Whole hog advise.


 
You can use uncoated chicken wire for the mesh. If it's wide pattern, buy 2 pieces and cross them for hatching. Home Depot throw away (or reuse it in your garden, the fat never hurt anyone). I'm still thinking a 150lb pig is going to take a while on a spit or a grate. Good luck but have fun with it. Worst case, you and the diehards will be sitting under the stars enjoying pig without the distractions of the salad people.
 
Use uncoated chicken wire for mesh. Double it up if the pattern is wide. I still can't picture a 150lb pig on a spit done in a day. Tell me if I was wrong but, best case, it will be you and a few diehards drinking beer at 4am tearing in to that pork. Man, wish I was there.
 
We did a whole pig back in college 20 years ago. I seem to remember it taking a lot longer than anyone thought it would. By mid afternoon, people were so drunk and hungry that everyone just started ripping off chunks of skin and flesh that seemed to be more done than the rest, and walking around eating a chunk of meat in one hand and a beer in the other. It was quite a sight. By midnight though there was nothing left but bone.
 
may as well make up a gallon of #5 & some miss piggy's mustard sauce.

We had a whole pig, roasted in a large tank w/ propane. It was tender but no smoke flavor, & they had a bunch of junk sauces. Pull off the cheek meat & put it in a thing of foil & tell anyone around how it's no good and you'll get rid of it.
 
I have done a few hogs, however I dont know if I am much help. The butcher always brined, stuffed and wrapped in foil for me, then I run a high heat cook, about 6-8 hrs to cook a whole hog. But it has always turned out great. I use a spit with a motor/gearbox that does 4 rotations an hour.
 
So the time is near. Last night I had a conversation with the SIL and it went kind of like this.

Me: hello
SIL: what kind of sauces are you making?
Me: sauces?
SIL:I'd like some different sauces not just regular store bought sauce. That one you gave Paul(her husband) was good so make that one and is there any other sauces you can make?
ME: well
SIL: I transferred $60 dollars to Kerry(my wife her sister) to cover the cost.
Me: ummmmmmm
SIL:ok great.
Me: ummmmm
SIL: bye
Me: ummmmmmmm
Then there was a click.

So I'm making my version of #5, a vinegar sauce and a mustard sauce now. I really hope she doesn't decide I'm making sides the night before.

Everything I'm reading about whole hog they are just cooking them to 160 normally not to the 200 range we associate with pulled pork. So I'm thinking get the pig on by 6am keep the pit in the 250-275 range and I should be able to take it off by 3
pm rest for 30 minutes or so and get it pulled so eating by 4.

It's a perfect plan what could go wrong, right? Right????

Any more last minute thoughts out there?

Well off to buy the stuff to make sauces now.
 
Bob, my neighbor was a big hog farmer and we have cooked a bunch of whole hogs, do you have access to a hog cooker?

His is and old 275 gallon oil barrel that is split so the top hinges plus there is a drop down door on one end to slide the hog out, the hog itself lays belly down on a tray with expanded steel holding it up about an inch, there is a drain hole at the one end so the fat can run down a tube to a five gallon bucket, you will get quite a bit of fat in the bucket.

The hogs are skinned and we put dressing and sauerkraut in the chest cavity, no rub or injecting ( I’m sure it would be good but they turn out awesome plain) , just slide it into to the cooker(his is propane) and let it cook at 300-350 for 12 hours, you can foil it if it starts getting to dark, the shoulders and chest take the longest, don’t short yourself on time, we cut the meat ,more like shred into coolers the same for the dressing and kraut.

I hope this helps, it is really easy with the right cooker, and so good, Steve
 
Bob, in my experience 160° won't be done for your hams & shoulders on a whole hog. Although this is different from cooking butts for pulled pork you still need to get the hams and shoulders tender, and at 160° they won't be.
 
Good luck on this one Bob. No experience at all in something that big so I'm late to this party. In any case, here's something I found:

for injection, a mojo sauce

and for cooking (not that you're going to go this route but) http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167758
DSCN2993_zps89e20cf2.jpg


the process http://thedamntrueexperiment.blogspot.ca/2013/07/man-can-cook-22-cuban-porknography.html

A 100lb pig in the that unit: box is $350 U.S. (not an option I know, just as a reference). 100lb is the biggest pig any of their units can hold. And yours is 150?

As I said: Good Luck!

edit-->have you 2-3 friends helping on this? Can you lift that sucker by yourself? Just another thing to consider.
 
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The Plan:
Pit build Saturday, pig on a spit in the pit at 6am at the latest Sunday morning. Keep the pit at around 250-275 and pull the pig at 3 pm when it reaches 160 let it rest and then chop and serve the beast at 4pm. Easy peasy. Injecting with a apple juice concoction Saturday evening.

Yes I have help to lift the pig and yes I could lift the pig by myself if I had to. Me strong like bull brain like ox. My back, hips and knees wouldn't appreciate it though but that's what prescription narcotics were invented for. I'm technically on a 25lb weight restriction when lifting from below my waist but if no one tells then no one knows right?

Now I just have to find the darn charger for the galdarn camera so we can document my failures and successes on Sunday.
 
Thinking of ya today Bob - hope everything goes great! Sure wish I could see this in person. Whew, took me a couple years to attempt my first packer... petrifies me to think of whole hog. :)
 
You are a true daredevil!

Please post pictures. I'm sure it came out great! Respect from Norway!
Especially if you dare to show this thread to your SIL.. :D
 
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