Eastern NC Whole Hog

For the last 10 years I have had a flat top oil drum style cooker - it was 100% charcoal/wood fired - and was big enough that I generall cooked the pig indirect style - basically a big ring of coals around the outside of the charcoal grate lit Minion style. Then towards the end I would get about 2 or 3 chimneys of hot coals and throw them underneath direct to try and crisp the skin to have some cracklin in my chopped Q. The problems with this were 1- grease fires and 2- a really hot fire that took a long time to go out - so you couldnt' comfortably stand at the cooker and pick from the pig.

Now I have a new cooker that has an offset fire box for charcoal and wood and a gas burner in the main chamber - the one I got is pictured half way down this page I have done 5 chicken cooks and 1 60# whole hog cook. My method was about 5 hours indirect from 225-275 degrees and then gas for about 3 hours at 250. I then kicked up the heat for about 30 min at the end - by the end of this 30 min, the heat had maxed out at about 500. The skin had started to puff up and get crispy but still wasn't where I want it to be.

So any thoughts as to how long this should take for the skin to get good and crispy? This is still an indirect heat because of the shield over the burner, but felt like the heat should have been enough. And I don't want to remove the shield for the cook.

I have heard tale of making a paste out of water, salt and baking soda (or was it powder?) and rubbing the skin with this before the cook to help it crisp and have better flavor.

Any other hints or tips are certainly appreciated!

Happy Memorial Day to all - enjoy your grilling and time spent with family and friends. And most of all, thanks to all who have given up their lives for our freedoms and those who continue to serve to protect them.

Not sure I can be of much help. The pigs I've done, mostly, are split at the breast bone then the spine is cracked so that they lay flat. I do half the cook indirect, skin down, the other half the cook, indirect, skin up, then spread the coals under the pig and cook the last 5-8 minutes direct, skin down. (60-lb pigs only take about 4 hours, maybe 4.5 tops.)

When I have done whole pigs that are not split and have gotten good skin they have been rotissed for the duration.

Wow - that is entirley backwards from what I have done back in my pig flipping days - I did meat side down for the first ~half of the cook and then skin side down for the remainder. That is odd since I certainly value your opinions on this board very much. But eastern NC as I have been brought up was always lean side down first then skin side down. Any reasoning you can think of for this difference? From a food science standpoint?

Over the last few years I have talked with many folks who have done many different variations on whole hog - the theme seems to be that skin side down the whole cook allows the juices to stay in the pig essentially basting the meat the entire cook - but I can see where at times this could become almost a boil. Just before crisping the skin, there are several punctures made in the skin that allow the "pools" of juices to drain and allow the skin to crisp. Then the heat is cranked up to crisp the skin.

Now there are certainly disadvantages to the method you describe when cooking alone - it is very hard to flip a ~100# pig by yourself - especially when the cook is several hours in and the meat is getting very tender. How are you flipping? Built in turner or a friend to help with the flip. And what temp are you cooking at to get a 60# pig done in 4-4.5 hours?

My pigs are always split - fully dressed - clean, head off and the backbone split - and for larger pigs (>100#), the legs are cut off at the knees to fit my cooker.

And for one last question, on a fully dressed pig like this, what would be a good #/person ratio? I have heard 1-1.5# per person but always end up with extra using that ratio. Looking at a max 100 person cook this time around.

Thanks to all for any suggestions!

I have never cooked a whole hog, but have talked to many who have, and asked them about the skin side down or up thing. They all say skin down towards the coals the entire time. Seems they want the inside cavity to hold all the mop/sauce they slop on while it's cooking. They claim the skin comes out perfect and crispy cooking the hog like that. They claim everything gets eaten, only thing left is bones. None of these use gas for cooking the whole hog, charcoal only. HTH I'm a brain picker.

Thanks Bryan - even when I was cooking "semi-direct" with charcoal, I kept temps low enough that my skin never really got that crisp until I started throwing the few chimneys of hot on near the end.

Who knows - sounds like trial and error may be the only way! ;-)

Yes, skin will contain the meat juices, marinade, mop, whatever. We flip when half cooked mostly to remove the now excess moisture and for meat texture purposes. Skindown first also means the skin gets a lot of the hotter cooking first.