Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

Today on "Cook's Country," Morgan and Bridget head out to the grill to make North Carolina barbecued pork, Adam shares our recommended fire pits for cooking, and Carmen makes Julia lemonade with honey.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following... -Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills to suit every level.

Our mission is to ignite your passion to pursue the art of grilling.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

-I love my visits to North Carolina because I get to visit my family, but also I get to eat some really good barbecued pork, and North Carolinians know how to make it.

They even have two main styles.

There's the Eastern style and the Lexington style.

I don't care, I love to eat them both.

But if you want to know more about this, why not call in an expert?

We've got Morgan here, a native North Carolinian, to tell us all about barbecued pork.

-Yes.

And both sides of the state, thankfully, start with a delicious barbecued pork.

-Mm.

So we're going to try to make both of them happy.

-Okay.

-And we're going to do it on a charcoal grill.

So I have a six-pound bone-in pork butt.

I'm going to season this with 3 tablespoons of salt.

I'm using kosher salt.

And then, 1 1/2 tablespoons of pepper.

So I'm using the pork butt to make both sides of the state happy.

So, in the eastern side of the state, they're known for cooking whole hogs.

They're doing the whole pig.

And then, on the western side of the state, in Lexington, they're actually doing pork shoulders.

Now, it's a little confusing, but the pork butt is cut from a pork shoulder.

-Right.

-So this is actually central to both barbecues.

-Nice.

So it's found in both.

-Yes, exactly.

And you can see, we're not skimping on our salt and pepper in this barbecue.

So I'm going to wrap this in plastic.

And I'm going to let it sit in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours.

So that's going to season the meat really well and keep it nice and juicy on the grill.

-Sounds great.

-Okay, Bridget, now that our pork has salted overnight we're ready to turn to our grill.

-Okay.

-So I have the bottom vents completely open, and you can see I have 60 coals arranged beautifully around the bottom of the grill.

-Like the letter C. -Yes, exactly.

So this is called a charcoal snake.

It's one of my favorite grilling techniques.

I'm going to do a little math with you here.

I've got 60.

I'm going to add 60 more on top.

-Okay.

-So, in Carolina, a lot of people are using these industrial smokers.

They have a lot more real estate on such a big grill.

-Sure.

-This is a little tiny charcoal grill, and we love it for it's mighty, but it's still small.

-Right.

-This grill setup allows you to get a long, slow cook without having to reload the grill and allows you this control that those industrial smokers allow.

So our snake is assembled.

-Right.

-And now we have our wood chunks.

So I'm using hickory.

-Mm-hmm.

-Which is what is very common in North Carolina.

-Sure.

-You often either find hickory or oak down there.

So a little nod to my home state.

One very important piece about the snake is that you have a gap here.

So I'm leaving a 6-inch gap.

And this is so I can light one side of it and it'll actually burn this way without igniting both sides.

-Right.

-My little trick is, for me, it's about the length of, like, pinky to thumb.

When I do this, you can kind of... -Gotcha.

-Okay, so I'm gonna place these evenly starting 4 inches from each end of the snake.

And beautiful.

-Lovely.

-Lovely.

And now I have a water pan, so... Well, right now, it's just a pan, but it will turn into a water pan when I add 4 cups of water.

This is going to help control the heat.

It's going to also add a lot of moisture, which will make very nice tender pork.

Now it's time to light.

I have 15 coals that I lit.

You can tell they're ready when they're partly covered in ash.

So you want one that has like a nice bit of gray on it.

-Right.

-But it's not totally ashed over.

And now I'm just going to light one side of it.

And the thing you want to check for is that you don't want the gap to be closed.

-Okay.

-Because you don't want both sides of this going.

So I still have a little bit of space there.

Great.

So we have our grill grates on top.

We're going to clean and oil them.

So we have our pork butt here.

And I'm going to add it to the grill right over this water pan.

And I'm going to put it fat side down.

