Now the Pig Fears ME!!!! (Heavy Pron)

Well gang, I no longer “Fear the Pig”, at least not the 83 pounder that I cooked over the weekend. While I’ve cooked more weight, this one was kind of special. Not only was it one of my favorite holidays, it was for a group of friends that I’ve known since I was a small child. We, my family, came up with the idea of throwing a party this weekend at ‘Brisketwood’ (as Billy has named it) which is 120 miles from my house. This meant not only getting the pig up there but also hauling all of the required equipment as well. A special thank you goes out to Billy for the helping hands of not only picking up the pig but also with moving it around on the rack.

Before I left, I made up a rack out of ‘Re-Bar’. My plan was to wrap this rack with chicken wire so that I didn’t have to try and move the meat.

By having this system made up, it allowed me to set the pig into its final position.

The rack was built to allow for an inch clearance on each side so I could just slide her in. This worked out well, especially when the hams (where on the hot side of the cooker) were getting done far sooner than the shoulders… I was able to pull the whole rack out, spin it, and slide it back into the cooker. In the end when I removed her from the cooker, both the ham and shoulder ends were at 198*.

I had to put on some fatties for breakfast... Not doing that would have been a sin!

It was also my plan to serve the pig on the same rack by cutting away the skin and allowing my guests to pick at one side, and then when the meat was gone there, turn the whole rack around, remove the skin and let them at the other side.

So there it is, my first pig. While she was larger than I had planned and the skin got darker than I wanted, I still glad that I tried it. Oh, did I mention that this little party ended up being having over 120 guests? It was a blast!

Bbq Bubba said:

I knew you could do it bro!

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Bbq Bubba said:

How long did that much larger pig take?

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Total cooking time was 13 hours at 250*... I did slow it down towards the end to 225* for the last hour so she was done on time.

txschutte said:

nice job, Brother!

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Thanks, it was a challenge, but the presentation worked out great.

As a side note, I ended up giving a couple of anatomy lessons to the kids in the neighborhood... It was a couple of adults that initially had issues with the whole pig being presented, but they got over it once they tasted it.

OUT OF ORDER said:

wow that is nice man for the first one i only hope my first looks as good as that does,need a new larger cooker and the know how to pull that one off man good lookin grub

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Any reason to get another cooker is a good reason!!!

ZBQ said:

Fantastic looking pig Jeff!!

I gotta do one of those in the Spicebox on of these days.

Just don't know how big I can go.
My racks are 35" wide, your's are obviously longer than that.

Did you inject with anything?
Rubs?
Coat the skin with anything?

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The opening to my Lang is just a little over 44 inches so the rack was 42 inches. I think if you go with a smaller pig you should be able to get it into your Spicebox. You may even be able to go as large by putting it on an angle across the rack...

As for the seasoning, no injections, I did put a heavy coat of Mike Mill's 'Magic Dust' on the inside of the cavity. I also rubbed down the skin with EVOO a couple of times. In fact, I think that may be why she got so dark.

racer_81 said:

I have some silly questions.

Is that a plastic table under the pig - if so, did the top warp any with the hot pig on it?

I ask because I have warped one (with hot shoulders on it) and if yours didn't warp, I'm curious how many towels you had under it, etc..

And....did you put any sauce or dip or mop on the finished pig before letting the masses have at it?

That is one tasty looking hawg......

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I did lay a double layer of towels on the table to not only protect it, but also to soak up any juices that would have run onto the floor. As you can see, the table was perfect not only because of its size, but also it's height.

As for mopping, no, I just let her 'self baste' so the meat came out very tender and moist. I did find she still had a 1/4" layer of fat just under the skin. I removed this at serving time. I did put out sauce on the side... Interesting thing was that after 120+ people, we only went through about a quart of sauce... Maybe they are learning!:mrgreen:

tony76248 said:

Got a question for you.... as dark as that pig got in the final picture, do you think it was overly smoked? Anytime I have ever smoked something to where it got that dark, it was way overboard... just wondering.

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No, it didn't get over smoked and I think there were two reasons for this: One, I cooked her on the reverse flow Lang so most of the smoke went over the top and two, I left the skin on so that took most of the smoke rather than the meat getting hammered.