BQ Whole Hog Cooker

Yes, I do, happy to answer your questions - I have the wood/charcoal model, not the gas fired style.

Skylight Inn uses those for their whole hog catering gigs.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sky...3j69i57j0l2.6028j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

After I bought the smoker from Sauce Dog, he was very helpful supporting me through the first two cooks - a real gentleman. Here are the notes I sent him from my first two cooks, these being the first whole hogs I had ever done.

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1st try *****************************************

How the cook went …
· Overall cook and the grill went great. The pig was 135lbs, dressed. We trimmed it a bit, not much (about 1/3 of a regular plastic bucket), split backbone, injected with a gallon of juice and apple-cider vinegar, rubbed with a nice rub over a mustard coat (to help the rub stick). Getting it ready took 3 hours with 2 people going the whole time, I would think we could get this down quite a bit.
· Cooked from 5pm Saturday to 12noon on Sunday, 19 hours all up.
· Face down most of that (17 hours), turned about 10am to get skin going (2 hours).
· Started temperatures low (200-220, mainly at the low end), then higher in the last 1/3 of the cook (230-245). I was guided on temp by a probe in the neck/shoulder which got to 185 at the end, from 5am-12noon was 165+.
· I learned how and where to place the coals. I put it hard left of left tray and hard right of right tray, in a line from back-to-front, this requiring about 10lbs for each tray. Lit one end and let it burn across. This took 3.5 bags for the entire cook, about 77lbs of charcoal. Used pecan and apple chunks for flavouring. Charcoal cost 1/3 the cost of the meat!
· The amount of fat coming off is amazing and it puts out the fire (something you warned me about).
· The tray system works pretty well. Seems like a fair bit of unburnt charcoal is left scattered through the ashes, probably due to no grate.

The result
· Attached are two photos
· The result looked great and everyone was interested. Weirdly, the meat supplier had cut off the ears – I suspect the workers do this because for some they are a delicacy. If I get from them again, I will be sure to cover this off.
· I think the result was too dry. I was pretty disappointed actually, though there was enough good stuff hidden away that I was able to serve everyone great meat.
· The taste was excellent, everything I could have hoped for, truly a notch above regular pulled pork just from a shoulder.
· The different types of meat and different muscle groups are fascinating and some of the people were really interested (they loved seeing ‘redneck spaghetti’).
· I generally just pulled and served. I did chop some, a coarse chop, say 1” (have a great block and chopper) and this I thought (and several others) gave a better flavour as it mixed up several meats with subtly- different flavours.
· Overall, the reception from guests was very good.
· For me the dryness was too dominating to be happy with what we had (say 80-90% dry, 10-20% moist). It was OK for the group of friends and neighbours we had, but not good enough for commercial work.

Analysis and observations
· Dryness
o I noticed that the fat was virtually completely rendered out, very little remaining. The only pieces I saw were a couple of pieces (small, size of unshelled peanuts) deep in the shoulder and a thin layer all over the inside of the skin.
o I think I cooked face-down for far too long.
o With the pig face down, the probe was too high in the shoulder, too far away from the heat, so by the time this area got to 185+ (which is where I kinda stopped it), the rest was probably well over 200 and I know some was over 210.
o The pools of fat in the tray showed the amount coming off.
· Skin
o Skin was a great colour
o I had thought the outside skin bubbled up when exposed to heat, that is why I left it until the end.
o I also didn’t realize that the skin is different when hot/cooking to when cooled and not cooking.
o As it was still like leather at the end, to do what I thought I had to do, I took out all the meat and turned up the heat, and got it cooking. This quickly resulted in the inside all bubbling up, but the outside being smooth and like leather. I persisted, but couldn’t get the outside anything other than smooth.
o Eventually just took it off and folded up. It quickly cooled, became brittle and everyone loved it, but obvious it was overcooked.
o Next time I will simply get it bubbled up on the inside, then take it off, slice and chop, let cool and mix thru the meat.
· Sauce, dry rub and injection
o Dry rub I used the recipe in The Smoking, Bacon and Whole Hog Cookbook by Bill Gillespie. It was great, though I didn’t put the cayenne in.
o The injection was his as well, though I used apricot instead of grape. Injection was a chore and decidedly not-NC style, but I did think it contributed positively.
o Sauce was ‘Shack Attack’ (see BBQ Brethren) – was great, will cut down on mustard by 50% next time.
o Overall, was surprised how well NZ guests took to the vinegar sauce. When I added to meat while on the grill to mix in, you couldn’t really notice the tart that much, but it was really good. When guests used it directly, they all liked the way it cut through the (now residual) fattiness of the pork. A winner.

What I will do next time
· I am first going to cook skin up for 10 hours and then down for 10 hours. I hope this will result in much more fat being kept in the pig, and am expecting only a layer of the meat to be dry, and even then not as dry.
· Am worried this will bazooka the skin (more time against the fire), but meat is more important than skin. Perhaps put foil over (under) skin after (say) half the 10 hours it will be down.
· Will cover the centre ribs/belly/loin area with foil after first 5 hours as this area cooks pretty quick.
· Hope the final 10 hours will give meat a chance to stew in its own juices (and vinegar mop)
· Will definitely be coarse chopping and vinegar saucing (a little) next time, as I can mix meat from all over, utilizing the entire pig. Taste is better as well.


2nd try *******************************


It went very well actually. Some observations …

• Overall the result was great, very moist, pretty evenly cooked and chopping the meat gave a lovely combination of flavors.
• We had a different type of animal, it was a Duroc. At 150lbs It was nearly 20lbs bigger than the last one, so this might also have played a part – it seemed leaner than the first, but the result was the opposite to what we had last time.
• Cooked in three phases:
  • Skin up: 8 hours at 190-200*: started at 4pm, went through to midnight
  • Skin up: 6 hours 200 slowly dropping to 145* - I closed everything down, vents and chimneys, and tried to get some sleep (kinda worked )
  • Skin down with foil under the skin to stop burning: 6 hours at 250-275* and got the hams over 180*, belly was about 210*, shoulders at 190*+. I was a bit nervous for a while that I wasn’t going to make the 12 noon deadline, that is why I upped the temp (glad I did)
• Result was excellent, moist, flavorful, could use all of it. The vinegar sauce worked a treat.
• Matched with chicken off the LSG, that is a great machine as well.

Hey, loving this machine man! I think whole pigs are a major undertaking though. They take up so much time and you can’t really just set-and-forget. They would be great if you were at a restaurant where you were around doing other things as well.

Well here's my 2 cents worth( couldn't find the cent symbol) as per your notes. I have not cooked on one of these cookers, or seen one. I have cooked several on block pits with burned down coals. We always put a good amount of salt all over to start, this helps some fat render. Take care not to puncture the skin, as this holds in the fat which can be spooned off. We start meat side down for 8 to 10 hours. This helps some fat cook out and get good color. Usually stay around 205-215. spread coals all under to start. Keep spreading all under for the first 4-5 hours, then just start firing the hams and shoulders. After we flip, sprinkle some more salt and some white vinegar on the meat. As it gets closer to being ready, the rendered fat will begin to pool in low spots. You can spoon this out, but leave some for moisture and flavor. A 125lb. or so hog is usually ready in about 20 hrs. like this. As it gets closer to done, push on the hams and shoulders to check for tenderness, if one gets done first, ease off on the coals. If the skin has no holes, you can pull and mix it as is with added sauce if wanted, or take out different parts and mix.

Sorry for the long paragraph, typing not my thing. Hope I didn't hijack your thread, just trying to share some things I have learned.