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The Melting Pot
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich hero image coming soon
1920s-present - Southern barbecue pitmasters and roadside barbecue-stand cooks
The pulled pork sandwich carries Southern barbecue into a portable form. Pork shoulder is cooked low and slow until it can be pulled apart, then served chopped or shredded on a bun. In Memphis and the Carolinas, slaw on the sandwich is part of the experience; elsewhere the sauce and smoke take the lead.
Difficulty
Moderate
Prep time
25 minutes
Cook time
6 hours
Total time
6 hours 25 minutes
Servings
10 sandwiches
Region
American South
Era introduced
1920s-present
Introduced by
Southern barbecue pitmasters and roadside barbecue-stand cooks
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Pulled pork sandwiches grew out of the public barbecue stand and restaurant traditions of the South, where cooked shoulder or whole hog could be chopped, sauced, and served quickly on bread. Memphis-style sandwiches are often finished with tomato-based sauce and slaw, while Carolina traditions lean toward vinegar, pepper, and whole-hog or shoulder cookery. This home version uses pork shoulder and an oven or smoker-friendly method, then leaves room for the sauce style to match the table.
Drafted with Southern barbecue context from Southern Foodways Alliance (https://www.southernfoodways.org/heres-looking-at-cue/), barbecue scholarship context from Adrian Miller via The Bittman Project (https://bittmanproject.com/adrian-e-miller-and-the-united-states-of-barbecue/), and Memphis sandwich-style context from The Speckled Palate (https://www.thespeckledpalate.com/memphis-style-bbq-pulled-pork-sandwiches/).
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