suckling pigs


 
D

Don Pflederer

New member
I have been reading this discussion board since I got my WSM two years ago. Normally any questions I have are already addressed or recipes I need are already available. But, I couldn't find a recipe for suckling pigs. So, after cooking two over the 4th of July weekend, I thought you folks might find my experience interesting.

I got two small pigs, 16 and 19 pounds respectively (dressed weight) from a farmer friend. We butchered them last winter and froze them. The pictures tell the story. I "roughly" followed the recipe found on http://www.chow.com/recipes/13693.

I didn't want to cook them low and slow, but I was amazed that after 3 hours at 275 they were done. The meat was very moist and tender with a consistency similar to chicken breat. I estimate that the two pigs would have fed aspprozimately 30 people.

If you have access to a suckling pig i recommend you give it a try. It would really make an impressive center piece for a fancy dinner party and it would likely draw rave reviews from your guests.

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7010231.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7020233.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7020247.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7020248.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7030137.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/al.../donpfl/P7030138.jpg
 
You d'man Don and I've never even seen a live pig.
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I'd eat that. Nice!
 
Wow, a suckling pig. That looks very good. If I could get one near my town, I would smoke it in heart beat. Only 3 hrs to cook it? That seems pretty quick, did the meat pulled like pulled pork? Just wondering. It looked very good, from the pictures. Thanks.
 
That is awesome, I am dying to do a suckling pig.

Couple of questions if you don't mind.

That's an 18 inch WSM ?

At what temp did you pull it out ?

What was the skin like ? What was the best part of the pig ?

I was also curious about prices, but not sure if that's relevent with a farmer friend.
 
Thanks for posting! Been wanting to try this. There's a place not too far from me that raises heritage pigs and they do sell/butcher suckling pigs. Now that I see the dressed size/weight that will fit on the WSM I'm even more incented to give it a try.

Can we assume that's an 18" WSM - or is it the big one?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by r benash:
Thanks for posting! Been wanting to try this. There's a place not too far from me that raises heritage pigs and they do sell/butcher suckling pigs. Now that I see the dressed size/weight that will fit on the WSM I'm even more incented to give it a try.

Can we assume that's an 18" WSM - or is it the big one? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I will try to answer all your questions with one post:

The cooker stayed between 265 and 300 for the entire cook. I took the pigs off when the one on the top rack registered 150 in the shoulder and 160 in the ham.

I sliced the the meat rather than pulled it. I didn't know what the texture of the meat would be and I didn't want it turning to mush from cooking too long. The recipes I could find all seemed to indicte slicing was the way to go. In retrospect low and slow and then pulling may work OK, but the flavor was so delicate I'm afraid it might get "lost in the sauce" if you know what I mean.

The skin was a flop. It looked beautiful but was rubbery. If you want crispy sking you should probably jack the heat up to 375-400 for the last half hour to an hour. I think the recipe on http://www.chow.com/recipes/13693 does it that way.

I can't comment on the price. I got them free. They had ruptures which doesn't hurt the meat or safety of using, but they can't be sold at market in that condition. Normally they would have been disposed of at a much younger age, but since my buddy, farmer Mark (the guy in pcture one), knew I wanted them, he kept them a couple extra weeks and then we butchered them.

The cooker is a 22 1/2 inch kettle (the old daisy wheel model) converted with a Cajun Bandit. It appears the captions I had on the pictures didn't come through on the post. Most of this stuff would have been explained there. Sorry about that.
 
OK - one more question then, wondering if these would have fit in the WSM - what size were those aluminum pans you used during the cook? Got me to thinking about doing one on the EZQue on the Performer now though.
 
Pigs the size I did would not have fit in an 18" WSM. The pans were 18X13, and were a fairly tight fit in the Cajun Bandit. You could do one without the pans, but the drippings that collected in the pans set up nicely when cooled - probably from the coligen in the immature bones - and I used it to mix with the meat when I reheated it. Without the pans that would have been lost.

Realize you could do a smaller pig. The ones I did were really bigger than a typical suckling pig. If you note from the pictures, I had to bend the larger one in a "C" shape to fit it in the pan. It was the limit in size that I would try, even in a CB.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Peter Sanderson:
Hi,

I just did a suckling Pig on the WSM

Have a look:

Suckling Pig Video </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Great Vid!!

Get to know a fireman and borrow their "jaws of life" to get that wood in his mouth.

Sometimes I think we forget where are butts and chops come from and seeing the piggy "whole" is important. That was important (to me) in this vid as well as the instructional value.

One tip I would offer: I would first make the hole (for the thermo) with a large skewer first. Just pushing it in without the "pilot" hole is just asking it to bend/break.
 
I'm hooked on the idea of doing a pig too. I have the 18" WSM, so I'd probably be building a cinder block pit whenever I end up doing it. For anyone who is interested, there is a farm here in the Phoenix area that will ship you whole hogs/sucking pigs that are cleaned and ready to cook. They have a good reputation locally. If I'm not mistaken, their listed price includes FedEx shipping costs. If you are local and would want to pick up the pig, I understand that the price is about $50 less than what is quoted on the website.

www.mcreynoldsfarms.com
 
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