The clocks have shifted, the evenings are stretching, and suddenly that garden you ignored all winter is calling your name. There’s a whiff of charcoal in the air, a cold beer within reach, and - let’s be honest - no real excuse left for not cooking outside. This is your moment people.
Get that apron on, fire lit, and neighbours quietly wondering what you’re up to as they hang the washing out.
So, to ease you in gently (and by gently, we obviously mean massively meaty), we’re starting with a stone-cold classic: Carolina Barbecue, a.k.a. pulled pork. Yeah, yeah, we know. It’s everywhere. It’s been done to death, dragged through every street food market and slapped into every brioche bun going. But here’s the thing: when you strip it back, treat the meat properly, and give it the time it deserves, it’s still a thing of absolute beauty.
This isn’t about cheffy tricks or over-complication. It’s about smoke, patience, and letting a proper cut of pork do what it does best. The recipe comes straight from Richard H. Turner’s HOG - the result of a lifetime (and a fairly exhaustive commitment) to eating, cooking, and generally obsessing over pork in all its forms.
Rooted in the traditions of the American South, where whole hogs are cooked low and slow over wood and mopped with sharp, vinegary sauces to cut through the richness, it’s all beautifully simple.
And when you start with a proper 3kg pork butt, you’re not just cooking dinner - you’re committing to a feast. This is the sort of cut that keeps on giving: today’s buns piled high with tender, smoky pork, tomorrow’s leftovers (if you’re lucky) tucked into anything that’ll hold still long enough. Load it up in soft buns with pickles, a decent whack of T&G Standard BBQ sauce, and suddenly that “ubiquitous” dish feels like something altogether different.
With the first May Bank Holiday on the horizon, consider this your nudge.
Ingredients (Serves 8)
For the dry rub
50g Maldon sea salt flakes
50g soft light brown sugar
50g fennel seeds, toasted
50g freshly ground black pepper
For the vinegar mop
250ml cider vinegar
125ml water
20ml Worcestershire sauce
You will also need
a smoker
3kg of natural lump charcoal
500g of hickory wood smoke chips, soaked in cold water
a meat thermometer
Method
Mix the dry rub ingredients together in a bowl.
Place the pork, fat side up, on a clean work surface and cut each piece in half lengthways, then place on a large baking tray. Sprinkle 150g of the dry rub all over the pork, pressing it into the meat. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Prepare your smoker and allow it to burn down as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Add half the hickory chips.
Mix together the ingredients for the vinegar mop and stir in 40g of the leftover dry rub.
Place the rubbed pork shoulder or pork butt on racks in the smoker and cook at 105°C for at least 6 hours, or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 90°C. Every hour or so, brush the meat liberally with the vinegar mop. You’ll need to top up the smoker fuel from time to time and add more hickory chips.
Remove the pork from the smoker and shred it into bite-sized pieces. Collect the juices from the smoker and pour over the top, then sprinkle with the remaining dry rub to taste and mix thoroughly.
Serve warm, in soft buns, with pickles and T&G Standard Issue BBQ Sauce.
(Of course, if you had been paying attention to the intro, you’d already know this!)
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