Smoke'n Pig Meat

Looks like some good eatin there.

So when should I be over……

Beauty! Well done sir.

Randy,

What do you do to prep the hog?

Thanks,

FDR

Looks good Randy, nice looking smoker too.

Talk about a labor of love.
Rented the smoker – VERY COOL TOY BTW. LP – for consistent secondary heat. Separate hot box for burning coal/wood. Did a mixture of Cherry, Apple, and oak. Thermostat controlled blower for circulation and kicking up the heat as needed. Stayed pretty consistent between 215 and 230 (Targeted 220).

Butcher prepped the pig and seasoned (inside) plus injection seasoning. When it was about 75% done, we took it out, made our cuts – packed some up on aluminum foil and red wine, re-seasoned, and placed back in with fresh wood until done.

Looks and sounds awesome Randy. Good meat smoking is always a labor of love and usually worth it!

Enjoy!

Dave

Very nice! Assume you were happy with the final product?

Kent thompson wrote:

Very nice! Assume you were happy with the final product?

Yep…I feel fatter than the pig.

http://www.pbs.org/food/features/bbq-with-franklin-season-1-episode-3-whole-hog/
What a coincidence, I just saw a cooking show on pbs(link above) on smoking a pig. Prety insightful from the butcher shop to the table covering splaying the pig out, brining, seasoning, building the fire pit, cooking/smoking.
I so want to do this. I never been to or even seen a pig roast but this show was so informational that I believe I could pull it off.
The series also covers smoking briskets to ribs turkeys, beef ribs and pull pork and other helpfull info like building a smoker out of a 1000# propane tank and cuts of meet.

Randy
Looks Great…..

Jack

Tip of the cap to any hobbyist who can do a good job on a whole pig. Not too hard to have the extremities burned crisp while the interior is still blood rare. Or have 40 people waiting for the hog to get done at a reasonable time. Last two I attended were done by professional hog roast caterers. No wonder with all the time, equipment and know-how required.

Looks like a great time there! Love to try a whole hog one time.
How many people did you feed?

Nice, have done a few myself and had them turn out awesome each time. We stuff it with sauerkraut for moisture, and an additional side when done. That looks like a big boy, how heavy was the hog?

I didn’t handle buying the hog, so I’m not exact. I believe is was 180’s as you see it and over 300 live weight. Those were the numbers being tossed around. Took 4 of us to lift it out. Probably 20# of fat rendered out of it. Started at 3:30am and done by 4pm. (some of the cuts were removed and re-heated for dinner time) Big a$$ chunk of meat there.

If I ever do another, I am pre-butchering it up and starting selected cuts earlier and others later. Too much of it was getting done by noon and the hams were just getting warm. Plus doing the skin on method was great for holding a ton of moisture from the rendering fat. But it blocked a lot of the smoke flavor (kind of blah)and we ended up juicing (barbeque sauce) about 40# with honey & Baby Rays

we fed about 65 people and had a LOT of left overs. Worked out good though. Used a VacMaster 350 and the bulk roll of bags to put up 1.5# bags of pulled pork and various cuts. Neighbors all split it up and everyone took some meat home.

Randy curious do you know what was paid for the hog, comparing to prices here. Here its about $100 a side or $200 for the whole hog, for a 220 lber. That’s slaugherted and chilled in a cooler for two days before its picked up. The hogs are raised by the farmers, is the price about the same there?.

Dan, whole hogs are running about 2.25 per pound hanging weight. I don’t know what is current for live weight.

Very nice…makes me hungry for Spam.

Happens every once in a while.

hl&sinker wrote:

http://www.pbs.org/food/features/bbq-with-franklin-season-1-episode-3-whole-hog/
What a coincidence, I just saw a cooking show on pbs(link above) on smoking a pig. Prety insightful from the butcher shop to the table covering splaying the pig out, brining, seasoning, building the fire pit, cooking/smoking.
I so want to do this. I never been to or even seen a pig roast but this show was so informational that I believe I could pull it off.
The series also covers smoking briskets to ribs turkeys, beef ribs and pull pork and other helpfull info like building a smoker out of a 1000# propane tank and cuts of meet.

Thanks for this link, had no idea that Aaron Franklin was doing a show. He’s one of the best in the nation, really looking forward to watching these over the next few weeks.

BTW that’s a great looking pig, Randy. I too would like to tackle a whole animal but I’ve got my sights a bit smaller, looking to do a suckling pig lechon style…

http://globetrotterdiaries.com/recipes/a-beginners-guide-to-roasting-a-whole-pig

^^^ I agree, I have subscribed to Franklin’s youtube page. I remember him saying something about it coming up but I assumed he would link it to his youtube. I got some watching to do!

Looks good Randy I built a hog roaster on wheels back in the mid 90’s… roasted several whole hogs, man were they good. Sorry I sold it.. I would inject a mixture of barbecue sauce and salt water, about every 2 hours…. man that stuff was like heaven… especially the inside loins

i have a whole hog rotisserie that uses charcoal/smoking wood if anyone wants to borrow it or use it on site. i’ve done 4 hogs with it, so can assist.

Thanks Randy, just wonderin.

stuwest wrote:

i have a whole hog rotisserie that uses charcoal/smoking wood if anyone wants to borrow it or use it on site. i’ve done 4 hogs with it, so can assist.

Stu,

Is this on a trailer by chance?

Thanks,

FDR

there could always be a hog roast and bloody Mary festival at Everett’s

chomps wrote:

there could always be a hog roast and bloody Mary festival at Everett’s

Now there is a heck of an IDO get together idea

Nice work on that whole hog!!! I’ve done some myself. I injected the hog once in awhile during the cooking process myself. Feeds a crowd for sure. good luck.