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[okie smokie]

I have tasted some of the best pulled pork and it has always been the final saucing that makes the difference IMO. I like it juicy enough to put on a bun without it having to be buried in extra sauce before you can eat it. If it is right, it won't require extra saucing at the time of serving. (IMO).
So who has the best suggestion for a sauce that will complement the flavor without overpowering it? Don't get me wrong, it is ok to add a sauce of your choice at the time of eating, but the less it requires the better. So?

[urnmor]

I do not add sauce to the pull pork.  I serve it plain and let the others decide if they want to add any sauce.  Oh should also say I have gotten lay in my old age and no longer make my own sauce.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I do not mix sauce in with my pulled pork.  Sometimes, I will pour some sauce over the top of it when making a sandwich.  I won't provide what I use because it is usually whatever I have in the pantry or fridge.  I usually like something that has a little kick to it.

[02ebz06]

I do not mix sauce in with my pulled pork.  Sometimes, I will pour some sauce over the top of it when making a sandwich.  I won't provide what I use because it is usually whatever I have in the pantry or fridge.  I usually like something that has a little kick to it.

Throw some green chili on it. 

[hughver]

I too do not add sauce but make it available if someone wants it. Most BBQ places that I've been to serve it already sauced. I've always enjoyed pull pork, but after making my own on a pellet smoker, no other pork that I've ever previously had even comes close to the great flavor. IMHO, the pellet smoke and adding back the right amount of collected juices makes is what makes the difference

[02ebz06]

I too do not add sauce but make it available if someone wants it. Most BBQ places that I've been to serve it already sauced. I've always enjoyed pull pork, but after making my own on a pellet smoker, no other pork that I've ever previously had even comes close to the great flavor. IMHO, the pellet smoke and adding back the right amount of collected juices makes is what makes the difference

I do same, just make it available.
In my younger days I always sauced, until one day the light bulb went on, I was liking the sauce, not necessarily the meat.
The only thing I put sauce on now is about a tablespoon on the entire chopped up point for burnt ends, and an occasional drizzle on a sandwich.

As for the sauce,  Stubbs Original is my choice.
For vinegar based, I usually make my own.
I would think you can put any sauce on and not overpower the meat if put on thin enough.
Maybe even thin it with water before putting on.

[BigDave83]

Rarely sauce it here either. I usually do my butts in my little cookshack electric. I can collect the drippings, defat them and I them boil for a few minutes just to be safe as they are outside the smoker for the length of the cook. Then I add some of the seasoning in to the PP and put some of the stock on it to get my desired level of wet I want. Nice thing is the stock is smoked, the pork gets smoke on the outside but not really  much on the inside of it. this takes care of that.

[1MoreFord]

There are those folk(especially from the Carolina area) that put what they call a finishing sauce on their pork to keep it moist.  The finishing sauce is often pork juices mixed with some cider vinegar and or apple juice and the like.  It's not as potent as the Eastern NC BBQ Sauce or the Western version with tomato.

[bregent]

Like the others, I don't put sauce on but make it available for guests. Usually SBR, and also some SBR cut about 50% with cider vinegar.

Sometimes make a finishing sauce, but last weekend tried this sauce that a coworker gave me - really enjoyed it:  https://www.amazon.com/Pinakurat-Original-Flavor-Extra-Bottle/dp/B00HRCNMIG

[Kristin Meredith]

We save the butt jello and I reheat that and mix with some sauce (I like sweet Baby Ray's) and sometime a little apple juice if it needs more thinning and then toss with pulled pork. Not a huge amount, but I do like some in there and more for folks to add on their own.

[1MoreFord]

I can't find the original source for this sauce anymore.  The website is gone.

This is the sauce used by a famous local BBQ joint that was the standard for seeming all local central Arkansas BBQ joints at one time.

This only requires a little sauce and allows the meat taste to come thru.  It was always kept in a squirt bottle and a fast pass across the sammy when prepared was the rule.

Shack Sauce

Wet Stuff

Mix in a large bowl:

3 - 24 ounce bottle of ketchup (catsup)
Use the plastic ones, we will refill after making sauce.

Fill with hot water, swoosh around and dump contents into bowl.
Folks have asked: HOW MUCH WATER? Fill all three bottles, and dump all into 'Wet Stuff'
(For original recipe use GRAPETTE SODA from Wal Mart- see 'additional notes').

