Thighs, not breasts. This is the one rule that makes pulled chicken work. Four hours in a slow cooker turns a breast into dry threads because there is no fat or collagen to melt; a thigh comes apart in strands that stay moist because it has both. Chicken breast is the most common reason homemade pulled chicken disappoints.

Drain almost all the liquid before the sauce goes in. Four hours of cooking leaves a lot of thin broth in the pot, and if you stir Pig Spit into that you get sauce soup instead of sauce. Leave about a quarter cup, shred, then add two full cups of sauce and give it twenty minutes on low to tighten up.

Coleslaw is structural. It goes between the chicken and the top bun, where it keeps the bread from dissolving and gives the sandwich crunch against soft meat. Lightly dressed, not creamy and heavy, because a wet slaw on wet chicken defeats the whole point. Red onion on top for sharpness, and that is the sandwich.