Eastern North Carolina-style Barbeque

One of the things I miss of my home state of NC is the barbeque. Eastern NC has the best barbeque in the world in my opinion and to combat the fact that I had to live in Virginia for most of my life, I learned to make it in my own way. Up until about 7 months ago though, I was working constantly and I never had the time to make it so I tried an alternative method so I wouldn't have to constantly check over it all day. I pulled out one of my favorite cooking utensils: the Crock-Pot. Such a wonderful invention, don't you think so? Anyway. I decided I'd post the recipe for both the barbeque, the rub for the meat and the sauce on here for whoever would like to try it.

Crock Pot North Carolina Style Barbeque:

1 pork shoulder (however big you want to get it is fine. I usually pick up a six or seven pound one myself, since I have me, my fiance, and a couple of people we know usually will eat off of it)

Barbeque Rub:

1 teaspoon of:

crushed red pepper
garlic powder
chili powder
black pepper
salt
paprika (optional. Some people don't care for the taste of paprika but I like it myself.)

Barbeque Sauce:

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™), or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix the dry ingredients for the rub in a small bowl. Pull out the meat from the refrigerator and massage the rub into the pork shoulder vigorously. Pour 2 cups of vinegar mixed with crushed red peppers into the crock-pot. Place the meat in the crock-pot on low for about 8 to 10 hours until cooked all the way through and tender. Depending on your preference, after you pull the pork apart and mince it, you can either mix the barbeque sauce in with the pork first or you can put on your serving as you wish. My favorite things to serve barbeque with is slaw, baked beans and some french fries. It makes a wonderful, laid-back meal.

Now as far as the sauce goes, you can just mix all of the ingredients together and put it in a tightly closed container a couple of days beforehand. Just let it sit in the refrigerator and the flavors will mix together beautifully.

I have to admit though... sometimes I'll be a little lazy with my sauce. Instead of making it, I love to buy Sauer's Barbeque sauce. I usually have a gallon bottle of it around for when I don't feel like making the sauce. It is one of the closest barbeque sauces I've had to homemade Carolina BBQ sauce. At least at the time of this writing. I did see a "Carolina-style" barbeque sauce in Wal-Mart that I might pick up and try just for the hell of it. Maybe it'll be better than Sauer's? I don't know. But I have to say that nothing beats homemade in my book.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments on this recipe, please feel free to reply to this. I try my best to get on here daily and see what's going on.