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Whole Pig on Large BGE...
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buckeyegger
Posts: 10
For the Ohio State-Arkansas game, we decided to go through with cooking a whole pig on the large BGE. Here are the details.
Living in the Atlanta area, we purchased a 28lb suckling pig from a meat market just south of the city. He was solidly frozen when purchased and was allowed to thaw out for two days in a cooler. The night before I curled him around in order to fit him on the BGE. He barely fit and the egg was literally scraping his back as it closed. After being fully cooked, he had lost a lot of size and could be maneuevered.
We started the process the night before with the defrosted pig. First, I rubbed the pig all over with kosher salt. Second, I put the pig in a small kitchen garbage bag and marinated him overnight. Marinade consisted of:
2 Cups Olive Oil
2 Cups White Wine
2 Tbsp Each Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Paprika, and Cumin.
The next morning he went on the egg set up for indirect heat at around 5am. I covered the ears and snout with aluminum foil. I used lump charcoal and a combination of cherry and apple wood chips. The pig than cooked at between 200-225 degrees until he was taken off at about 7pm. I sprayed him every hour or so with a half and half mixture of apple juice and cider vinegar. I flipped him over one time for the last two hours of cooking.
The skin was crispy. We then started by cutting the head off, peeling back the skin, and tearing the meat off by hand. The meat was tender, delicious, and some of the best pork you can ever eat. With the 28lb pig, we served about 12 people and had plenty left over. Here are some pics. Feel free to shoot any questions my way. I would have to say my first go at it was a pretty good success.
Living in the Atlanta area, we purchased a 28lb suckling pig from a meat market just south of the city. He was solidly frozen when purchased and was allowed to thaw out for two days in a cooler. The night before I curled him around in order to fit him on the BGE. He barely fit and the egg was literally scraping his back as it closed. After being fully cooked, he had lost a lot of size and could be maneuevered.
We started the process the night before with the defrosted pig. First, I rubbed the pig all over with kosher salt. Second, I put the pig in a small kitchen garbage bag and marinated him overnight. Marinade consisted of:
2 Cups Olive Oil
2 Cups White Wine
2 Tbsp Each Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Paprika, and Cumin.
The next morning he went on the egg set up for indirect heat at around 5am. I covered the ears and snout with aluminum foil. I used lump charcoal and a combination of cherry and apple wood chips. The pig than cooked at between 200-225 degrees until he was taken off at about 7pm. I sprayed him every hour or so with a half and half mixture of apple juice and cider vinegar. I flipped him over one time for the last two hours of cooking.
The skin was crispy. We then started by cutting the head off, peeling back the skin, and tearing the meat off by hand. The meat was tender, delicious, and some of the best pork you can ever eat. With the 28lb pig, we served about 12 people and had plenty left over. Here are some pics. Feel free to shoot any questions my way. I would have to say my first go at it was a pretty good success.
Comments
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Very cool cook.
Thanks for posting.Thank you,DarianGalveston Texas -
Impressive! :cheer:
Looks like you did a great job. I can imagine you wowed the guests going whole hog. -
WOW i gotta do that !!
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Hey Buckeyegger, first off, congrats on the win!
Secondly, can you tell me where you got the whole pig? I live in the Athens area and all I can find around here are pigs that weigh 50 pounds and up. I really want to do a whole piglet on my XL, but I can't find a supplier of smaller pigs. I'd gladly drive over to Atlanta to get one. Thanks in advance.Watkinsville, Ga XL, Medium -
It looks great, thanks for posting it. We don't see too many whole pigs cooked on the egg, or at least posted here. I would like to try it sometime - I think they can be ordered from Sweetbay supermarket around here. Yours looks like the perfect size for the large egg.Happily egging on my original large BGE since 1996... now the owner of 5 eggs. Call me crazy, everyone else does!
3 Large, 1 Small, 1 well-used Mini -
Very cool. I'm afraid if I made one of those my kids would never eat pork again . I wonder if you could order a whole pig minus the head.
What internal temp did you finish?Which came first the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. -
All right! Glad it worked out for you. It looks real good good. :P Tim
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Great idea and post...Go Bucks!
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WOW-Thanks for posting.
Is this something you will do again?Salado TX & 30A FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers. -
I agree with you, Smokeypitt. Not kid friendly and they would never eat pork again!Happily egging on my original large BGE since 1996... now the owner of 5 eggs. Call me crazy, everyone else does!
3 Large, 1 Small, 1 well-used Mini -
Feet and head removed no problem. Split along the backbone or whole or quartered, your butcher will trim to your liking. I got a butcher that can get me a 27 pounder, he says that's as small as he can get. Trimmed I bet it would go 18-20 pounds. Expect about 50% waste, you know- bone, fat, skin, gristle.
This summer I'd like to smoke a piggy now that I've seen this post. :P -
Awesome post! How big of a drip pan do you need for that? I agree with the others about scaring the kids. :woohoo:
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Tim,
My friend picked it up at a meat market in Clarkston. I will get the name of the place for you and address and post again. Sweet Auburn curb market has two butchers in the market who can both order you the piglet with about a week or so notice. The place is Clarkston literally had them in the freezer on site. They had a massive freezer with all kinds of meats. Lamb, pig, etc.
Florida,
Any larger pig would have been a problem getting to fit.
Finishing temp was 170. It was done and sat on the egg for the last hour at 150-175 degrees.
I would absolutely do it again and honestly wouldn't change much. It was the best pork I have eaten off my egg. Better than any butt I have smoked.
I used a normal sized drip pan.
This was actually really easy to do.
Thanks for all the replies. -
Man that looks good!
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Where we got the pig....
Clarkston Thriftown
404 296 6493
926 Montreal Rd
Clarkston, GA 30021 -
Many thanks! I'll give them a call and drive over. This is exactly what I have been looking for. I also want to do a whole small goat as well. Piglet first though.Watkinsville, Ga XL, Medium
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