The mustard-based barbecue sauce of South Carolina's Midlands represents one of the most distinctive regional traditions in American cooking. German immigrants settled there in the eighteenth century, bringing their affinity for mustard-forward flavors. They encountered the Southern pig culture and created something entirely new. This golden sauce, sometimes called Carolina Gold, has no equivalent anywhere else on earth.

I've eaten pulled pork at roadside stands from Columbia to Orangeburg, places where the pits have been smoking for decades and the sauce recipes are guarded like family secrets. What I've learned is this: the sauce matters, but the meat matters more. You need a bone-in pork shoulder with its fat cap intact. You need low heat and patience measured in hours, not minutes. Rush the process and you'll get something edible. Honor the process and you'll get something that makes people put down their phones and pay attention.

This recipe works beautifully on a smoker if you have one, but I've also included instructions for the oven. Don't let anyone tell you oven-cooked pulled pork is inferior. It's different, yes. But the same transformation occurs: tough collagen becomes silky gelatin, marbled fat renders and bastes the meat from within, and what started as a stubborn cut becomes something you can pull apart with two forks.

The slaw isn't optional. That cool, creamy crunch against hot, tangy pork creates the contrast that makes a great sandwich. Build it high. Let it get messy. This is summer food meant to be eaten outside with good people and cold drinks.