Within the state of North Carolina (and generally, in the South), the term barbecue refers to slow-cooked pork which is slow-cooked over coals using hickory wood, or other select woods may be used.

A FEW blocks south, at a tiny Cuban lunch counter called the National Cafe, now gone (as is the doughnut shop), I feasted on slow-cooked pork, beef soup, beans, rice and all the warm buttered bread I could eat, for $4.95.

They offer slow-cooked pork, chopped and blended with a vinegar-based sauce perked up with red pepper or Texas Pete hot sauce.

Refuel Restaurant Neighbourhood restaurant and bar serving robust Northwest dishes, from £8: slow-cooked pork and fennel; dry-aged beef burger (1944 West 4th Avenue; 604 288 7905).

It is a slow-cooked pork and bean stew, most authentically containing a pig's trotter, water and onions.

Johnnycakes with pulled pork joined the corn pancakes of New England and the smoky, shredded, slow-cooked pork of the South in a palate-friendly combination, the flavors augmented by a grilled peach barbecue sauce and chopped scallions.

The key ingredient in Michoacán-style carnitas is fresh-squeezed orange juice, which gives a sweet citrus flavor to the slow-cooked pork.

The second is a one-pot frontier dish, a cast-iron vessel filled with juicy, slow-cooked pork daubed with barbecue sauce and topped with corn bread and bitter lettuce.

Topped with anything from beans and cheese to slow-cooked pork, they go well with cold beer or a strong Juan Valdez.

The best was slow-cooked pork, so tender that it fell apart at the approach of a fork, and so sweet that even the roasted tomatoes with which it was served were no competition.