Pour in plain ole cheap vinegar. "THE" recipe calls for just less than a quart, do not sweat this. use anywhere from a pint to a quart, strangely, this amount has scant effect on final product.

Put "wet stuff' in a LARGE pan, put heat on "high"
by the time it is approaching a boil, you will have "dry stuff' prepared.

Dry Stuff:

Since you dumped wet stuff out of bowl, why not use for 'dry'?
Into bowl, dump:

1 - 4 ounce can of chili powder
1 - 4 ounce can of black pepper
1 - 4 ounce can of garlic salt (SALT, NOT garlic powder!!!)
1/2 cup - sugar (is the ORIGINAL amount, why not TRY that, and adjust to your very own taste after 'brewing' mess up...likewise with Tabasco. See below)
1 - small Tabasco (anywhere from 1 to 4 ounces..start with about 1 oz...you can 'play' to taste after whole mess is completed.
1 - small mustard (size of an apple, just regular ole smear on a hotdog yeller mustard)

Stir
...btw, easier to put the mustard in last, and just swirl around till it looks like chocolaty brown tar.

Simmer

Dump all this stuff into pan on stove now approaching a simmer if you have been quick, and if you rinsed out the catsup with HOT water;-)

stir enough to make it evenly liquid...bring to a boil and immediately lower heat to a simmer.

30 minutes, (stir fairly often to avoid sticking).. during which the vinegar will bring sweat to your forehead, and tears to your eyes...think ventilation here.

Finish

That is it.
Remove from heat, pour back into bottles you saved, unfortunately, you will have an excess of sauce. Improvise, all life has dry rot.

You now have a LOT of sauce. I always do, and find it MOST welcome as a gift.

BTW, there is no need to refrigerate your sauce supply, even if you inhabit hot and humid southern climes! Apparently mischievous microbes refrain from causing problems in gratitude for being immersed in this tomato based nectar, or are immobilized by the ingredients rendering them deliciously inert.

Additional Notes

Do it this way the first time, later, you may substitute Grapette, for the water (seriously) SHACK DID for several decades ... for total authenticity you can obtain Grapette from Wal Mart (the Great Value stuff)

I add about a cup of sugar to my sauce, but this is heresy, and practice has strong adherents and detractors.

Likewise minced onions, NOT authentic, but can be pleasant.

Do NOT futz with the amount of black pepper. I KNOW it sounds like a lot. Trust me on this.

Also remember garlic SALT, not garlic powder!! several folks got this wrong, actually the sauce wasn't bad, but they were not fit as shipmates for WEEKS.

Do NOT judge 'heat', as in taste, by sipping off spoon from pot, even if you were stingy with the Tabasco. Dunk a piece of bread into sauce and sample that way.

The recipe was provided by a local DJ of the past in his own rambling way.

This is the sauce/sammie combo by which I still judge all others.

There are four or five joints I can think of that still use this sauce.




I momentarily lost my recipes.

Here's a small batch version I found in a local paper before I found the version above.  They aren't quite the same but surprisingly close.


I pulled this one out of a local paper long before finding the full version online. Add a tablespoon or so of yellow mustard and you'll be good to go. Same with the garlic & onion powder.

12 oz cider vinegar
19-1/2 oz catsup
19-1/2 oz water
2-1/4 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar( maybe more to taste)
2-1/4 tablespoons black pepper
2-1/4 tablespoons chili powder

Additions
1 to 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
2  Tablespoons garlic powder
2 Tablespoon onion powder

Put all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-35 minutes.
Needs no refrigeration within reason.

[Clonesmoker]

I will usually add some apple juice and some additional BBQ rub to it. I don't serve with sauce. Will have sauce available if people want it though.

[cookingjnj]

I am in the no sauce camp.  Pull the pork and keep whatever juices flow during the pulling process.  I usually have several different commercial BBQ sauces available for each persons taste.  Me personally, I like my PP sammie with a bit of chopped Fresno Peppers and a drizzle of spicy BBQ sauce.   Not too much sauce.

[pmillen]

I can't find the original source for this sauce anymore.  The website is gone.

This is the sauce used by a famous local BBQ joint that was the standard for seeming all local central Arkansas BBQ joints at one time.

• Recipe looks really good.  I'll probably copy it to the <Recipes> <Rubs/Sauces/Brines> section when I have the opportunity.
• I enjoyed the write-up's "Tone" and syntax.

[NorCal Smoker]

I love a vinegar based sauce.