Pitmaster, p.5
Pitmaster, page 5
Serve the pork to your family and friends right from the cutting board along with some hushpuppies and slaw.
STORAGE
Wrap room temperature leftover pork tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
◁ Pork Skin Sandwich
A pork skin sandwich is certainly not on your cardiologist’s list of acceptable foods, but when you find this option hiding on a Western North Carolina menu, it is well worth the temporary spike in your cholesterol numbers. Serve as an appetizer before putting out a pork barbecue spread.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: No time at all once you’ve cooked a pork shoulder
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
4 soft hamburger buns
Skin from cooked 8 to 10 pound (3.6 to 4.6 kg) picnic shoulder
1/2 cup (120 ml) Western-Style North Carolina Sauce
IF YOU ARE NOT A PURIST WE ALSO SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS:
Ripe in-season tomato slices
Romaine lettuce leaves
Sliced red onion
Slaw
Sour pickle slices
METHOD
Once the crisped skins are resting on newspaper as detailed in the Western North Carolina Pork Shoulder recipe, prepare the sandwiches.
Start by lightly toasting the buns. Add some or all of the optional ingredients if desired. Place a piece of pork skin on each sandwich and drizzle with Western-Style North Carolina Sauce. Top each with the second half of the bun. Cut each sandwich in half and serve immediately.
◁ Hushpuppies Fried in Lard
Traditional North Carolina hushpuppies are a bit on the dense side. Our method isn’t traditional. It goes heavy on the baking powder, activated by warm water, to lighten things a little. We suggest going with the plain version when pairing them with barbecue and choosing one of our suggested variations when serving them as an appetizer.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: About 24 hushpuppies
INGREDIENTS
2 cups (275 g) white cornmeal
1/2 cup (63 g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons (28 g) baking powder
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
Pinch of kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 cup (120 ml) warm water
3 cups (615 g) lard or (700 ml) vegetable oil
METHOD
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, eggs, buttermilk, and a pinch of kosher salt until well blended. Add warm water a little at a time until you have a stiff moist batter. You may not use all the water. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes.
Pour the lard or oil into a heavy-bottomed, straight sided sauté pan or cast iron pot. The oil should be about 3 inches (7.5 cm) deep. Heat the oil to 375°F (190°C).
Drop the batter, a tablespoon (15 g) at a time, into the fry oil. The trick is to use two spoons: one spoon to collect the batter and the other spoon to scrape it out into the fry oil. Work in batches. The hushpuppies won’t fry evenly if they are crowded.
Turn the hushpuppies once or twice and fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove. Drain on paper or a wire rack. Keep the hushpuppies warm in a 175°F (80°C) oven or serve immediately.
HUSHPUPPY VARIATIONS
Fold in one of the following combinations to a batch of hushpuppy batter before frying. Just don’t call these “North Carolina Style.”
JALAPEÑO AND CHEESE
1/4 cup (40 g) finely chopped sweet white onion
1/4 cup (30 g) shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (23 g) minced jalapeño peppers
BACON AND SCALLION
1/2 cup (40 g) minced cooked bacon
1/4 cup (25 g) chopped scallion
SHRIMP AND HATCH CHILE
1 cup (135 g) chopped grilled shrimp
1/4 cup (34 g) chopped canned hatch chiles
Homemade Lard
For about as long as people had been eating pigs, lard had been a mainstay cooking oil. But when large corporate food companies introduced new hydrogenated vegetable oil products in the early 1900s, the war on lard began. It fell out of favor in the ‘50s and ‘60s as the world of processed foods boomed, but an unassailable truth remained: Potatoes fried in vegetable oil are good, and potatoes fried in lard are glorious.
It’s time to welcome lard back into your culinary life. But don’t just pick up some shelf lard at the Piggly Wiggly; grab some fatback instead and make your own. The flavor is superior, and you’ll produce nice cracklins as a snack.
NOTE: This is a recipe that really benefits from using pasture-fed, heritage-breed pork.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Yield: 4 cups lard (820 g) and some cracklins
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds (900 g) unseasoned pork fat, chilled
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
METHOD
Dice the chilled fat into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes. Place the water and fat into the pot over medium-low heat. Stir every 15 minutes and cook for 2 hours. With a slotted spoon, remove the cracklins. Strain the melted fat through a sieve. Pour the fat into two pint-sized (475 ml) Mason jars. Cool and then cover and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
Return the cracklins to the pot over medium heat and cook until crispy. Salt the cracklins and enjoy a snack.
STORAGE
Refrigerate lard for up to 1 month.
