Whole hog or shoulder

S

smokinrack

Guest
My oldest sons graduating high school here soon and were trying to plan his party. Im in charge of cooking the meat and thats apparently where the disagreement between me and my wife started, she wants me to cook whole shoulders and make pulled pork, I wanted to just do a whole hog on my big smoker.Its true Ive never actually done an entire hog before and she seems to think this would be a bad time to experiment.

So for anyone with experience in doing whole hogs how much harder is it to cook then say doing 100 lbs of shoulders?Any tips would be appreciated or if its a bad idea Im open to criticism as well:wink:
 
No experience with whole hog, but I think in general that attempting something new-to-you for what will likely be a high stress event for the Mrs might not be the best idea. You have some time to practice of course, so maybe have a family picnic or neighborhood gathering in advance for a test run so you both have a comfort level for it. Barring that... pork shoulder is easy & forgiving and you can both be confident about the results on a day that will likely be very busy!
 
Ive done tons of shoulders and am very comfortable with them, we were actually planning to do a practice run on a hog beforehand but apparently winters not going to go away any time soon.

Forgot to mention I have a large rotiserrie on my 275 gallon smoker thats capable of holding the entire hog if that makes any difference, were also having the party the weekend before graduation so interfering with the ceremony isnt an issue.
 
Never did a whole hog either, but here is what I did for a guys family reunion. He originally wanted a whole pig but did not want the messy leftovers and carcass. I suggested we do a whole bone-in pork loin which consists of the tender loin, loin, chops and a rack of ribs. I'm no butcher, so probably have the names wrong. Did some beef ribs too. The loin I cooked to internal temp of 145° and it was a great hit. Simply put it on the table and sliced and pulled off chunks Medieval style.

Here is an older thread of the very first one I did on the drum.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68897

I think if you do one of these along with a butt or two or four, everyone will be happy and it will be a nice relaxing day for you too.
 
Smokin' D said:
Never did a whole hog either, but here is what I did for a guys family reunion. He originally wanted a whole pig but did not want the messy leftovers and carcass. I suggested we do a whole bone-in pork loin which consists of the tender loin, loin, chops and a rack of ribs. I'm no butcher, so probably have the names wrong. Did some beef ribs too. The loin I cooked to internal temp of 145° and it was a great hit. Simply put it on the table and sliced and pulled off chunks Medieval style.

Here is an older thread of the very first one I did on the drum.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68897

I think if you do one of these along with a butt or two or four, everyone will be happy and it will be a nice relaxing day for you too.
Click to expand...


I really like that idea, it looks good.I will be butchering the hog myself anyway for whatever i do so getting it cut how I want it wont be a problem.I could even go with half a small hog and still have room for a few butts alongside it
 
Best to keep the Mrs happy. Nothing stresses out a woman in party planning mode more than having to keep pizza hut on the stand by for a dozen or so pizzas.

Nothing against experimenting before hand though. If you can fit in a small hog cook before hand then give it a go. If you're comfortable with a hog cook after that then give it a shot for the party but if not best to keep to what you already know and have experience with.
 
Just my .02 but if you have never done a whole hog before this may not be the time to experiment. If you were to go the hog route you would most likely want to nail it so most of your attention will be dedicated to the cook to ensure it goes smoothly. Since this is a graduation party (assuming your son might be hitting the road soon to college or just life as an adult) you might want to stick to your comfort zone so you can spend more time enjoying the company and cherishing the moment. No offense but no one will remember what they ate at a graduation party, just the people and the times they had.
 
Go for the whole hog. Just allow for extra time in case it cooks slower than expected.
 
I don't know how big of a cooker or how many you may have but a happy medium is to Do both a small pig 40-60lb for you and all the guy's and a few shoulders to pull for the ladies winWin and keep the peace in the house and celebrate your sons graduation
 
Cost wise and waste wise i would do shoulders. I have done just under half a dozen pig roasts and its just not worth it to me. Yes you get the wow factor. Ill give you that. However, you more or less end up serving it all like pulled pork anyways. Plus I feel that I can produce a far better tasting butt than I ever could do with a whole pig.
You pay for a lot of unusable/waste parts when you get a whole pig that also factor into the cost (bones/fat/etc.).

