1st time whole hog

[BamaRN]

I'm planning a party for the 4th. We are going to try to smoke a whole hog in a block pit. One friend has the setup under control from family. My questions are about amount of time to cook, wood needed and any recipes to help flavor the meat. We are going for a large pig due to a large crowd (most are only eating liquid porkchops:wink:) 40+ so I'm really would like this not to kill anyone and taste good. Any links or help would be awsome.

Thank you

[BamaRN]

Anyone ?

[deeque]

google whole pig and see what happens. also think there is something on you tube. good luck and Smoke on Bro.:-D:cool:

[Big George's BBQ]

Have never done one of those. You are ambitious. Good luck

[OlyQ]

I've had my eye on this for a long time

Just never got around to doing it.

http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html

[N8man]

My Buddy, BuellerQ, who is an Eastern North Carolinian, and They do this kind of cooking more than us Central Carolinians, says that the trick is to distribute the heat more to the thicker cuts of the Whole Hog during the cook, i.e. shoulders and hams, and keep the heat lower to the thinner parts, i.e. ribs and gut, whereas the Whole Pig will be done at the same time. Another Daunting Task is the Flipping of the Pig HalfWay through the cook, but with diligent research, can be knowledge attained. I wish you success in your Whole Pork Cooking Venture..... N8.
And Please Post Pix of your Endeavour.

[BamaRN]

I have got some good tips and tricks from google, just looking for some hints on a marinade/glaze and which wood would be the the best. We are going looking to do a 24 hour cook time any hints about that would be great.

Thanks

[BamaRN]

Thanks N8man, I think we have the flip worked out i hope, not sure on how to manage the heat placement?

[DaChief]

Good Luck...make sure to take pics and show us how it turns out. I've always wanted to do this. The guys I worked with in Hawaii did this every year and had it down to a fine art. They stuffed whole chickens in the belly and tied it up and they cooked inside. Awesome food!

[JamesTX]

This is a current thread - http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44381&highlight=whole+pig. They say to inject and rub. I imagine any sort of pork rub would be ok.

Not sure how you'd marinate a whole hog - maybe in a hot tub? hehe

Heat placement could be accomplished by moving coal around (if direct heat) or foiling certain parts (if indirect).

Of course, I've never done it either.

[BamaRN]

Thanks James, I just got a new camera but not to good with computers I'll try to put up some pics.

[Norcoredneck]

I have got some good tips and tricks from google, just looking for some hints on a marinade/glaze and which wood would be the the best. We are going looking to do a 24 hour cook time any hints about that would be great.

Thanks
I'd go with Mojo in bag in cooler for atleast 24 hours.
I get it at restraunt supply. @ $6 a gallon.
http://www.latinpantry.com/s_productinformation.asp?categoryID=0&productID=687

There are other brands and recipies on net.

[Paulie G.]

How big is the pig?

[BamaRN]

Not sure on the size yet one of my buddies is rounding up the pig

[Freda]

Doing the same thing at my place. We have a 80 lb porker on order and lots of spirits on ice. I've been reading up and the standard seems to be approx 1 1/2hrs per 10 lbs. Hope this is right cause that's what we're planning on.

[Skidder]

If your gonna use a block pit it will cook much faster if you can get some kinda metal cover for it. Good luck and have fun.

[cowgirl]

I have a cinderblock pit and have never had a pig take over 12 hours.
A lot of it depends on the weather and the size of the hog.
I place hot coals (whether they are charcoal or coals you burn down yourself) under the hams and shoulders on each end of the pit. The middle or rib section of the pig needs no direct heat.

I add a few hot coals about every hour...most folks check the pig and think it's not cooking fast enough so they add too many hot coals.
The idea is to cook it low and slow...just add a few hot coals at a time to avoid a flair up.