◁ North Carolina Table Sauce
Chop up a pork shoulder and serve this sauce on the side. It allows your hungry crowd to enjoy the pork shoulder au natural and then amp up the flavor to their specific tastes. This is not your classic supermarket barbecue sauce. The intent is to provide bright contrast to rich succulent pork barbecue.
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: About 3 1/2 cups (825 ml)
INGREDIENTS
2 cups (475 ml) apple cider vinegar
1 cup (320 g) apple or apricot jelly
2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons Fermented Chile Sauce or Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1 tablespoon (15 g) light brown sugar
METHOD
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 5 minutes. We prefer to serve this warm, drizzled on your chopped pork or served as a side for dipping.
STORAGE
This sauce will last indefinitely in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container.
◁ Pimento Cheese Spread
Although this recipe actually originated in the North, it is commonly called the “caviar of the South.” Pimento cheese spread is most easily described as a magical mixture of cheese, mayo, and pimentos, but each region has its own recipe. It’s great on crackers and even better on crackers with Hot Links.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Yield: About 3 cups (744 g)
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (225 g) mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups (173 g) shredded sharp yellow Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Fermented Chile Sauce or Frank’s RedHot Original
1/4 cup (48 g) diced pimento pepper
1 red jalapeño pepper, minced
2 scallion tops, sliced into thin rings
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
METHOD
In a food processor, combine the mayonnaise, Cheddar cheese, garlic powder, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and Fermented Chile Sauce. Pulse until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in the pimentos, jalapeño, and scallion tops. Season to taste.
STORAGE
Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
◁ Homemade Fermented Chile Sauce
When traveling in North Carolina, you run into Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce everywhere. The hot sauce is on every table in every BBQ joint—and for good reason. It’s hot, tart flavors are fantastic with smoky pork. Andy wondered if we could recreate this sauce using what he knows about chile fermentation.
The homemade version has an extra brightness and pop. Plus, it's fun to add your own flavors to the sauce. Try making an Asian-style fermented pepper sauce with additions such as garlic, ginger, sugars, fish sauce, or soy sauce.
For chilies, we like anything red. You can choose your own heat level. We use a 50/50 mix of Italian hots and jalapeños, but if habaneros float your boat, then go for it.
Prep time: 45 minutes plus two weeks of fermentation
Yield: 3 cups (700 ml)
INGREDIENTS
10 ounces (280 g) fresh red hot chilies, green tops removed
1/4 cup (60 ml) white vinegar
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
METHOD
Place all the ingredients in a blender and purée. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Pour the ingredients in a cylindrical glass jar. The chiles must be fully submerged. If required, use a weight, such as a small glass bowl. Lightly cover the jar with a piece of plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the plastic wrap to let the chiles breathe. Leave the chiles on your counter for two weeks. Stir the chiles after one week. If you see any mold on the surface of the fermentation chiles, simply spoon it out.
After two weeks, transfer the sauce to two pint-sized (475 ml) Mason jars.
Xanthan gum will keep the sauce from separating. Optionally, purée the sauce with the xanthan gum before moving to the Mason jars.
NOTE: If you want to create your own combinations, a solid basic fermenting technique is to add 2 percent salt by weight of the peppers. Press the peppers down and make sure they are covered in liquid and let sit on your counter for at least two weeks.
STORAGE
Refrigerate indefinitely.
“A Definition of Barbecue”
by Sam Jones
SKYLIGHT INN AND SAM JONES BARBECUE
Some people spin a lot of yarn, but I’m not one of those guys. You want to know why we do whole hog? The long and short of it is: whole hog is the way everybody did it.
People in our family have been cooking barbecue for many, many, many generations. My grandfather Pete Jones opened Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina, when he was 17, in the summer of 1947. It was a real joint back then. The parties went on all night. He sold barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, whatever he could do to make a buck. But by the late ‘50s or early ‘60s, it was all barbecue.
I couldn’t change how we do things at Skylight now if I wanted to. Our family is not real big on change—I have two sisters and I’m surprised they don’t have the same name. People know what Skylight barbecue tastes like and if I made a switch, they’d know, especially with the chop-style we do. You get the darker part of the meat at the shoulder, the leaner string of the meat at the hams, and the meat of the belly. I’m not saying that’s the definition of barbecue, but that’s the definition of Eastern North Carolina barbecue to me.
There's never been a time when barbecue was not a part of my life. That restaurant has been the pivot point of our family forever. I hated to work in the restaurant as a kid. The first time I started to see it differently was in college. I had a writing assignment in English class and my thought process was—like most college students—how can I accomplish this with the least amount of effort? I decided to write about barbecue. While I was doing the project, talking to my family, getting dates and people’s names, I started looking at things differently. Barbecue’s a way of life, not a job.
