Sure, there are more hotly debated subjects than this, but not by much. If you've been looking for pulled pork crockpot recipes, you may be a bit confused as to what exactly is a Carolina style sandwich versus a Memphis style sandwich. And what about Texas weighing in on a "Memphis Style" sandwich. Doesn't Texas have one of their own? Then we hear from Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama each claiming their own original version, but they all seem vaguely familiar.
What most everyone can agree on is that no one agrees which style of sandwich truly belongs to which region. Comparing hundreds of pulled pork crockpot recipes doesn't help much either. For every barbecue sauce on the market there is at least one recipe. For every variation of dry rubs you can find, there are that many more methods and ingredients for cooking a pulled pork sandwich. Here are just a few common methods for cooking and serving this sandwich that seems to be everyone's hometown original!
Vinegar - Mixing this sour with a sweet of some sort is essential for any good barbecue sauce. However, several regions and states claim this ingredient as the quintessential ingredient that differentiates their pulled pork sandwich from any other.
Brown Sugar - I have eaten at barbecue joints in Florida where they use only brown sugar, vinegar, and cayenne pepper to season their pork, making these sandwiches definitely not "barbecue saucy." Brown sugar is a common ingredient in many barbecue sauces, but this style of eliminating the sauce all together is different. There are cooks who swear that there should be NO barbecue sauce mixed in with the pork.
Dry Rub - This may be one of the oldest "new" seasoning techniques around. Memphis can lay claim to this in some of the recipes you'll read, but you'll find dry rubs firmly entrenched all over the South. Although dry rubs have been around for ages, the new focus may be on the availability of prepackaged rubs. The labels on the bottles are just as confusing, claiming to be "The Best Of..." one place or another and containing identical ingredients. It doesn't matter, really. To season pork with a dry rub you really need a standard list of ingredients which include paprika, cayenne, cumin, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Condiments - Barbecue sauce as a condiment is widely regarded as a standard in every region. Even when the pulled pork never gets a dose of barbecue sauce mixed in with it, there is usually a bottle on the table. You'll also usually find some pepper vinegar, some mustard, and even a little Tabasco in most regions. What you'll hopefully never find is ketchup on the table. That would not go over well in any region. However, most everyone believes that adding cole slaw on top of your sandwich is most decidedly a Memphis touch.
Cooking Methods - It's not easy to pin down a cooking method. Grilling, smoking, roasting, or braising are not uncommon to any region. Of course, using your slow cooker isn't an ancient method to cook meat, so the origin of this method is obviously widespread. But smoky pits or slow roasting would have been the preferred method by many of our settlers around the countryside, and now their ancestors may still use those exact same methods. It's still hard to prove any method belongs to any particular region. Even though Memphis is famous for their smoky grilling pits, you'll find those same pits all around the south.
Whether you're sitting in Memphis reading this, or in Florida, or Mississippi, you've probably already dismissed all this nonsense about any pulled pork crockpot recipes that claim they are a certain region's style. All I can say is that no matter where you live, if your Granddaddy made the best pulled pork sandwich ever, then that's YOUR official recipe and don't let anybody take that away from you!
What most everyone can agree on is that no one agrees which style of sandwich truly belongs to which region. Comparing hundreds of pulled pork crockpot recipes doesn't help much either. For every barbecue sauce on the market there is at least one recipe. For every variation of dry rubs you can find, there are that many more methods and ingredients for cooking a pulled pork sandwich. Here are just a few common methods for cooking and serving this sandwich that seems to be everyone's hometown original!
Vinegar - Mixing this sour with a sweet of some sort is essential for any good barbecue sauce. However, several regions and states claim this ingredient as the quintessential ingredient that differentiates their pulled pork sandwich from any other.
Brown Sugar - I have eaten at barbecue joints in Florida where they use only brown sugar, vinegar, and cayenne pepper to season their pork, making these sandwiches definitely not "barbecue saucy." Brown sugar is a common ingredient in many barbecue sauces, but this style of eliminating the sauce all together is different. There are cooks who swear that there should be NO barbecue sauce mixed in with the pork.
Dry Rub - This may be one of the oldest "new" seasoning techniques around. Memphis can lay claim to this in some of the recipes you'll read, but you'll find dry rubs firmly entrenched all over the South. Although dry rubs have been around for ages, the new focus may be on the availability of prepackaged rubs. The labels on the bottles are just as confusing, claiming to be "The Best Of..." one place or another and containing identical ingredients. It doesn't matter, really. To season pork with a dry rub you really need a standard list of ingredients which include paprika, cayenne, cumin, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Condiments - Barbecue sauce as a condiment is widely regarded as a standard in every region. Even when the pulled pork never gets a dose of barbecue sauce mixed in with it, there is usually a bottle on the table. You'll also usually find some pepper vinegar, some mustard, and even a little Tabasco in most regions. What you'll hopefully never find is ketchup on the table. That would not go over well in any region. However, most everyone believes that adding cole slaw on top of your sandwich is most decidedly a Memphis touch.
Cooking Methods - It's not easy to pin down a cooking method. Grilling, smoking, roasting, or braising are not uncommon to any region. Of course, using your slow cooker isn't an ancient method to cook meat, so the origin of this method is obviously widespread. But smoky pits or slow roasting would have been the preferred method by many of our settlers around the countryside, and now their ancestors may still use those exact same methods. It's still hard to prove any method belongs to any particular region. Even though Memphis is famous for their smoky grilling pits, you'll find those same pits all around the south.
Whether you're sitting in Memphis reading this, or in Florida, or Mississippi, you've probably already dismissed all this nonsense about any pulled pork crockpot recipes that claim they are a certain region's style. All I can say is that no matter where you live, if your Granddaddy made the best pulled pork sandwich ever, then that's YOUR official recipe and don't let anybody take that away from you!
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Start planning your family menu today with some pulled pork crock pot recipes. But, don't stop there. Continue your crockpot cooking to save time and money throughout the entire year.
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