Did my first whole hog yesterday!
 

About a month ago my brother and I were talking about his birthday and we decided that throwing a party would be the perfect opportunity for me to try smoking a whole hog. Last Friday we picked the pig up in Bardstown:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps2e98a0df.jpg

He wasn't much of a pig, about 35lbs, but I wanted to make sure I could fit him on my small smoker without lopping his head off.

7AM yesterday the smoker was lit and the pig was resting:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps10ffaf52.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps9ac06b90.jpg

8AM the pig went in!:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps533e6389.jpg

Foiled up the snout and ears in an afterthought:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0ea724df.jpg

An hour in we were seeing some color:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps441b932e.jpg

Two hours in I was getting hungry when I looked at him:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps900f6720.jpg

Four hours in it was time to foil him up:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0b91f9e5.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa959ce01.jpg

I let him smoke for another 4 hours at about 235 degrees and then removed the foil. It took a total of 10 hours to hit my targeted 195 degrees in the hams and shoulders. Pulled him out of the smoker and foiled him up to rest for an hour before my beautiful assistant did the dirty work:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps55fe9c07.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psb923e142.jpg

mmmmmm bacon

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps662349ea.jpg

End result:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psef781498.jpg


Overall it was completely painless and everyone loved the show. My wife didn't like the idea of leaving the head on, but she was certainly the first one to reach for the gloves and a knife when he came off the smoke!

That's great! :clap:

Looks like a fantastic first attempt! Now, to find other friends and family members who want to throw large parties for more "tweaking!"

Did you only go for pulled pork or also slice up a few bits for the masses?

Thanks! Having never done one or seen one be done, I think it went pretty well. The internet makes everything easy, LoL. We just pulled it all. Next time I'll probably get a little "Fancier" and try to extract some individual cuts.

Very nice! Great to see the little Lang works just like the bigger models workin' the hog.

Great looking piggy!! :thumb:

Nice! :clap:

awesome! always wanted to try ,darn WSM's...

I love smoking whole hogs, I normally some at least 1 whole hog a year I have never foiled one but I normally smoke mine on the back and it holds all the jucies in so no need for foil. and Im normally smoking 150-200lb hogs too

Very Nice :hungry:

Great Job.......

Well done. Whole hog is definitely on my list of things to do!

Sounds like a good experience. Good work!

Great job. My cooker is a bit small to cook a whole hog, but that is certainly by end of the summer goal once I get my new cooker.

I have yet to smoke a whole hog. I have been to plenty of pig roasts, but they never actually "smoke" the pigs. Seems as the name says, they slow roast them.It must be a regional thing.