Doing a whole hog... need advice on time.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

So one of my business partners is going to be doing a whole hog. This is for our company picnic on Saturday, at 1PM. He is wanting to throw it on his smoker about 4AM on Saturday morning. I think we need to throw it on LOW AND SLOW on Friday evening and tend it through the night, to give us PLENTY of time. If we finish early, it will hold well in a large ice chest until time to eat. This is going to be a butterflied 65-80lb porker. He is also going to be doing a couple of briskets at the same time, and I am going to be doing probably 6 or 8 racks of ribs at my place concurrently.

So how can I gauge the time we'll need for the oinker? If we do it a little higher, like, 275-300, which is where I think he is going to want to do his briskets, maybe it will be good for the picnic, I am just afraid it is going to take too long, and we don't want an underdone pig... and this baby is going to be the star of the show.

We'll salt it Friday afternoon. I need to do some research on rubs and/or injections. I have some MSG, not sure we want to use that, though. I'm open to ideas, we are going to probably have 60-80 people there, we think.

[Dan Deter]

Its been too long since I've been involved in a whole hog cook for me to be sure on the time, but growing up in NC I can tell you all it needs is salt and pepper, no injecting or rubs necessary. Have your favorite sauces for people to add if they desire (I'm partial to an eastern NC vinegar based sauce, but not everybody is).

[Donw]

http://www.ncpork.org/wp-content/upl...Q-brochure.pdf

Don’t know how you are going to smoke but if using charcoal in pit, only put the coals under the ends of the hog, not in the center.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Sorry, should have mentioned - this is going in an offset stickburner. We'll probably be wrapping it in chicken wire to help with ease of movement. They are talking about flipping it halfway through, but I honestly doubt we'll need to do that.

[steve_woolston]

I've cooked a dozen or more whole hogs, but usually 100+ lbs. Since the pig needs to be ready by 1pm, starting at 4am (heat ready, pig on grate) could be cutting it close - anticipate something will cause a setback - wind, rain, whatever. Definitely trim the inside (plenty of videos about how to do that), and definitely inject it liberally, especially the hams. Cook meat side down for 4 hours at 200-225, flip and cook until meat reaches at least 165. 185 is better for the shoulders. I recommend having a Thermoworks thermometer.

Once you flip you can raise heat to 300 or a bit more if you get rushed for time. I usually rest mine off the fire wrapped loosely in plastic for half an hour or so, once the target temperature is reached. If you plan to debone the meat before serving, allow half an hour or so for that. Have some extra hands and rubber gloves to help. You don't need the chicken wire with this method, because the joints are still strong enough at 4 hours to grab the legs with a buddy and flip it. You can hold the deboned meat in a cooler to retain the heat if you're done early. On occasions where I got the pig done early, I've cut the fire way down (remove some charcoal or wood coals) to hold it.

Meathead's Memphis dust rub is very good, and you can make it fresh. Pork does well with some sweet stuff.

[Backroadmeats]

Here is my 2 cents..I cook probably 10-15 whole hogs a summer but have never done one this small. The ones I do are 150 lbs dressed or so..I cook on charcoal that is indirect( hog in the middle coals on both sides) lay the hog as if it laid down on the grill on it own. I don't rub the hog itself but add rub in the roaster pan when pulling. Add some apple juice to keep moist and mix with the rendered fat in the roaster..if some is not done you can crank a roaster pan in an emergency but otherwise set at about 170. For a noon cook I throw on the night before around 4 or 5 o'clock . Only thing I would be worried about is the amount of fat on a hog that small. Rember this is a big piece of meat and pretty forgiveing too. I can say I have never been to a bad hog roast but I have been to some really good ones!!

[Backroadmeats]

Here is how I set mine up . You can see coals on the one side of the pigs and there are coals on the other side of them too.. I have had to many grease fures with coal under them. That is two 125 lb piggies on there for two different parties.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

That's all some great advice... Backroadmeats do you do any injecting or anything? And steve_woolston what do you inject? And what do you mean by trimming the inside? This is supposed to come from our butcher all opened up and ready to go. Is there something else I need to do besides maybe splitting the breastbone with a hatchet and a mallet, if they haven't done that?

[Backroadmeats]

I do not inject or rub but the pigs I do are bigger and fatter so the stay moist. You may need to but I am not sure.. is the butcher leaving the skin on??

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Yes, skin will be left on. I've seen a lot of places that we need to remove the spinal cord.... I'm not sure why this is. I mean... if we're not cutting open the spine, ain't no one gonna be eatin' it. Is it a big deal? We can do it, for sure, I'm just wondering.

[steve_woolston]

Trimming the inside means removing all the silverskin you can, and basically anything that doesn't look like something you'd eat. There are also some nut sized glands you should remove, as well as the spinal cord. There are videos on how to do that.

As for the injection, I use Meathead's recipe from his book - it's probably on the website too, but I've never looked for it.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

That's good advice. I am watching through some videos, Malcolm Reed's video is really helpful.

[steve_woolston]

DogFaced PonySoldier When I order a pig, I order it dressed 'bearskin rug', which means the pig is cut through the spine leaving the skin on so the pig lies flat on the grill. If your butcher doesn't do that, you can split the spine with a hatchet cutting through the spine, driving it with a hammer.