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Pulled Pork – North Carolina-Style

Pulled pork is delicious, but in my humble opinion, you haven’t had true pulled pork until you’ve eaten it in North Carolina. My fiance has become a master at smoking meat in his smoker and duplicating true NC-style pulled pork. This recipe will explain how it’s all done—from the pork rub right down to the smoking process!

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Pulled Pork – North Carolina-Style

Why it works: Pepper and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,090 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pulled Pork – North Carolina-Style

Serves 8
Prep25 min
Cook10 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

306Calories
28 gProtein
14 gFat
15 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Apple cider vinegar + garlictop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together344 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pork + garlictop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Pork + apple cider vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sugar, pepper, apple cider vinegar, sauce):

  1. Gingerfits about as well
  2. Garlicthe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sugar, pepper, apple cider vinegar, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.