Born and raised south of Raleigh in the quiet college hamlet of Buies Creek, I grew up eating Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue. It means that today, I'm always happy when work or travels allow me to pass within striking distance of a Smithfield's Chicken 'N Bar-B-Q place, like the one in Richmond County, NC, where I often consult. Living in Winston-Salem now for almost a decade and a half, I've also developed an additional (but not replacement) taste for Lexington-style barbecue. More recently, I've had the chance to enjoy another animal altogether: Bib's Downtown, with its "smoked meats" (don't call it 'barbeque,' they insist). Bib's is especially handy because it's a block north of the house. In fact, right now, looking out from my old man's chair in front of the fireplace, I can even see its "OPEN" sign is lighted.
Among the many things I'd like to try making in the awesome new kitchen I've got, I can't say that barbeque was jumping out at me as all that high on the list. But when the forecast for the weekend was for more winter weather, and especially the likelihood of a significant ice storm, and I planned out some menus and did the grocery shopping, I went ahead and put a Boston Butt pork shoulder on the list. A fairly straight-forward recipe in my Cook's Illustrated magazine made my mouth water and I figured I'd give it a try. And I was darned happy with the results. Although the kaiser rolls I got from Harris Teeter ended up being a tad stale (should've stuck with my trusty Martin's potato buns), the barbeque sandwiches were well worth the efforts. [Sorry this picture is a bit blurry; when I used the flash it tended to wash out the slaw.]
So, here's how it went down: it started out with a 2-hour salt-and-liquid-smoke brining of the pork shoulder, followed by coating it with a mustard mixture.
Then, the mustard-based coating was covered with a pretty zippy and zesty spice rub.
All that got sealed up on a roasting rack, using heavy duty foil. It roasted at 325° F for three hours and came out smelling incredible.
After that, it went back into the oven for another hour-and-a-half to get a good cooking on the outer skin, with all those good spices. Meanwhile, I tackled the other major element of this good southern concoction: my first ever experience of making coleslaw.
The outstanding chef at 6th & Vine Wine Bar and Cafe, Monica Alonso, turned me on to blue cheese coleslaw. A web search led me to Ina Garten's recipe from the Food Network. This first batch, pictured here, is a bit heavy-handed with the creaminess, in part because I upped the blue cheese by a third, so I think I'll cut more cabbage into it to get a better balance. Still, it was an excellent accompaniment to the barbecue sandwiches.
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