OK, so crock pot Carolina BBQ has got to be one of my favorite dishes ever. The basic principle behind BBQ, of course, is to take a cut of meat that is otherwise tough, chewy, and inedible, and make it delicious by cooking it for a long time at low heat. Crock pots rock for that.
Carolina BBQ is, in principle, based on vinegar and red chile flakes, and not much else. BBQ recipes can hold an almost religious fervor for some people, and even among North Carolina BBQ fanatics, there is a difference between "Eastern" (just vinegar) and "Western" (add some mustard) North Carolina BBQ recipes.
For the January meeting, we stuck to a pretty traditional "Eastern" North Carolina BBQ recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
About 1 tablespoon sugar (you can substitute brown sugar for a slightly richer flavor)
About 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3-6 pounds of protein (pork butt is traditional, but we used chuck roast because it was on sale.
Seriously, though, you could use brisket, chuck roast, pork butt, or even chicken thighs/legs/wings (though cook for much less time with these) or really any cut of protein that would otherwise be chewy, and trust me it will melt after 12 hours in a crock pot).Procedure:
Whisk the vinegars, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Taste this mixture and adjust as necessary (very important!)
Place the vinegar mixture in your crock pot.
Place the meat in the crock pot. (Optional: rub the meat with a spice mixture first. Spice mixture can be any rub you like, though traditionally the rub will contain things like paprika, salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano, etc.)
Cover and cook on low heat over night (for the GWAPA meeting, the meat got into the crock pot about midnight, and was cooked until about 11 am, and served at 1 pm)
Take the meat out and shred with a fork (the meat should be simply falling apart). Skim off some or all of the fat from the vinegar. Place the meat back in the crock pot, with the vinegar mixture.
Serve with buns and cole slaw.
Could not be simpler, really.
For the "Western" style North Carolina BBQ, add some mustard powder to the sauce (maybe a tablespoon or less, to taste), and you're good to go.
Carolina BBQ is traditionally served with cole slaw, in part to cool the spiciness of the BBQ. We tried (but apparently failed) to make a vegan-compatible cole slaw (didn't know sugar is not usually considered vegan), by just shredding 1/2 head of purple and 1/2 head of regular cabbage in a food processor, along with 3/4 of a medium-sized white onion and one or two carrots. For the sauce, we replicated the sauce above, but without the red chili flakes, and with a little extra sugar. We used about 1 cup of sauce for (effectively) one whole cabbage, so the cabbage was not drowning in the sauce. A little salt and pepper to taste, and you're done.