-Okay.

-So this just gives a little extra layer of insulation and protection so that the bottom of that meat is not going to get charred.

Now we just have to insert the probe.

And just try to find a spot in the middle of the meat.

So this is one of my favorite pieces of barbecue equipment.

It helps you so much maintain the actual temperature of the meat.

-Sure.

-It's really important when you're cooking that you close the grill and you don't open it.

This probe prevents you from having to open the grill.

-Lock it in.

-Locked in.

Okay, so the grill vents are open just like the bottom.

You can see it's directly over the gap in the snake.

-Right.

-So all that smoke can encircle the meat and it can come out over here.

-Mm.

-Get it nice, smoky pork.

-Beautiful.

We have 4 to 5 hours.

What we're really going to go by is this probe.

-Okay.

-So we're going to look for the thermometer to read 170 degrees.

And that's when we know it's ready.

It's not actually done, but it's ready for the next step.

-Gotcha.

-Okay.

You can see it's at 171 degrees and... oh, it's gorgeous.

-Oh, my goodness.

-I know.

It's not done yet.

I'm going to pull it off.

-Oh.

-Just move it right over here.

I'm gonna pull this probe.

So you can see the fat side's still down.

-Yeah.

Okay.

-That's important.

You want to keep track of the fat side.

So I'm going to wrap it up.

-Oh.

-And you want it really nice and tight.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Okay.

And then, I'm going to make an X on this fat side so I don't lose track of that.

Just a little X.

-Okay.

-Okay.

So we're almost ready to put this back on.

But I have one more thing.

-Okay.

-I'm going to reload the grill.

So I'm gonna take this off.

So this is two quarts of charcoal.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm just going to add it 1/3 of the way around the grill over where the gap was and a little bit into where it first lit.

-Okay.

-This is just a little extra insurance.

So this may never even catch, but we've got another hour and a 1/2 to go.

-Right.

-So I just want to make sure I don't run out of coals.

And you don't have to be as careful.

Like I'm not trying to sit here and, like, arrange every little one with this grill setup.

-Right.

-This is going to come back on.

And I'm gonna put this back on, fat side down.

-Okay.

-Right over this water pan.

X goes down.

And then, I'm going to reinsert this probe.

And I'm going to just aim for the center of it.

Okay, so this goes back on.

We're gonna let it go another hour to an hour and 1/2.

But really, what we're looking for is 200 degrees.

All right, Bridget, we're at 200 degrees.

-Mm-hmm.

-It smells delightful.

-It smells incredible.

-Let's pull this out.

We have that handy fat marker.

We're going to turn it fat side up.

And all those juices are just going to drip down and coat the pork while it rests.

-Beautiful.

-Speaking of, we do need to let it rest an hour and 1/2.

So let's take it inside.

-Essential.

All right.

-Bridget, earlier you said that North Carolina has the two styles of barbecue, and we are going to do a nod to that with two different sauces.

-Oh, great.

-Plus, they're super easy to put together.

-Perfect.

-So the first one is for Eastern North Carolina.

Here I have a cup and 1/2 of cider vinegar.

And to this, I'm going to add a cup of Texas Pete hot sauce.

-Mm!

-Every time I use Texas Pete, I feel like I need to give a PSA.

It is made in North Carolina.

The name is just not branded right.

-[ Laughs ] -And then, I also have 1/4 of a cup of light brown sugar.

I have two teaspoons of kosher salt.

I have a teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of pepper flakes.

-Okay.

-That's it.

That's the recipe.

-Yes.

-You just whisk it together.

-All right.

-So that's Eastern.

Let's go on down to Lexington.

-Ooh.

All right.

-Okay, so here I have 2 cups of cider vinegar in a saucepan.

To this, I'm going to add a cup of ketchup.

So, you saw what Eastern was.

It is very vinegary.

It is intense.

Now, Lexington is still vinegary, but it's a little sweeter, a little bit thicker, a little more mellow.

