Whole Hog Help

[DMDon]

We(KC Bobby and myself) plan to smoke a 40# hog next weekend in his BWS. How long should we plan for cooking time? He does the pork butts for us, so I don't even know what temp we foil or pull at. Thanks for the help.

[thunderbelly]

plan about an hour for every ten LBs. take your temps from the hams and shoulders. you should be good as gold

[KC_Bobby]

Won't the shoulders take longer than that? What's a good guess on the size/weight of each shoulder/ham for a hog that size?

[jpw23]

plan about an hour for every ten LBs. take your temps from the hams and shoulders. you should be good as goldTime seems a bit off to me. 45 minutes per pound would be closer I think.

[Plowboy]

I'd say plan on cooking it as long as you would a decent sized pork butt. We do 90-100 lb hogs in 14-16 hours.

[KC_Bobby]

One other question - how much meat do you think will be yeilded off of a 40 lb pig? The 40 lbs is our estimated weight after being prepped for the cook.

[Plowboy]

One other question - how much meat do you think will be yeilded off of a 40 lb pig? The 40 lbs is our estimated weight after being prepped for the cook.

20?

I'm not really sure, but your best yield is going to be the hams and shoulders. Loins won't be much on a hog that small.

[RevRuss]

Technically, 40# is a pig, a hog starts at around 100# (or so I've been told). Not going to yield a lot, many caterers will cook the pig for show and refill the cavity with meats from butts/shoulders.

[chinesebob]

That's tiny. I usually start examining temps around 8 hours. Based on the door temps I can figure out when it will be done. I did an 80# this summer and it took 11 hours. It was like playing operation - pulling bones out without the meat. We didn't foil ours for too long. The whole neighborhood started to show up to eat so I let them take part.

[Smokin' Gnome BBQ]

I think shoulder meat needs to be about 180, check with Myron...he will give you the skinny on whole hog!

Sal

[thunderbelly]

Of course you can speed it up by running hotter, but when I do mine, I run about an hour a pound.
Open the pig like a suitcase, and refill with pre pulled shoulder as needed you get the look of the whole pig with the ability to feed as many people as you want.

[KC_Bobby]

Thanks. I think we'll get a few butts to throw in there too so everyone can take home some left overs.

Smoked some cheese yesterday, so that's wrapped in the refridge ready to go.

[KC_Bobby]

bump

guessing the pig is about 20 lbs

[KC_Bobby]

Well, chalk it up as an experience. I'm glad I bought two butts and a brisket to feed the family, cause we would have been going hungry if we had to share this pig between the 20 of us eating. (And it felt and tasted rubbery so we mixed in with the butts - except the loins, which tasted good, not great)

As you can see by the picture, pretty much the only meat on this piglet was the hams and butts. The loins were maybe an inch in diameter and the ribs were bare.

The next pig I do will be over 60 lbs to make it worth it.

[Plowboy]

That thing looks like the creatures from the Alien movies right after they emerge from the bellies of their hosts.

[KC_Bobby]

It's sad really. Just think, that pig had so much potential. It could have grown up to be a great oinker and feed so many more people. I vow to never order a slaughter of a pig again, a pig so small that is.