I started really working at Skylight in 1998. Randomly, one night when I was mopping the floor—this must have been early 2004—my grandfather stopped me. He wanted to show me how he went about doing things in the restaurant. It was very unlike him to do that, but if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now. About four months later, on a Sunday, my grandfather had a heart attack. In the hospital that day, he said to me, “Look, I’m probably going to be down for a while. Can you take care of things?”
Meat cooked over wood coal is the purest form of food I think I’ve ever eaten.
He never came back to the business. I just had to figure things out. Our customers were always asking about him: “How is your grandfather? Tell him we’re praying for him.” But when he passed away in February 2006, public perception changed overnight. Suddenly it was, “The barbecue just isn’t same anymore.” That was a tough time. We just kept our heads down and hoped it would get better.
We started to get some calls. Someone wanted to make a documentary about us. Southern food expert John T. Edge wanted me to cook at an event at Charleston. I said yeah, but in my mind I was thinking, “There’s no way in hell I’m going to go to Charleston and cook pig, ’cause no one in my family had ever cooked away from Ayden, North Carolina. Nobody.” But I went down there and when we brought the pig to the front of the restaurant, people stood and applauded. A light bulb went off: “Hey man, there are some people who actually care about what you are doing.” That’s when we started to redefine who we were, to make a name for ourselves. No longer did we have to ride on my grandfather's coattails.
Some things will never change, though: Meat cooked over wood coal is the purest form of food I think I’ve ever eaten. It’s not a fast process and it’s not the easiest, but that’s what we do. It’s a pure, unbastardized, unadulterated way of cooking that you cannot reproduce any other way. You can’t cut a corner and get that same result.
◁ Skylight Inn Cornbread
Locally milled cornmeal, water, salt, and lard—as with most things at the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina, simple is best. There are no jalapeños or buttermilk or Cheddar cheese in this rendition. Instead, this unleavened cornbread is designed to celebrate the flavor of local corn and provide the perfect vehicle to sop up pork barbecue juices. Make the effort to source Southeast cornmeal, there are plenty of mail order options available for those not living near North Carolina.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Serves: 12
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds (900 g) Abbitt's Yellow Corn Meal or other fine cornmeal grown and milled in the Southeastern United States
2 teaspoons table salt
About 3 1/2 cups (825 ml) water
2 tablespoons (26 g) lard
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
12-inch (30 cm) cast iron pan
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Sift the cornmeal and salt into a large bowl. Slowly mix the water into the cornmeal until the batter is a consistency that would just pour out of a cup. (You might not use all the water.)
Heat the cast iron pan over medium heat for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the lard. Tilt the pan to evenly distribute the lard and then pour in the batter. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Use a spatula to loosen the cornbread from the pan and flip it onto a cutting board. Slice into 12 wedges and serve.
STORAGE
Wrap in aluminum foil and store in a cool, dark place for up to 3 days. Rewarm in a toaster or the oven for 5 minutes before serving.
◁ How to Cook a Whole Hog Eastern North Carolina Style
Making an Eastern North Carolina whole hog is a simple process in theory: cook a salted pig over a low charcoal fire for 12 to 14 hours and then crank the heat up for the last 30 minutes until the skin is golden and blistered. But it is also an art form that is very difficult to truly master. Cooking a whole hog Eastern North Carolina style is not a set-and-forget process. The magic is in the way you manipulate the coals to ensure slow, even cooking.
We applaud you if you have an open pit and burn barrel setup in your backyard. That was pitmaster Sam Jones’s advice to us: “I’d start by buying a mess of cinderblocks and build an open pit.” But in this recipe, we strive to provide guidance on how to reliably emulate an Eastern North Carolina–style pig on whatever pit happens to be sitting out in your yard.
Follow these guidelines to bring some predictability to your first few pig cooks. Always target the pig to be done 1 to 2 hours before you’d like to devour it so you don’t have a bunch of hungry people milling about and drinking too much beer on an empty stomach. After guests thank you profusely with pig grease gleaming on their chins, feel free to graduate up to the more free-form open pit cooking.
Prep time: 2 hours
COOK TIMES:
At 250°F (120°C): 12 to 14 hours
At 275°F (140°C): 10 to 12 hours
At 300°F (130°C): 8 to 10 hours
At 325°F (170°C): 6 to 8 hours
Serves: 20
INGREDIENTS