-I feel like that's the main difference, right?

You have the tomato.

-Yeah, exactly.

The ketchup is the main difference.

And then, I also have 2 teaspoons of granulated garlic.

I have 2 teaspoons of pepper, a teaspoon and 1/2 of kosher salt, and then a teaspoon of pepper flakes.

It's still intense.

-Yes, a little bit of heat in both.

-Yeah.

Exactly.

So I want to bring this to a boil over medium-high heat.

So, once this comes to a boil, I'm going to reduce it to medium-low and let it simmer for 5 minutes, and then I'll just put it in a bowl and let it cool.

-Sounds great.

-Bridget, our pork has been rested an hour and 1/2.

I've unwrapped it and I'm very excited for us to eat it.

-Mm!

-And our Lexington-style sauce is fully cooled.

Now, that's not where our differences in these styles of pork end.

Another difference you find is how they're chopped.

So, on the western side of the state, in Lexington, they actually chop it into 1-inch pieces.

Whereas on the eastern side of the state, they do a finer chop.

In order to chop either, I need to remove this bone.

And you actually can kind of usually just get it with your hands.

It's so tender.

-Yeah.

-It just pops right out.

-Nice.

-So I'm just going to cut this in half right down the center.

And, in Lexington, usually it comes in bigger pieces.

So we're talking like 1-inch chunks.

You can actually order it, if you want, with extra outside brown, which means extra bark.

-Mm.

-And I'm like, "And can we do that in all barbecue, an option for extra bark?"

So it's so tender.

You're not going to get a perfect exact beautiful 1 inch.

I mean, it kind of like shreds a little bit, but you still get these really nice pieces, and you want a slightly bigger chop here.

So that is looking pretty good.

Look at all that bark.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Yeah.

So this is 1/3 of a cup of sauce.

-All right.

-Since I'm dividing it in half, I'm doing 1/3 cup each.

If you only made one sauce, you just want to do 2/3 cup for the whole thing.

So, Eastern North Carolina, they do a much finer chop.

I love a cleaver.

I feel like a lot of people don't use them because they're a little intimidated by them.

You can kind of just do this really nice tapping motion and it's very effective.

Okay.

And that was like 25 seconds to fully chopped pork.

So I'm going to put this in the bowl.

This will be our Eastern.

-All right, I'm going to dress this.

And then, I should toss them both, right?

-Yep.

-All right, you got it.

-So, of course, in both parts of the state, you can also get these as plates.

But I figure, for us, we'll make each other some sandwiches.

-I love it.

-Yeah.

So just pile on that pork.

-Oh, yeah.

I'm trying to make sure I get some of that gorgeous bark, as well.

-I know.

Well, I feel like it's kind of nice when you end up eating the different sizes and the different chops together, because in that one, you get these really nice pieces, and here, you just get it sprinkled throughout.

It's like little gifts of bark.

One more difference here.

We got some different slaws.

So, in Lexington, they're using a redder slaw with a finer chop.

It's a ketchup-based slaw.

On the eastern side of the state, they're using a mayo-based slaw.

It's more of your, like, shreds of cabbage.

-Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I've seen this called red slaw and that called white slaw.

-Yep.

I feel like you do want to let the pork shine, so you don't need to go crazy with the slaw, but enough to accent it.

-Oh, yeah.

-To give a little chop on top.

-Mm!

-Okay.

Bridget, can I trade you a sandwich?

-I would love that.

-Here you go.

Okay, I'm gonna add a little more sauce to these guys.

And now we can eat.

-All right, you're going for a Lexington first there?

-I'm going to go for Lexington first.

-A little chopped slaw.

-You know, I grew up on the western side, so I feel like I got at least go Lexington first.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mm.

Mm.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, I do love that little bit of sweetness the ketchup adds.

It's still tangy and bright -Well, and I feel like you get these nice pieces.

