An Outdoor Barbecue Party Featuring Hot Slaw & Shoulder Sliders

Posted on May 22, 2015 by PeggyPrint Recipe Only | Email Recipe | 3 Comments
Filed under: All Recipes, Feed Your Party, Grilling, Pork, Summer Pin It

Happy Memorial Day! Perhaps the long weekend will offer you more time to relax and fire up the grill, and the following recipe for Hot Slaw and Shoulder Sliders has been a family favorite for generations. My millennial son, Zan, is getting married to Lucy in 4 weeks, I’m hosting a party the night before the wedding, the boy wants mama’s down-home barbecue, and it better be good. Damn good.

IMG_0760

Frozen smoked, pulled and sauced pork.

Serving pork, fresh from the smoke, is BQ done right, but that special evening I want to be apart of the revelry–not an ember-scented mama, eyes watering from smoke, fingers sticky with sauce.

So I quadrupled the barbecue portion of the recipe below to feed sixty, and for the past two days, I’ve smoked 4 shoulders in my Big Green Egg; the large Egg accommodates 2 shoulders but it takes 6-7 hours to smoke them. Then, I froze the pulled, sauced pork, which I plan to thaw the night before the party. I’ll  serve it from a sterno-lit chafing dish next to the slaw and buns. Heresy, perhaps, but I’ve frozen freshly smoked pork before with excellent results.

Rose's last May, two months prior to opening.

Rose’s last May, two months prior to opening.

His bride-to-be brings me to my knees in the kitchen, her Detroit diner, Rose’s Fine Food having been written up in the May issues of Bon Appetit, (Lucy’s holding that pot of coffee in the linked article) Saveur, and past issues of the New York Times and the Detroit News.

And they’ve only been open 10 months. I’ve license to brag, right? Dang.

Family recipes are what will lend sentiment to the occasion; food from Zan’s side of the family honoring family present and those who’ve

Pork should smoke at a constant temperature.

Pork should smoke at a constant temperature.

“moved on”: my Alabama mother’s recipe be for smoked pulled pork shoulder (a.k.a. Boston butt); his uncle Allen’s recipe for Hot Slaw; his German grandmother’s recipe for potato salad; his stepmother’s recipe for carrot cake, which she (praise God) will be making. Strategically placed bowls of my own riff on Pimento Cheese, gussied up with bacon and creme fraiche, will be served with pumpernickel bread and celery sticks.  Peanuts in the shell at the bar–easy-peasie. Deviled Eggs may make a showing, if I’ve the time. For libation I’m making a whiskey punch, and for fun I’ve hired a fiddler to work the crowd.

IMG_0769Barbecue is, more than likely, the oldest form of cooking in our part of the world; whether its genesis be African slaves, Pilgrims or native Hawaiians; whoever had the great idea of devising that first pit of burning embers, and placing a pig within it to roast. The art of the pit is in it’s golden age with nationwide beloved pit masters and their BQ joints enjoying more local notoriety than their representatives at the White House.

IMG_0700For me, the key to making the best smoked pork is keeping my fire at a constant temperature (250-300 degrees), selecting my favorites woods for smoking pork (hickory and a fruity wood such as apple or cherry) and removing the pork when it temps at 190-200 degrees.

The following recipe is for the typical, popular kettle grill. A couple of years ago, I sprung for a Big Green Egg, which has made smoking infinitely easier, once you get the hang of it.  I’m able to skip the drip pan step in the recipe below, regulating heat and keeping a constant heat is a breeze, and one kettle filled with their organic charcoal is enough fuel for 7 hours+ of smoking time.

Recipe: Hot Slaw and Shoulder Sliders 

Ingredients

  • 6-7 # pork shoulder (aka: Boston butt)
  • 1/3 cup rub* (recipe below)
  • 1-2 disposable aluminum or metal drip pans for placing under the pork butt
  • 1 kettle (charcoal) grill, smoker or Big Green Egg
  • Charcoal, as needed
  • Several chunks of wood (preferred for long smokes) or 4-6 cups wood chips (I prefer mixing hickory with a milder wood, such as apple), soaked at least 1 hour
  • Cooking thermometer
  • 4-6 cups barbecue sauce (I prefer a medium-thick, tomato-tinged vinegar sauce)
  • 25-35 small rolls or 15-20 regular-sized hamburger buns
  • 1 recipe for Hot Slaw (below)

