Double hog vs hog and pork butts

Twelvegaugepump · Jul 20, 2019

I am cooking for a 300 person wedding this fall. I have cooked over a dozen pigs in the past and have been asked to do one for them. I was going to supplement the pig with pork butts to get to enough meat. Have any of you done two hogs together before? How much weight and at what temp? I cook indirect with wood for my pigs and usually cook for 18 to 20 hours. If I add a second hog to the cooking chamber, I am trying to figure out how much time I should add for the additional meat. Or am I just better off cooking pork butts too? Thoughts? No, I don’t take money for what I do and my homeowners insurance covers me. I checked. I am not competing with caterers. Thanks in advance for any advice or tips.

WilliamKY · Jul 20, 2019

I wouldn't think any extra time would be needed for a second hog. If the pit is at your ideal temperature, they should cook together fairly even or so I would think but I could be wrong.

InThePitBBQ · Jul 20, 2019

I may be able to save you some trouble here, unless you really go big on both hogs you aren't feeding 300 average folks in the Midwest with two of them.

Hogs over the 115 pound range are a PITA to cook, they take significantly longer and your always dealing with areas that are overcooked by the time the whole thing is done.

Your looking at precooked weights in the 450 pound range for that event if whole hog is the main dish. We always take the time to explain how much farther the budget will stretch to a client if they choose butts over whole hog it's a significant savings.

ebijack · Jul 21, 2019

I agree with Inthepit.
I would suggest doing one smaller pig for presentation. Then more butts for total amount.
You/they spend alot more $$ to get alot less meat doing whole hogs.
In the end, they will remember the pig and how it looked. Besides how great the food was.

SmoothBoarBBQ · Jul 21, 2019

I also concur with InThePitBBQ...100% cook a single hog with a couple cases of pork butts to get you the meat you need. I'm not sure what kind of a smoker you have, but it's easy to rotate pork butts if necessary due to them cooking unevenly, but trying to rotate 2-3 hogs around a smoker would be an absolute PITA.

Good luck with the cook!

Twelvegaugepump · Jul 21, 2019

Thanks everyone. I will be sure to post pics when we are done.

thirdeye · Jul 21, 2019

With any whole lamb, goat or pig roast we generally have several whole loins on hand in a separate smoker, usually a drum. The main reason is timing, like if we underestimate the time for the pig we always have some meat to serve, and if the pig is ready on time we just have extra meat to serve. Butts are wonderful, but loins take maybe 2 hours, not 8 or 10 hours. One time the pigs took 3 hours longer than planned, so I was hanging a loin every 45 minutes which gave the crowd some meat to snack on.

Double hog vs hog and pork butts

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