So you actually really taste a ton of pork.

-Mm-hmm.

-And yet you get a really nice hunk of bark.

Like, my first bite was just, like, peppery bark in the most delightful way.

-The pork itself, it's beautifully smoky.

It's just enough.

Like you said, it's got that peppery bark.

-Mm-hmm.

-Gorgeous.

Well, I know.

That's one thing I love about this is being able to do it on a charcoal grill, because I don't have an industrial-sized smoker or even a regular smoker at home.

But I love being able to make my little nod to North Carolina.

-Yeah.

Really clever technique.

All right, I'm going to have to move over to the eastern side.

-Mm-hmm.

I went to school at Chapel Hill, so I'm like, I got to do a little nod to that side, too.

-Love it.

Mm.

Super vibrant.

I mean, it is vinegary, but it cuts through that.

The fatty pork... -Mm-hmm.

-...so beautifully seasons it all the way through, I think, because it is a little bit of a thinner sauce.

Just makes its way into every bite there.

-Yeah.

I agree, and I really like the fine chop here.

I mean, I feel like it's really nice.

You get those little bites of bark throughout, and then it's still so smoky, and then it's really nice contrast to the bigger shreds of cabbage.

-And I love that you made the two slaws to complement the barbecue, too.

Yeah, it's perfect.

And you can get the recipe for both of these slaws on our web site.

Morgan, thank you so, so much for showing us the light when it comes to North Carolina barbecue.

-It was my pleasure, my honor.

-Awesome.

Well, if you'd like to make North Carolina barbecue at home, season a pork butt and refrigerate it overnight, and then fashion a charcoal snake on the grill.

For Eastern Carolina style, chop the pork fine, and then season and serve with a vinegar sauce.

And for Lexington style, chop the pork into bigger pieces, and then dress and serve with a tomato vinegar sauce.

So, from "Cook's Country," the summit of smoky porkiness, it's North Carolina barbecued pork.

-Gosh, I'm picturing my dream restaurant on a ski slope called Summit of Smoke.

-[ Laughs ] -Cooking outside over a fire pit is an absolute blast.

But if you want to be safe and successful, you should probably have the right equipment.

Now, gone are the days of, you know, the campfire and the tripod with the swinging pot.

Not so safe and actually kind of hard to cook on.

-These are definitely going to be easier to cook on and a lot more stable than that tripod ever was.

-This looks really modern.

-You know, fire pits generally tend to be like the social focal point of an outdoor gathering.

And the cooking usually happens on a traditional grill.

But you can buy fire pits outfitted to turn them into an outdoor cooking apparatus.

And we were totally curious about that.

We had a lineup of eight.

-Mm.

-The price range was pretty significant -- $170 to $720.

-Wow.

-There were a lot of cooking tests, and they pointed out a couple of very important design factors.

One is the size and the capacity of the pit itself.

The smallest one was 16 1/2 inches wide, and that one, it was a little hard to build the fire.

The logs were almost vertical.

It was super hard to control the cooking temperature, and one of the test recipes required a dual zone fire with different temperatures.

You could barely do that in the 16 1/2-inch one.

The other extreme was a 27-inch pit.

-Wow.

-That one required a ton of wood to get to a sufficient cooking temperature.

And then there was something in the middle like this.

This was 23 inches.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that split the difference.

Still, you had to put the logs in a little bit, sort of diagonally, but you could get them in, you could maintain the temperature pretty easily.

You could even get a little bit of a dual zone thing going if you needed to.

-Perfect.

-It's worth mentioning that the testers were able to eventually cook good food on any size, but having sufficient space really helped.

It made it easier.

-That makes sense.

-In terms of the grates, you also want sufficient cooking space on the grates.

The range was 201 square inches to 572 square inches.

-That's a big difference.

-It's a big difference.

Testers were looking for at least 225 square inches.

They were also looking to make sure that the bars of the grate were the right type.

