Carolina-style BBQ Hoagie, Super Simple and Mouth Watering

You’ve seen it in your local BBQ restaurant. You’ve seen it in pictures, videos, and social media. The infamous, mouth wateringly scrumptious Carolina style BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich. Nothing leaves you sitting back in your chair with a huge satisfied silly smile on your face like an empty plate that used to hold a Carolina style BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich.

So the other day I had a craving for just such a delectable treat. I had most of the ingredients:

• BBQ Pulled pork
• Coleslaw (see this Instructable)
• Hamburger Bun (oh wait, c&@p, I didn’t have a hamburger bun. Now what?)

Necessity is indeed the maternal essence of creativity. Wandering through my pantry searching for options, the spark of creative light flashed over my head – oops, no, that was the pantry light, it just blew out. Out came the step stool and while changing the light bulb at the ceiling, I looked down at the array of food on the shelves. I spied a pack of hot dog buns and a flurry of inventive epicurean options flew through my head like a flock of disturbed pheasants avoiding a crazed hunter. I heard the food angles singing a monotone chorus of spiritual insight. It was to be – a Carolina-style BBQ Hoagie!

Open that hot dog bun just a bit. Not too wide. You don’t want to break the bread hinge on the bottom or the rest of the ingredients won’t stay in. If you do break the hinge, you need to call out the mother of invention again and find another use for those now two pieces of bread. You could continue to put the ingredients on it, but it just won’t be the same – you see, the hinge of the hot dog bun locks in the flavor, just like the ridges on the can do for cranberry sauce, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. :-)

Once that bun has its mouth open, go ahead and feed in the pork. I like to use tongs for that delicately balanced distribution of that delectable delight. There are dozens, if not hundreds of variations of BBQ pork recipes of course, so this ‘ible isn’t going there, but I can say that my favorite is the Carolina Style BBQ which typically has a vinegar/red pepper based sauce instead of a tomato-base.

It’s best if you can cook it yourself in your own slow smoker, but if you’re like the other 99% of us, you don’t have a smoker. But the good news is there are at least two other sources – your local BBQ restaurant who will sell it to you by the pound for a premium price, or your local grocery store that often has the pre-cooked smoked pulled pork in the refrigerated section at about half the price of the restaurant. An example, and one of my favorites is Brookwood Farms Pulled Pork BBQ made with Carolina Vinegar Sauce. (Sadly, all I had at the time of this Instructable was another brand variation that had a tomato based sauce as seen in the photos, but it was still good.)

You’ve got the bun’s mouth open, the pork loaded, and the flavor locked in. Now it’s time to add the lawn. This is the part of the recipe that make the whole thing a pièce de résistance. Besides the slaw’s complimenting flavor, it adds a delightfully crispy texture to this epicurean adventure that moves your culinary senses to another department in the field of barbecue pork.

The tongs are again the preferred tool for loading on the coleslaw. Carefully assign the coleslaw across the breadth giving all the surface area of the pork approximately equal amounts. Try not to overdo it though lest more end up on the plate than in the hoagie. You should end up with a meal that looks like a bun filled with coleslaw, but you secretly know about the pulled port treasure hidden beneath!

This will be a delightfully tasting treat that will no doubt exude coleslaw offspring onto the plate as you pick it up revel in it’s wonderful BBQ goodness. So be sure to have a fork handy so none of it gets away.

I hope you enjoy. I do. :-)