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    North Carolina-style pulled pork and slaw

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    North Carolina-style pulled pork and slaw

    Every state in the South has its own style of barbecue. North Carolina claims it has the best: slow-cooked whole hog, meat shredded and mixed with the crackling before being dressed with a spicy, vinegary sauce – or ‘mop’.

    • Gluten Free
    • Attributes
    • Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus overnight dry-brining
    • Cooking time: 4 hours 15 minutes
    • Total time: 4 hours 25 minutes, plus overnight dry-brining

    Serves: 6

    Ingredients

    1.2kg pork shoulder (ideally with the skin)
    1 tbsp salt
    ½ tbsp ground black pepper

    VINEGAR PEPPER MOP

    150ml cider vinegar
    2 tsp brown sugar
    ½ tsp cayenne pepper
    ½ tsp chilli flakes
    ½ tsp Tabasco pepper sauce
    ½ tsp salt
    ½ tsp ground black pepper

    SLAW

    ½ white cabbage, cored and shredded
    2 carrots, shredded
    ½ onion, finely sliced

    DRESSING

    75ml cider vinegar
    2 tbsp caster sugar
    1 tbsp mayonnaise
    1½ tbsp olive oil
    ½ tsp crushed celery seeds
    1 tsp English mustard powder

    Method

    1. Rub the pork all over with the salt and pepper; lay in a roasting tin and cover tightly with foil. If you have time, chill to dry-brine overnight.

    2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 160˚C, gas mark 2. Roast the pork for 2 hours, then uncover and baste in the juices. Cover again and roast for another 2 hours. Meanwhile, make the vinegar pepper mop; warm all the ingredients together in a pan until the sugar has dissolved; set aside.

    3. Uncover the tray. Turn the oven up to its highest heat and cook the pork for 10-15 minutes so that the crackling crisps up. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

    4. Cut off the crackling and slice into shards; set aside. Lift the meat out of the pan and shred with 2 forks. There should be lots of lovely cooking juices in the pan – spoon off any fat, then return the meat to the pan to soak them up. Pour over the vinegar pepper mop and toss again; check the seasoning.

    5. For the slaw, whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Toss with the vegetables and season. You can leave it to sit, chilled, for up to 6 hours.

    6. Serve the pork with shards of crackling, topped with slaw, and piled into toasted buns, if liked. 

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    This recipe first appeared in Waitrose Kitchen magazine. myWaitrose members can download the Waitrose Kitchen app edition for FREE. Find out more.

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