You can see that these are straight bars and they have a fair amount of space between them.

-Ah, the drop zone.

-Say adios to your asparagus, your strips of bell pepper.

Things fall through.

However, on something like this, with crosshatch design... -Mm-hmm.

-...kept all the food in place.

You want the grates to be relatively sturdy.

One of the cooking tests was to use our recommended heavy cast-iron Dutch oven to make chili.

-That sucker's heavy.

-That thing weighs over 13 pounds empty.

And that really pointed out which of these grates felt strong, which ones felt flimsy and, like, made them freaked out that it could go sliding into the fire.

The last thing that is super important about the grates is that you be able to adjust them, both in terms of height and laterally.

The one you have your hand on just lies flat on the top.

-Oh.

-You can't really adjust it.

-So when the fire dies down, you want to get the food closer to the heat source, for example.

You can't do it.

-Right.

Or you want to, like, keep stoking the fire to keep it super hot.

-Mm-hmm.

-You want to make that as simple as possible.

On this one, you have to lift off the whole grate.

On a couple of them, they were much more adjustable.

You want to wear a grill glove, our recommended grill glove, because these things get really hot.

This one is a lot easier to adjust.

There's a knob here that you turn, and that lets you change the height and swing it side to side laterally.

You can do that on the black one over there if you like.

And that just makes it easier to have access to the fire.

-Oh, yeah.

-Makes it easier to control the cooking temperature.

-Mm-hmm.

That's pretty handy.

-And then, one other really interesting note is some of these advertise themselves as being smokeless.

-Is that really true?

I've always wondered.

-Not in our experience.

It is fair to say that some of them were smoke reducing.

-Mm-hmm.

-And enough so the testers felt like their typically higher price tags were probably worth it, if that's really important to you, as long as you think of them as smoke reducing and not smokeless.

-Gotcha.

-And we have more information on the web site about those tests.

So there were a couple of recommendations here.

The overall recommendation was the Breeo X19 Smokeless Fire Pit with a grilling bundle.

This one was expensive.

It was $720.

-Ooh!

-But it was the right size.

It has the easily adjustable grate.

It did a wonderful job.

If you want to spend a little less money on something that is a little lighter, easier to move around... -Mm-hmm.

-...albeit not smokeless, the black one in front of you is the Barebones Cowboy Fire Pit Grill, and that one was $390.

-Thank you, Adam.

This is very cool.

-Testers had a blast cooking on these things.

-There you have it.

If you're in the market for a fire pit for cooking, check out the Breeo X19 Smokeless Fire Pit grilling bundle at $720.

Or, for our best buy, check out the Barebones Cowboy Fire Pit Grill at just $390.

Years ago in Austin, Texas, a little girl named Mikaila Ulmer was stung by a series of bees, which scared her.

But it also encouraged her to learn more about bees and their importance in our ecosystem.

It didn't take long for Mikaila to become an ardent bee preservationist and fan of local honey, which she started adding to the family lemonade recipe.

Fast forward to today, and she's the founder of a successful bottled lemonade company called Me & the Bees.

How cool is that?

Now, inspired by Mikaila's young entrepreneurship and her idea of adding honey to lemonade, we're going to show you how to make Honey lemonade today with Carmen.

And which is cool because, depending on where you are, the lemonade could change flavor based on your local honey.

-Exactly.

So we're really excited to do this delightfully floral drink.

It's perfect for a crowd.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it takes just the right amount of honey.

But first, we're going to get to juicing.

-Okay.

-I have here 9 lemons that I have juiced, and I have 2 more here.

11 lemons will yield two cups of lemon juice, which is exactly what we need for this recipe.

-Okay.

-And I have this very fancy electric juicer.

It's very useful.

-Mm-hmm.

-Especially if you have a big batch like this.

All you have to do is press down.

And I have another lemon here, and I wanted to show you a nice trick that I enjoy.

I don't have an electric juicer at home, so I like to use a tool I already have.

