Chick-A-Hog BBQ
Follow our complete, step-by-step, instructions to learn how to make this Eastern North Carolina Vinegar based barbecue chicken. Perfect for sandwiches.
Enjoy the taste of Eastern North Carolina BBQ in our chicken based barbecue recipe. BBQ – without the pork.
Many years ago, I made this recipe for a couple that my wife and I were friends with.
It seems the husband of that family really enjoyed pork barbecue, but it ran his blood pressure up so bad, that he would almost drink vinegar afterwards in hopes of keeping his blood pressure down.
I wondered how it would be to take some chicken meat and flavor it with our beloved Eastern North Carolina Vinegar Based BBQ Sauce that we so famously add to our pulled pork. Would it even be close to the flavor of pork barbecue?
I bought a bag of chicken leg quarters and proceeded to make barbecue. It turned out really good, and we enjoyed making sandwiches out of it on numerous occasions afterwards whenever the leg quarters or whole chickens went on sale.
Seeing a bright future ahead for this new creation, I decided to call it Chick-A-Hog BBQ. Of course, it needed a back story, so I came up with that too.
It seems the half hog-half chicken creatures were common in the sand-hills of North Carolina many moons ago. Problem was, they were very fast and very hard to catch.
No one really knows how they came to be, but it didn’t take long for someone to finally turn one into barbecue. We do love our barbecue in North Carolina you know. And in my part of the state, you aren’t eating barbecue unless it’s the Eastern North Carolina Vinegar Based Sauce style.
If you can’t find, or can’t catch a real Chick-A-Hog, it’s half brother substitute, the chicken, works out pretty well also.
It’s an easy way to get the flavor of our delicious barbecue here in the South, without the pork. You’ll be surprised at just how good it tastes. And, it makes for some great barbecue sandwiches.
Ready to give it a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Chick-A-Hog BBQ – You’ll need these ingredients.
I know it may be practically impossible for you to find an actual Chick-A-Hog, so feel free to use chicken instead. The taste will be close. Smile. This is a great substitute for anyone that doesn’t eat pork for whatever reason. It will give you the taste of our vinegar based sauce. Guess we could call it Eastern North Carolina Chicken BBQ instead.
Place chicken in a large sauce pot and cover with about an inch of water.
You can leave the chicken whole, or cut it up. This one weighed almost seven pounds so I had to cut it up to get it to even come close to fitting in this 5 quart dutch oven. I needed a little bit bigger pot. Smile.
Add salt and pepper.
I added about a teaspoon of salt and about a half teaspoon of black pepper to the pot.
Cover the pot and bring it up to a boil. REDUCE the heat down to below medium and let the chicken simmer until done. This will take about 45 to 60 minutes.
Eastern North Carolina Vinegar Based BBQ Sauce
While the chicken is boiling, lets go ahead and make our sauce. Place the vinegar in a medium sized sauce pot.
Add the water.
Add the brown sugar.
Add the red pepper flakes.
Add the Texas Pete Hot Sauce.
Don’t worry, it’s not going to be HOT, we’re just adding layers of flavor to the sauce.
Add the salt.
Add the black pepper.
I find that black pepper adds more heat than some of the other peppers. It may just be me though. Smile.
Stir everything together. Place the sauce pot over Medium heat on the stove top and bring to a low boil. REDUCE the heat to Medium-Low and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for now.
When it’s done, remove the chicken from the broth and let it cool enough to handle it.
Remove the chicken from the bones and fat. Pick through it carefully to remove all the smaller bones and gristle materials. You don’t want to bite into that later.
I pulled the meat off the bones and put the bones and any fat back into the pot of broth. I’m going to put this pot of broth back on the stove top and let it cook for about 45 more minutes. Then, I’m going to strain the liquid from the pot, and save the broth to make some chicken and pastry with at a later date.
Once I had all the liquid in a large container, I placed it in the refrigerator. As it gets cold, the fat in the broth will rise to the top. I skimmed this off and discarded it the next day. The remaining broth had sort of congealed, so I put it in a freezer bag and placed it in the freezer. I also saved about 2 cups of the chicken meat pulled from the bones to add into my chicken pastry. You’ll find the recipe for that here: Chicken Pastry Made From Scratch
Ladle about half of your sauce over the chicken and mix it in well. You’ll want to taste the chicken as you go and add more sauce as needed until you get it tasting like you want it. I used all but about 1/2 cup of the sauce I made in the chicken. The chicken will soak it up pretty good. You might also want to add a bit more salt if you think it needs it.
Mix the sauce in well. I did this by hand and kept tasting it until I thought I’d added enough of the sauce. Make the recipe your own and adjust the sauce or seasonings up or down to suit your personal tastes.
Enjoy!
I love to use this to make a sandwich. Just add some Duke’s Mayonnaise, maybe some homemade Cole Slaw and you’re good to go. It’s great when you want to enjoy the taste of pork barbecue, but maybe don’t want to actually have the pork. I hope you like it.
