red pepper flakes).  Turn off the heat and let cool.

The Meat

For a 6 pound boston butt, you can grill over indirect low heat for approximately 8 hours, or in an oven for about 8 hours at 170.  When finished, pull apart with two forks into a large pot.  Add sauce to taste and cook on low heat for a couple hours, but make sure to keep some sauce set aside for diners to use.

Gene, God, and Mr Wolfe's BBQ

After my dad died I started trying to make barbecue the way he did.  He always used indirect heat on a small charcoal grill.  He'd just do 1 or 2 boston butts at a time, low and slow.  Not long after that, our long time family friend Lowry Wolfe died unexpectedly, much the same way as my own father.  As a gesture, I made barbecue for Mrs Wolfe and her family.  Unfortunately it didn't go quite as planned.  My dads old charcoal grill bottom had rotted out.  That grill was a piecemeal creation, an old gas grill turned charcoal grill, so I thought maybe I could use the gas function - but the gas lines were also rotted out.  We already had the boston butts out and sauce on, so I decided to do the best I could with dad's oven method, with a few changes.

I used 2 6-7 pound boston butts, and I cooked them for 1.5 hours at 250 in a large roasting pan.  Then I added about 1/2 cup of cider vinegar and tented the meat with aluminum foil, and put back in for another 1.5  hours.  Then I increased the temperature to 300 and cooked for another 2 hours.

I was afraid the result would not be impressive and that I would end up having to slice the meat instead of simply pull it with two forks - but I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and pull-ready it turned out.  So surprised, that I decided my God and my dad must have been helping, to honor Lowry Wolfe.