-Mm.

Mm.

-I like to use tongs, so all you have to do is open your tongs, place your cut lemon inside, and squeeze away and this will yield us exactly 2 cups.

We have 2 more lemons here.

I'm going to go ahead and slice these thinly.

And I will let you know that I have thoroughly cleaned the exteriors of these with a vegetable brush because this is a fruit that typically has a wax applied to their exteriors.

That extends their shelf life.

-Mm-hmm.

-But we don't want waxy lemonade today.

-[ Chuckles ] It doesn't taste as good.

-I'm going to use half of these lemon slices as our beautiful garnish.

The other half I'm going to mash with sugar just to add a little bit more lemon flavor.

I'm going to keep the nicest lemon slices for our garnish.

All of these end pieces I'm going to drop right into this container.

I have here 3/4 of a cup of sugar.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're going to see some magic here.

With some brute force, we will extract all of the juice.

We're also going to release all of those flavorful oils that are in the peel.

This looks completely wet to me and it's ready for our next step.

We're going to add in 7 cups of cold water.

If you have spring water or filtered, go ahead.

You can use that.

I just use some cold tap water.

-Okay.

-And I have, of course, our 2 cups... -Mm.

-...of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

So our juice and water have been added here.

And we're going to make sure that sugar is completely dissolved.

We've already given it a head start by mashing it.

And this whisking is going to do the rest of the job for us.

All right.

Our sugar is completely dissolved here.

This is the perfect time to strain.

I like to use a fine mesh strainer just to get all of that pulp and seeds.

And we're going to press on these solids just to make sure I'm extracting all of that good flavor.

And I don't want to serve in this container.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm going to make it nice for you.

We have a glass pitcher.

-Nicely done.

-I try.

I'm going to add in this delicious honey.

I have 1/2 a cup here.

Of course, if you wanted to use local honey to just infuse a little bit of that local flavor, you can.

But store-bought honey is just fine.

I do want to use those lemon slices as garnish.

That honey has settled on the bottom.

I'm going to incorporate it by just gently stirring.

I'm going to let this cool for at least one hour so it's at a great temperature for us to drink.

And it's going to be very refreshing.

-Okay.

-It's been one hour, Julia.

We're ready to drink this lemonade.

I'm going to make sure to stir to recombine those flavors.

-I like how the honey gave it a darker, richer color.

-It did.

It's like amber.

It's so pretty.

So whether you are selling this on the corner or serving your friends, there's a big batch ready for you.

-I love it.

Thank you.

-Of course.

My pleasure.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Oh, wow.

The honey is present, but it's not overpowering.

And the fragrance of it really tempers the sharpness of the lemon.

-So, this lemonade is not only sweet, but it has that nuanced complexity from the honey.

So there's some floral aspects there, some herbal notes.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's really nice.

This is great for a party or if you're just going to be sharing it with neighbors.

-Yeah, this is lovely.

Carmen, thank you.

-My pleasure.

-Mikaila, you're on to something good here.

Oh.

-Cheers to Mikaila's continued success.

-Yes.

If you want to make the ultimate honey lemonade, start by juicing 2 cups of fresh lemon juice.

Mash the sugar with a few lemon slices and finish it with honey.

From "Cook's Country," by way of our friend Mikaila Ulmer, a great recipe for lemonade with honey.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with select episodes and our product reviews, at our web site, cookscountry.com/tv.

It's amazing how that little bit of honey makes a world of difference in the flavor.

-It goes a long way.

-Mm-hmm.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our web site anytime for the newest seasons, fail-proof recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

Cookcountry.com/tv.

"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" includes every recipe, tasting, and testing from all 17 TV seasons.

With over 650 recipes, it's our most comprehensive collection of "Cook's Country" TV recipes ever.

The cost is $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at cookscountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following... -Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills to suit every level.

Our mission is to ignite your passion to pursue the art of grilling.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.