Carolina Barbecued Pork

Carolina Barbecue Sauce
This recipe produces a marinade, a "mop" (for basting the pork), and a sauce. It should have a sharp edge; if it's too sweet, add more vinegar.
Yields about 12 cups.


1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
1 head garlic, broken into unpeeled cloves
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
3 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
8 small dried chilies
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cans (16 ounces each) whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
1 quart distilled white vinegar4 cups water* cup salt


Combine honey, molasses, garlic, cumin, coriander, peppercorns, chilies, and bay leaves in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Cook for 30 minuets, stirring occasionally. The garlic will darken, and the mis6ture will be very thick and fragrant. Add the tomato paste and tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently to break up tomatoes. Stir in the vinegar, water and salt. The sauce should be thin. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, for at least 2 hours and as long as 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Set aside half the sauce (or more if necessary) for the marinating the pork. Let the remaining sauce cool; fish out any large pieces of garlic peel. Puree the sauce in a blender; some of the spices will remain whole. The sauce should be rather watery and look similiar to a brothy tomato soup.


Carolina Barbecued Pork
Marinade the meat for at least a day; two is even better. You can roast pork in the oven or on a grill. Yields 2+ pounds of barbecue; serves eight to ten.

1 recipe Carolina Barbecue sauce
2 boneless fresh pork butts (3 pounds each) untrimmed
White hamburger buns for serving

One to two days before the barbecue:
Put the pork in a container just large enough to hold it and deep enough for the sauce to cover the meat. Pour in enough sauce to cover the meat, covert the container, and refrigerate for at least a day, preferably two. Reserve the rest of the sauce for basting and dressing the meat. Halfway through the marinating process, turn the pork in the sauce.

Barbecue the pork-If you're using a charcoal grill, start a slow fire; you should be able to hold your hand just a few inches above the grate for 10 seconds without becoming uncomfortably hot. If you are using a gas grill, over or smoker, heat it to 200F.

Put the marinated pork butts fat side up in the grill or smoker and close the lid. (For the oven, put the pork on a rack in a roasting pan.) Leave the pork alone for a about 3 hours, then begin basting with sauce every 30 minutes. Four hours into cooking, turn the pork over and continue cooking for another 2 hours. The pork is ready when the internal temperature reaches between 150 and 160F. This should take about 2 hours per pound. Take the pork off the heat and let it sit until cool enough to handle.
Chop and shred the pork - You can slice the pork or pull it apart with your fingers.

Put the chopped or pulled pork in a large bowl and begin tossing in some of the reserved sauce; the amount is a matter of taste. Serve the pork warm with more sauce on the side.