Four Hundred Year Old Virginia Barbecue Recipe

Virginians have been cooking southern style barbecued pork longer than people in any other state. The oldest recorded recipes used in Virginia barbecue call for hickory wood for fuel and a seasoning made of vinegar, butter, salt, and cayenne pepper. Here is how it's done in a modern, upright barbecue smoker such as the Chargriller Akorn or the Weber Bullet.

Ingredients

1 pork butt approximately 8 pounds

1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 pats of butter, softened

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes

Mix the vinegar, butter, salt, and peppers and apply the mixture all over the pork. Barbecue at 275 to 300 degrees for 3 hours. Wrap the pork in foil and continue to cook until the meat is pull tender which should be about 3 to 4 more hours of cook time. When done, remove the meat from the smoker and let it rest for 1 hour. Pull the meat and serve. It can also be chopped.

What about the sauce recipe? Try this old Virginia sauce named in honor of a great Virginia barbecue cook named Shack - http://ocbarbecue.blogspot.com/2013/04/old-virginia-barbecue-sauce-recipe.html.

The recipes for the Tangy Virginia Brown and Sweet Virginia Red sauces will be in my upcoming book. Stay tuned for details.