This is just my opinion though.
 
I agree with SmokinSlowPoke. Parties aren't a great time to experiment, IMHO. Shoot, if you want the hog experience, get a couple of whole shoulders, a couple of green/fresh hams, and 6 or 8 racks of ribs. If nothing else, the ribs wont be over-cooked...
 
The smart thing to do is go with the advice already given. Parties aren't the best place to experiment.

Personally, I go against that advice. LOL! Cookouts and informal "parties" are where I experiment. Again, I wouldn't advise it but I'm not in the business of selling bbq and don't plan on going into it so it's no biggie to me. I figure I serve enough different type of foods that if they don't like what I've tried there's something else there they'll like.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: gtr
I am with Bamabuzzard, granted parties might not be the best time to experiment but its not really practical to go buy a whole hog just to do a test run one weekend. Its not competition bbq just a graduation party, which makes it a perfect time to do a whole hog.

I like smoking whole hogs. As far as waste, you are going to have some with a whole hog but i paid 1.19 a pound (130 lbs overall weight) for a whole hog ready for the smoker last summer. The same butcher was charging more for a picnics or butt. Shop around and see what the prices are in your area.
 
I'll play the contrarian and say go whole hog. But then again I'm biased and happen to cook a lot of whole hog.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155840

The PLUS side of it is, it's hard to find an occasion to cook a whole hog and with 100 people coming you'll get your chance to practice.

So some hints on avoiding newbie disasters.

(1) Cook hotter than you'd normally cook for the first few hours. If you can get up to 300 go for it, otherwise above 275 is your sweet spot. There are plenty of guides that tell you to go lower but they're written by people who might have cooked ONE hog 6 years ago.

(2) Start earlier than you usually do. If you're done early the hog stays hot for a stupidly long time. Don't worry about getting done too early.

(3) if you're offset smoking make sure you foil after you get the color your want. Nothing uglier than a big black hog.
 
The question is how many faces you want to feed?
Figure 1 lb hog per person.
If you have a rotisserie its pretty idiot proof. Season, spin until shoulders are 190ish and serve. It comes outta the tiss pretty much already shreaded pkls its super moist!
 
I'm with Big Slick. Unless you've done enough whole hogs to have the time down,make it easy on yourself and your wife's peace of mind. As was said earlier... The WOW factor is nice, but if that is what you want, just get a big pig head, put an apple in its mouth and put it on the smoker. Serve it on the same plate with all your pulled pork from the shoulders you have so precisionally cooked. There is so much waste on a whole hog, I haven't cooked one in years... and I've cooked quita a few.
 
Whole hog head, 4 or more shoulders(whole),some racks of ribs,lay it out to serve like a whole hog,even if does have 6 legs!Maybe throw in a coupla whole loins too.Whole Hog,Deconstructed!You get the Wow and make Mrs. happy.Kids will think it is cool too.Just a thought.If that is too much trouble,cook the shoulders and make everyone happy.
 
I did my one and only whole hog last summer, and although I got to check it off of my bucket list, I was disappointed with the finished product.

The challenge with doing a whole pig is that different parts of the pigs finish cooking at different times. Since you dont want to serve raw swine to anyone, you end up with some over cooked parts. Just something to think about.

Having said that, my friends are still talking about what a great party it wad...

Sent from my pocket computer ( G III)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SCRedneckBBQ
Smoking a whole hog and a deer at the same time
Replies
3
Views
1K
SCRedneckBBQ
SCRedneckBBQ
L
Whole Hog on Lang 84D
Replies
6
Views
550
mowin
M
S
Whole Hog
Replies
8
Views
564
bbqwizard
bbqwizard
M
Traveling during middle of whole hog cook??????
Replies
7
Views
1K
Itsdone
I
snadamo
Well, I pharked up a brisket
2
Replies
24
Views
2K
ssv3
ssv3
Back
Top