Sometimes, you just have to cheat. I mean, when you don’t have the talent or the wherewithal to do it the “right way,” then cheating is the only way to get it done, right? Maybe you’re too lazy to do it the right way. Maybe you are just not that into ethics. Maybe you think you can get away with it and no one will notice. Whatever the reason, there will always be cheaters in the world.
In the kitchen, we call people who cheat to get a dish done or take as many shortcuts as possible “shoemakers.” As I began this column three years ago, I’ve provided shortcuts that can help get someone who might be inexperienced or short on time to a tasty end product. But that’s not what I’m talking about here.
When it comes to barbecue, few states take it more seriously than North Carolina. And no one in North Carolina would ever argue that a piece of pork cooked in an oven could ever be called barbecue. But since the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has deemed it okay for college students to actually not go to college and do their own course work, I thought I would throw out an equal sin … oven-baked barbecue. I’m not sure there could be a more dastardly deed in North Carolina than failing to cook pork barbecue over wood and/or charcoal.
This recipe should be a last resort. I wouldn’t ever plan on doing barbecue this way, but maybe some of you live in an apartment. Maybe some of you are afraid of fire. Maybe some of you love barbecue, but don’t want to put in the time and effort to do it the right way. I call this recipe Cheater’s Barbecue in honor of our formerly esteemed opponents this weekend, UNCheat. It’s actually pretty decent, but could never be confused with the real thing. Kind of like UNC never being confused with a real football program.
Ingredients
- 1 pork shoulder butt, preferably bone-in
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons onion power
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon black pepper flakes (I mean, fresh ground pepper wouldn’t be cheating, right?)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Time To Cook
Remove the pork butt from the wrapper and rinse under running water (be sure there are no dishes in the sink when you do this!). Take a sharp knife and cut 1/4 inch slits through the fat cap on the top of the butt (this will help the excess fat render away). Take the liquid smoke and rub it all over the meat, followed by the mustard. Be sure to thoroughly rub in the liquid smoke. Combine the next 8 ingredients in a bowl and mix well with your hands, being sure to break apart any clumps of brown sugar and onion powder. Take handfuls of the rub and thoroughly massage the rub all over the outside of the meat. Make sure there is a good layer of rub on the meat. The pork can be done at this point up to one day in advance. If you are too lazy to make your own rub, you can cheat even further by purchasing a rub at the grocery store.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the pork on a roasting rack and cover the bottom of the roasting rack with water (this will keep the pork moist as it roasts). If you don’t want to use the oven, you can actually cook the pork in a Crock-Pot (more on that below … ’cause that takes cheating to a whole new level).
Cook the pork until the internal temperature of the deepest part of the meat reaches 190 degrees. At 190 degrees, the collagen in the meat breaks down, making the cooked pork more succulent. If you don’t cook it to this point, your pork will actually be tough and dry (I know it’s counter intuitive to think that cooking a piece of meat less will make it drier and tougher, but that’s the way it is with all tough cuts of meat that contain a lot of connective tissue). Don’t worry about the pork looking too dark. This dark crust is called “bark” and it’s the best part of the pork butt. This will take you anywhere from 3-6 hours depending on the size of the pork butt and how accurate your oven temperature is. If it gets done early, don’t worry about it … you can always wrap it in aluminum foil and stick it in a cooler. It will stay warm for hours.
I like to remove the crispy fat on top and mince that separately to be sure this “special bark” (I mean, how can crispy, rubbed pork fat and skin not be considered “special?”) is distributed equally throughout the barbecue. There are a couple different ways you can shred the meat. You can use a cleaver and chop it into 1/2 inch pieces, you can use a cleaver and chop it into very small pieces, or you can use two forks and “pull” it apart (that’s how pulled pork gets its name … it’s tender enough to be pulled apart).
Hold in a warm oven, covered tightly for up to 2 hours. Serve with your favorite pre-made barbecue sauce (we are cheating here, right?). If you insist on making your own sauce (and I recommend that you do), in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the following ingredients together thoroughly and cook for five minutes:
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
If you want to make a more traditional Eastern NC BBQ sauce, combine 3/4 cup white vinegar, 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar with 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes together and stir to combine.
You can make the BBQ in a Crock-Pot by placing the pork in a Crock-Pot for 8 hours on low heat or until you can shred it easily. Try to skim off as much of the fat as you can (or better yet, cut all of the visible fat off of the meat before rubbing it in liquid smoke, mustard and the rub).
