Posted December 31, 2007 by Nick Lindauer in Reviews

Review: Carolina Pepper Sauce

Over a year ago, I did a review of Carolina Pepper Sauce and quite enjoyed the sauce. However, the meal that I tried it on was less then impressive. Fast forward to yesterday and I find myself with a Boston butt and a new recipe. In fact, it’s a championship winning recipe that I’ve been told not to share.

Be prepared to start early with this recipe – an 8lb pork but will take upwards of 5 to 6 hours to finish. In this case, the only ingredients are a boston butt and some seasonings, so get those and get cooking. I started out the morning by seasoning the pork butt with a mixture of Tony Cacahere’s and some Weber Grill Smokehouse Seasonings.

Once the butt was rubbed, I prepared the BGE. First, get the fire going and close the lid – bring the BGE up to about 300 degrees before shutting the dampers. Bring it down to a steady 250 and then begin building the cooking platform. I used soaked hickory and spread on the lump charcoal in a circular pattern, then the plate setter goes in, then the drippings catch (filled with water and some more seasonings) and then the grill. Onto the grill and directly over the drippings pan goes the butt. And into the butt goes a thermometer.

It’s a little late for a Christmas gift tip, but if you have a BBQer in your life that doesn’t have one of these thermometers, well let me tell you that they make great gifts. Just set the temp that you want the meat to come to, shut the lid and walk away. The thermometer will beep when the food is within 10 degrees and also again when it has reached your target temp.

Once the butt is in the cooker, close the dampers a little more and bring the temp down to a steady 225 degrees. Keep the cooker at that temp until the pork butt is done. And your butt will be done when it reaches 190 degrees. Low and slow.

I started this at about 8am and finally was able to dig into it at about 3pm. After removing the butt from the grill, allow to cool (covered) for at least 30 minutes. Then pull the pork apart – in this case your fingers will do the trick as the pork is so tender it falls off the bone itself.

Now for the sauce. Steve calls Carolina Pepper Sauce an everyday condiment and truth be told, he couldn’t be more right. It’s made in the large 10oz bottles because it is a sauce that you’ll use on everything. I previously called it an SAS (specific application sauce) but after tasting the revised recipe, I can see that it’s not quite an SAS anymore. It has a bit more body and not as tomato-ish. There’s still no heat to the sauce – but there is a bit of a black pepper singe on the tongue after eating.

I tossed the pulled pork with a liberal coating of Carolina Pepper Sauce and went to town. Delicious! If there was ever a sauce that could make slow cooked pulled pork taste even better, then it’s Blue’s Carolina Pepper Sauce. When you think of a pulled pork sandwich covered in sauce, this is that sauce. And while it’s terrific on pulled pork, I can’t wait to try it on some BBQ’d chicken or something along those lines. In the meantime, I think a breakfast of pulled pork is in order after writing this up.