Help Cooking a whole Pig

bigruby · Aug 29, 2013

Greetings,
I am cooking a whole pig this sunday ~30lbs and would like some idea of how long the cooking process should take. I am using a custom built Vertical Somker as and idea of its performance I can usually smoke a 10 brisket in ~6 hours @ 225 degree with a temp of final temp of ~190.

thompsonpat · Aug 29, 2013

i am a newbie so take this with a grain of salt. i did 30lb pig on an open pit. but i think that the young flesh has a lot of collagen. it basically stays moist easier than most anything i've ever cooked so you basically can go longer....and the folks i talked to (my thread was called "first little piggy") everyone said go to go long. so for me an open spit i needed like 6-7 hours. also my other experience was that the pig weight i ordered from butcher was like w/in 5-10 lbs of what i expected. so you might want to get your pig in hand day before to know exactly what you have?

dwfisk · Aug 29, 2013

So, you gonna hang it or cut it up? I usually budget 1hr+15 min per 10 pounds at 250*-275*, so I' thinking 4-5 hours?

bigruby · Aug 29, 2013

dwfisk said:
So, you gonna hang it or cut it up? I usually budget 1hr+15 min per 10 pounds at 250*-275*, so I' thinking 4-5 hours?

I think im going to butterfly it. The racks in my smoker are pretty big, however if not I have a double barrely that I am quite sure it will fit on. In either case the goal is to serve it up in tact.

bigruby · Aug 29, 2013

follwup question, will 30lbs be enough for 20-25 people, I am proably going to do a couple of chickens and a brisket also but want to make sure everyone tries the pig

dwfisk · Aug 29, 2013

bigruby said:
I think im going to butterfly it. The racks in my smoker are pretty big, however if not I have a double barrely that I am quite sure it will fit on. In either case the goal is to serve it up in tact.

I'm thinking butterfly will cook faster than my earlier estimate.

bigruby said:
follwup question, will 30lbs be enough for 20-25 people, I am proably going to do a couple of chickens and a brisket also but want to make sure everyone tries the pig

30# @ 50% = 15 pounds X 1/2 pound per person = 30 folk, you should be good!

bigruby · Sep 3, 2013

Thanks for the help, got er' done in about 6 hours. Pretty good for my first one, attendees critique was it could have used more seasoning. I need to figure that one out I seasoned her with a heap, injected her and let her sit for 48 hours, well better look to me on the next one which proably will not be before Christmas

va_connoisseur · Sep 3, 2013

Be mindful that a 30 pound dressed pig is not going to give you 30 pounds of meat. There is skin, bones and fat. I would estimate you're going to get closer to 8-10 pounds of cooked meat.

southpaw_1979 · Sep 3, 2013

For how big of a pig, when I used to cater we did a lb per person but we never did one less than 90lbs so I don't know if that changes with small pigs. Largest I ever cooked was 225lb. My favorites are around the 120lb mark.

cowgirl · Sep 3, 2013

bigruby said:
Thanks for the help, got er' done in about 6 hours. Pretty good for my first one, attendees critique was it could have used more seasoning. I need to figure that one out I seasoned her with a heap, injected her and let her sit for 48 hours, well better look to me on the next one which proably will not be before Christmas

Sounds like it was a success! Sometimes I put extra "pig juice" sauce on the finished meat. Especially if I set out a pan of pulled meat for folks to serve themselves. Adds a bit more spice.

gtr · Sep 3, 2013

bigruby said:
Thanks for the help, got er' done in about 6 hours. Pretty good for my first one, attendees critique was it could have used more seasoning. I need to figure that one out I seasoned her with a heap, injected her and let her sit for 48 hours, well better look to me on the next one which proably will not be before Christmas

Quick question on the flavor - what did you do for smoke? I've been cooking mine with hickory, which is a pretty bold smoke and I've been enjoying having the hickory be a prominent flavor. I just season mine on the inside with kosher salt, pepper, and garlic powder and let the smoke do the rest. Anyway, just curious how much the smoke was a factor in the flavor.

Help Cooking a whole Pig

bigruby

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

thompsonpat

Found some matches.

dwfisk

Quintessential Chatty Farker

bigruby

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

bigruby

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

dwfisk

Quintessential Chatty Farker

bigruby

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

va_connoisseur

Full Fledged Farker

southpaw_1979

Knows what a fatty is.

cowgirl

somebody shut me the fark up.

gtr

somebody shut me the fark up.

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