Whole Hog Cook

13brendonw

This summer me and a couple of friends are planing on building a hog pit out of cinder blocks in our backyard.  Does anyone have any advice for us on either building the pit or cooking a whole pig.  I'm really excited to try this and would love any help anyone has to offer.  Thank you!

Sea2Ski

Calling @DMW....

gdenby

I helped do one last summer. I was only partially involved, so I can only offer a few thing. The cook was a young woman chef. Her boy friend brought the fresh carcass from his farm, and she enlisted a couple of guys at the party to help. It was a wedding party, and she was both a bridesmaid, and cooking for 200, so things were pretty hectic,

She had a big re-bar frame, and 2 wire mesh layers, one already attached to the frame. Looked like it had seen repeated use, and frankly, was not in great condition. They just stacked blocks, I think 4 courses high. I recall she had problems splitting the carcass, and getting it to lay flat. She had forgotten some of her equipment, and only had a small cleaver, and a standard kitchen knife from the party hosts.. I believe the hog was 1st placed skin side down, and sandwiched between the wire mesh layers.

I think she had at least 2 large bags of Kingsford, and started piles going in the 4 corners of the pit. The piles weren't all that large. maybe less than 2 cement blocks high. Don't recall what they placed on top, but the stack of blocks was set up so that 4 corner blocks could be pulled out, and more briquettes placed in. Refueling was done at least 3 times during the approx. 18 hour cook. Sometime during the night, the hog was flipped.

About 2 hours before pulling the meat, she made up a huge bowl, couple of gallons, of a garlic mojito sauce. The hog was flipped back skin side down. Fairly awkward, as the wires holding the frame together had become somewhat loose. More charcoal was added, and the whole thing left to finish.

Unfortunately, timing proved a little off. Most of her prep crew were just other guests, who had been partying for a day, had no knife or other kitchen skills. So most of the sauce cooked away, and some of the skin was burnt.

But on the whole, most of the carcass was in good shape. Pulled easily. Because some of the guests were likely to be finicky, she had almost all the fat removed, and didn't add much in the way of spices. Myself and BIL were both a little sad about that.

DMW

I have done several whole hog cooks, always on a Meadow Creek PR-60 or PR-72, never done one on a cider block pit.

Lots of good info here, including building a pit.
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/whole_hog_pig_picking.html

I usually take the whole thing to pulling temps, though at Butt Blast we sliced the loins/tenderloins that were still intact and @Eggcelsior
chopped the hams.

ibanda

Quick 3 minute video on youtube, "Texas BBQ: whole pig". Gives a pretty good look at how to put together a cinder block pit, from the Texas A&M barbecue class. I sure wish I had taken such a useful class in college!

I have seen Aaron Franklin's video on PBS TV but I only see the 30 second promo on youtube.

OpusXcellent

Here is an episode of 'BBQ with Franklin' where Aaron Franklin does a whole hog.  Might help shed some light on this processes 

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365503928/

Let know when and where you are doing it and I can give an in person demonstration on how to eat an embarrassing amount of pork 

Big_Green_Craig

Steven Raichlen's new book Project Smoke has detailed plans on how to build a pit. 

13brendonw

Thank you all so much! All of this help is awesome! I am planing on doing something around 75 pounds.  Has anyone done one of this size and know how long that this usually takes?

leemschu

I might be wrong but I think @Biggreenpharmacist cooked a whole one he killed. Maybe not though.

minniemoh

Oh man! I would love to try this sometime. Good luck and I'm definitely staying tuned in to this thread. 

gdenby

Far as  know, which isn't much,  75 pounds is pretty small. Not a piglet, and not a market sized hog. The one I worked on was 175+, kinda free range and not so fat. My guess is that  75 lbs is a breakfast to dinner cook in a pit, assuming the lump is going strong when the pig goes on.

shtgunal3

OpusXcellent said:

Let know when and where you are doing it and I can give an in person demonstration on how to eat an embarrassing amount of pork 

LOL...... I could probably help with that too.