Like Norco said, you can marinade overnight.
When I marinade a pig overnight, I use a large plastic watering trough, the pig lays down in the marinade in the trough and I cover it with bags of ice.
Sometimes I marinade in a home made mojo, also with lots of garlic cloves embedded into the meat.
While the pig is cooking, I like to use a mop of vinegar, onions, red pepper flakes and jalapenos.

http://usera.imagecave.com/cowgirlone/cookout6-07andsaltplains146-copy.jpg


I agree with skidder....a covered pit will cook faster. They are easy to do and very tasty.

[BamaRN]

Got pig on order around 75 pounds. With a couple of ribs and butts 4 backup. Anyone have thoughts on wood vs Charcoal or both? We have some hickory but not sure if its enough.

[Big George's BBQ]

Cowgirl that looks really nice. Saw a TV show once and that was how a Cuban cooked his pig. It looked really good.

[JamesTX]

How do you serve a pig like that? Do you shred the shoulders and hams and slice up the ribs seperately?

[cowgirl]

Thank you George...
James, that is the way I serve them...the shoulders and hams shred easily. My favorite way is to leave the pig whole, slice up some of the ribs and leave the rest. People serve themselves.
I leave some tongs and knives....put some different sauces on the side.
You can shred the hams and shoulders, but the wow effect is lost. lol

[cowgirl]

Got pig on order around 75 pounds. With a couple of ribs and butts 4 backup. Anyone have thoughts on wood vs Charcoal or both? We have some hickory but not sure if its enough.

I have used both wood and charcoal with good luck.
The wood needs to be burned down to hot coals though before adding to the cinderblock pit. IMO open flames might cause flair ups and a grease fire.
I like to add wood chips to the hot coals for flavoring.

[Nate Rhodes]

We cooked a whole hog last year, and I learned quite a lot in the process. Here are some of my findings that may help you avoid some heartaches.

1. It's difficult to get a small pig. Most dressed hogs weigh over 120 pounds, and all backyard BBQers want small ones to fit on their equipment. Thus, smaller hogs cost more. We got one that weighed 135 pounds, and they told us that was typical.

2. The Caja China (Cuban Smoker) will not hold a large hog. There are two sizes, and the largest only holds a 100 pound hog. Cowgirl has the right idea - her rig replicates the idea behind the Caja China and you can cook any size hog you want.

3. Absolutely inject the pig or it will dry out.

4. The meatier parts of the hog are on the extremities, so you should position your coals so that more are under the thicker parts. We saw an alternative idea at the BBQ contest that is very clever -- a tent-shaped hog flipper that raises the middle parts off the grill during the first part of the cooking. See the "Grill Top Hog Flipper" at http://www.cook-n-out.com/products.html for an example.

5. Start with the skin side up at first, then flip once to complete. Cooking times vary depending on the height of the grill from the coals and the size of the hog, but ours cooked in about 7 hours. Our heat was too high and we would have preferred to keep the heat down lower and cook longer. If you can, keep the heat in the cooker below 200 degrees F. Taking the lid off will reduce heat but add oxygen that will speed up coal consumption. Low, even temperature management is the most critical part.

6. Flipping 135 pounds of hot hog after many hours of cooking over burning coals is a difficult task. Recruit help. Also a dual-grate system like Caja China's will help.

7. Be prepared to discard the ribs unless you use the tent-shaped hog flipper. It is extremely difficult to spread those coals around so that you get the heat in the right spots perfectly. We didn't do so well, and our ribs were burnt.

8. You're done when the center of the hams reaches 165 degrees, but the meat will be more tender if you can get it up to around 185-190 degrees. Of course, we like to shred it here in South Carolina. Be careful about the dryness though.

Good luck!

[BamaRN]

Thanks Nate what did yall inject your meat with? I think we are going to put on a couple of ribs later in the cook for backup?

[BamaRN]

Pit is done, Thanks yall for the help. I'll try and load pic

[Nate Rhodes]

Thanks Nate what did yall inject your meat with? I think we are going to put on a couple of ribs later in the cook for backup?

We used a simple lowcountry vinegar sauce:

1 gallon Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 cup Ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Worchester Sauce

We had some left over and it works well as an eating sauce, too.

[BamaRN]

Thanks Nate