Instructions

  1. Massage rub into pork, wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator 8-24 hours.
  2. Remove from fridge and let sit at room temperature 30-60 minutes, prior to grilling.
  3. Follow manufacturer’s advise if using a smoker or Big Green Egg. If using a kettle grill,  place 1-2 water pans in the bottom grill grate. Fill pan(s) halfway with water. You want the pan or pans to use about half the space at the bottom of the grill.
  4. Surround the pans with charcoal and, with a chimney starter or lighter fluid, heat coals to hot heat. Coals should be red hot and lightly covered with white ash. Sprinkle several handfuls of soaked wood chips over the hot coals.
  5. Place the top grill grate on the grill. Position the grill grate so if you are using a hinged grill grate, one of the hinged areas lifts up over the coals so you can easily add coals when needed.
  6. Put the meat on the grill away from the coals. Lay the meat over the water pans as far away from the coals as possible. Do not let the meat rest directly over the coals.
  7. Cover the grill, positioning the vent on the cover directly over the meat. This helps direct the smoke over the meat. Close all vents, including bottom vents, to keep the temperature low. If your vents and cover are extremely snug, open one vent.
  8. If your grill lid has a thermometer, it should read about 250-300°. Ideally you want the temperature at the meat level around 225-260; heat rises and a lid thermometer will show the temperature at the lid, and not at the meat level. If your kettle grill does not have a thermometer built-in, put a meat thermometer into the cover vent and check it occasionally.
  9. If the temperature rise higher than 325°, open the lid and let the coals burn off a bit. Then add some more soaked wood and close the lid again. If your temperature begins to drop below 225°, open the vents. If the temperature does not rise, open the lid and add more coals and soaked wood.
  10. For kettle grills, you may need to add additional soaked wood and charcoal as the meat smokes. (One full kettle of Big Green Egg charcoal and large hunks of wood keep a steady smoke for at least 8 hours without replenishing.)
  11. Your meat is ready when it temps at 190-200° and is easily pulled apart with a fork. Wrap in a cloth towel and place in a cooler at least an hour or until ready to serve.  Then,in a large bowl, shred with a fork and thoroughly mix pork with barbecue sauce to taste.
  12. To serve, place barbecue pork in a slider or bun and top with Hot Slaw.

*There are dozens of prepared barbecue rubs on most grocery shelves in town. You may have the ingredients to make your own signature rub just by using what you have on hand. The recipe below is a guideline and makes a flavorful rub.

Rub sit time: 24 hours + time to build the fire

Cooking time: 5-7 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): apx. 25-30 sliders 

Copyright © Peggy Lampman’s dinnerFeed.

Recipe: Hot Slaw (may be made 24 hours in advance)

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cabbage, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1½ cups shredded carrots
  • ½ red minced bell pepper
  • ¼ cup minced sweet or red onion
  • ¼ cup cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1-3 teaspoons prepared brown mustard (I prefer Gulden’s)
  • Hot sauce*
  • 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. Layer the vegetables in a large glass bowl in the following order: Cabbage, carrots, bell pepper and onion. Do not combine.
  2. Whisk together the vinegar, sugar and 1 teaspoon of the mustard. Add additional mustard, hot sauce, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and pour over the layered vegetables. Do not combine.
  3. Heat the oil in a sauté pan until it begins to smoke. Carefully and evenly drizzle the hot oil over the slaw. Do not toss. Let sit 10 minutes for the flavors to combine. Toss well and refrigerate until serving.

*Most Hot Slaw fans prefer it extremely spicy so I take a heavy hand with the hot sauce. However, you can put it in, but you can’t take it out. My suggestion would be to add enough hot sauce so the slaw at least lives up to its name, then let your guests add more according to their palate’s endurance.

Copyright © Peggy Lampman’s dinnerFeed.

Recipe: Rub for Pork

Ingredients:  Combine:

  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon garlic or onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons cayenne

Copyright © Peggy Lampman’s dinnerFeed.

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3 Responses to An Outdoor Barbecue Party Featuring Hot Slaw & Shoulder Sliders

  1. Bobby frank says:
    May 23, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Congrats to you, Peggy, on the upcoming marriage of your son. Still hoping, perhaps after the wedding, you will be able to check out ourWednesday wine group. You will love it. Especially a party night.

    Reply
  2. Peggy says:
    May 25, 2015 at 12:19 pm

    Thanks, Bobby! Moving times. As mentioned, that’s book club nite for me but keep me posted. Feel free to post the event details here (for other Ann Arborites)
    if it’s open to the public.

    Reply
  3. Gluay says:
    December 1, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    on The Well at Five Points is re-opening on August 30th.deb in raleigh on North Raleigh relaly needed Sola Cafe! It’s clean and homey and get the TANGERINE AND GINGER ICED TEA.

    Reply

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