North Carolina Barbecue Turkey Recipes

NORTH CAROLINA BARBECUE TURKEY

Steps:

• Rinse cavity of turkey, and pat dry with paper towel. Place turkey, breast-side down, in a deep bowl or roasting pan. Combine barbecue sauce, vinegar, pepper, and sugar; pour over turkey. Let marinate, refrigerated, at least 8 hours or overnight.
• Light a charcoal fire, and let it burn until the coals have become a white ash. Alternatively, heat half of a gas grill set on medium-high.
• Brush the entire turkey with the marinade. Place the turkey on the grill, breast-side up, near but not directly over the coals, or on the side of the gas grill that is not turned on. Close the grill lid, and cook turkey 4 to 4 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the leg and breast is 160 degrees. Baste with the marinade every 30 to 45 minutes, rotating the turkey a quarter turn each time. Add coals heated in a firestarter chimney as needed to maintain an even temperature.
• When the turkey is fully cooked, remove from the grill, and let sit for 15 minutes before carving. Serve with tomato-herb gravy if desired, or additional barbecue sauce.

NORTH CAROLINA EASY CHOPPED BARBECUE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wrap pork in aluminum foil and place in a broiler pan. Cook for 7 hours, about 1 hour per pound. Remove from oven and let stand for 1 hour.
• Wearing heavy rubber gloves, pull skin from the meat and discard. Remove most of the fat and all of the bone. Cut meat into 8-ounce chunks and place in large pan.
• Place meat on a charcoal fire and cook, covered, for another 30 to 45 minutes, until well smoked, turning meat over every 10 to 15 minutes. Pour barbecue sauce over meat during the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking.
• Remove meat from the grill and chop into bite size pieces. Serve with additional barbecue sauce if desired.
• Mix all ingredients in a 6-quart stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand, about 30 minutes. Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

EASY NORTH CAROLINA BARBEQUE

Steps:

• Trim the fat from the roast; place in slow cooker and cook on Low overnight, at least 8 hours.
• To make the sauce, whisk together the vinegar, melted butter, salt, lemon juice, crushed red pepper, hot sauce, black pepper, and sugar in a bowl.
• Carefully remove the roast to a cutting board. Pull the meat from the bone with a fork. Return the pork to the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the pulled pork. Simmer for 1 hour more.

CAROLINA-STYLE PORK BARBECUE

Steps:

• Cut roast into quarters. Mix brown sugar, salt, paprika and pepper; rub over meat. Place meat and onions in a 5-qt. slow cooker., In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and seasonings; pour over roast. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until meat is tender., Remove roast; cool slightly. Reserve 1-1/2 cups cooking juices; discard remaining juices. Skim fat from reserved juices. Shred pork with two forks. Return pork and reserved juices to slow cooker; heat through. Serve on buns with coleslaw.

NORTH CAROLINA PULLED-PORK BARBECUE

Steps:

• Bring vinegar to a boil with sugar, red-pepper flakes, 2 tsp salt, and 1 Tbsp pepper in a small nonreactive saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then cool. Set aside 2 cups vinegar sauce to serve with sandwiches.
• While sauce cools, score pork skin in a crosshatch pattern with a sharp knife (forming 1-inch diamonds), cutting through skin and fat but not into meat. Pat meat dry and rub all over with 1 Tbsp each of salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before grilling.
• Prepare grill for indirect-heat cooking over low heat, leaving space in middle for disposable roasting pan.
• When coals have cooled to about 300°F (45 minutes to 1 hour; when most coals will have burned out), put disposable roasting pan on bottom rack of grill between the 2 remaining mounds of coals, then fill pan halfway with water. Add a couple of handfuls of unlit charcoal to each charcoal mound, then put grill rack on so hinges are over coals.
• Oil grill rack, then put pork, skin side up, on rack above roasting pan. Grill pork, with lid ajar (for air, so coals remain lit), basting meat with sauce and turning over every 30 minutes (to maintain a temperature of 250 to 275°F, add a couple of handfuls of coals to each side about every 30 minutes), until fork-tender (a meat fork should insert easily) and an instant-read thermometer inserted 2 inches into center of meat (avoid bone) registers 190°F, 7 to 8 hours total.
• Transfer pork to a cutting board. If skin is not crisp, cut it off with at least 1/4 inch fat attached (cut any large pieces into bite-size ones) and roast, fat side down, in a 4-sided sheet pan in a 350°F oven until crisp, 15 to 20 minutes.
• When meat is cool enough to handle, shred it using 2 forks. Transfer to a bowl.
• Serve pork, cracklings, and coleslaw together on buns. Serve reserved vinegar sauce on the side.

BBQ TURKEY

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onions and garlic in 1/4 cup oil until tender. Stir in the ketchup, water, syrup, vinegar, molasses, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, celery seed, pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon pepper and ginger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Set aside 1-1/2 cups for serving., Remove giblets from turkey (discard or save for another use). Lightly oil the grill rack. Prepare grill for indirect heat, using a drip pan. Skewer turkey openings; tie drumsticks together. Rub remaining oil over skin of turkey. Sprinkle salt and remaining pepper over turkey and inside cavity., Place turkey over drip pan, breast side up; grill, covered, over indirect medium heat 1 hour. Brush with some of the sauce mixture. Grill until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170°-175°, 1-1/2 to 2 hours longer, basting frequently with remaining sauce. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes before carving. Serve with reserved sauce.