Family Favorite, Southern Pork Barbecue!! Yum!!

There are a few recipes I have that are always a hit with my guys (and guests) and this is one of them. I got this from my Mother-in-law many years ago and she got it from an elderly southern lady. She said the recipe had been in her family for some time. From the first time I made it to now my guys are always thrilled. Lots of times when they have friends visit or come home from school this is the one dish they ask me to make the most, well that and cheesecake. So I thought I would share it with you. Please remember this is not typical barbecue. There is no tomato based anything in it. When I make this recipe I almost always double it my guys love it so much. It also freezes up well too.

Southern Pork Barbecue

Ingredients:
6-7 lb. fresh pork shoulder
5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp rounded, crushed red pepper
2-3 tbsp prepared mustard (the kind you use on a hot dog!)
1 c white vinegar
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp thyme
3 shakes hot sauce (I usually use more for my gang)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. 
Trim the fat and any skin from the pork. Cut the meat from the bone into cubes aprox 1-2 inches square. Place bone and meat in a large roaster.
Mix the remaining ingredients well. Pour mixture over the meat. Cover with foil making sure the foil does not touch the meat (the vinegar will eat through the aluminum!).
Bake the meat for 2 1/2 hours.
Take out the bone and remove any meat that might be still on it.
Place the roaster on the stove top over a low heat and cook until the juice is almost gone, stirring occasionally with a fork to break the meat apart, aprox 1 hour. Watch carefully to not let too much juice cook off and let the meat dry out.
(here is a hint I do. I take the meat out of the juice and fork it apart on my cutting board. It is quicker and easier to make sure you get all the pieces broken up. You can also catch any pieces of fat that may have been in the meat.)
Serve the meat on buns and enjoy!

Printable Recipe HERE!!

Here are a few of the steps:

This is my 10+ lb roast cut up. Notice I did leave some of the fat veins in it. It really does help flavor the meat, so don't be afraid to leave it in! The roasting pan here is large enough to fit a 20 lb turkey, so it's big and deep. I also doubled the sauce ingredients for this size cut of meat.

This is after adding the vinegar mixture. Notice my hot sauce of choice, Frank's Red Hot! Love that stuff!!

Here is how I tent my roasting pan. Remember to keep the foil off the meat. If you don't, you will end up with pitting on the foil and possibly a slight metal taste to some of the meat. Yuck!!

Here is the yummy mixture after the 2 1/2 hours of baking. Oh man does the house smell good! My husband said it is one of his favorite smells. Wonder if I could convince Glade? LOL!!

Cooking it down after I forked all the meat apart. I let it cook slowly, but it is rough because the guys are drooling now and really want to get into it. They sometimes sneak in during this step and sneak a taste!

After almost all the liquid is cooked in. While I am cooking I take the time to skim off any excess fat and watch for small pieces of fat. But make sure you don't let it cook off too much. That juice helps add lots of flavor to the bun. Think of it as barbecue au jus!

The bun to the left is my husband's and to the right is mine. He says the traditional southern way to enjoy this sandwich is to add coleslaw. I guess I need to trust him since he was born and raised in the south! He also likes to add mustard and a couple more shakes of hot sauce. Me, I like mine just plain as plain can be. That's enough flavor for me.

I usually serve this with potato salad and fresh carrots. That's just our tradition, but the occasional chip & pickle has been known to land on the plate with it.

This is not a spur of the moment recipe obviously, but it is one I can pretty much guarantee your family will love. One of my best friends has been know to make this and then she will add traditional barbecue sauce to it. I've tried it and it really is pretty good that way. It tames down the slight vinegary taste and zing from the hot sauce & peppers. Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!