Feeding the Boys- Pulled Pork North Carolina Style

I prefer making my Christmas gifts.  Over the years, friends and family have been gifted all manner of preserves, jams, jellies, cakes and cookies.  I love to spend the day in the kitchen baking up my Christmas gifts and being able to personalize them.  This year, Kyle's gift was a kitchen IOU.  "Whatever you like, just give me a few days notice", I told him over Christmas dinner.  Well, Super Bowl weekend is coming up and the boys will be gathering.  His request: pulled pork with caramelized onions.  These boys don't eat cole slaw so we're going with the not so conventional caramelized onions which I know they will love.  So, I will use some of the sauce ingredients to flavour my caramelized onions, tying everything together.

In the winter, I don't BBQ so much so it's a good thing that pulled pork can easily be prepared in the oven.  Not so authentic, but it works well.

Pulled pork sandwich with caramelized onions

A five pound pork roast will serve six generously.


Ingredients
1     4-5 lbs boneless pork butt roast
3     tbsp olive oil
Pork rub:
4     tbsp paprika
2     tbsp kosher salt
2     tbsp black pepper
2     tbsp ground cumin
2     tbsp chile powder
2     tbsp brown sugar
1     tbsp cayenne pepper
Cole slaw:
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/3  cup white vinegar
1/3  cup sugar
1     tbsp celery seed
1     cabbage, finely shredded
2     carrots, finely grated
salt and pepper to taste
Sauce:
1     cup vinegar
1     cup cider vinegar
1     tbsp sugar
1     tbsp hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
This instructions are for cooking in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

One pork roast and one chicken -
rubbed and ready for the oven

Combine the spice rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Rub the pork roast with oil then coat with the spice rub, pressing gently to help it adhere.  Set aside for approx. 30 minutes.

Fresh from the oven

Place the roast in a baking dish, on a rack and put in the oven.  Reduce the heat to 300 degrees  and cook for approximately four to five hours, until the pork is tender and falling apart.

To make the cole slaw, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar and celery seeds in a large bowl and mix well.  Add the cabbage and carrots and toss well.  Season with salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate.

To make the BBQ sauce, combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Shred the pork (you can use two forks to pull the meat apart) and mix with as much of the sauce as you like.

Serve on a soft bun, top with cole slaw, if using, and serve.  Have extra sauce on the side.

WANNA PLAY?
Since Kyle prefers caramelized onions here is an easy recipe:  thinly slice about four pounds of onions and place in olive oil in a large pot, over medium heat, until the onions begin to wilt.  Lower the heat and continue to cook down the onions slowly.  After about 30 minutes, add about 2 cups of beef broth, dried thyme, bay leaf to the onions and continue cooking, stirring occasionally.  Because I'm serving this with the pulled pork, I also added a few red pepper flakes and some hot sauce to blend in with the pulled pork sauce.

Here's the chicken

Change up the meat:  replace the pork with a whole chicken.  Better still cook up one of each- delicious!

Enjoy!