Whole hog questions


 
M

Mark Andrews

New member
Hello all!! Been lurking around the forum for quite some time and finally decided it was time to join in on the fun.

I have a few questions about smoking a whole hog. A buddy and I want see if we can acomplish this feat, but are not sure where to begin. We have a 43# dressed out hog that we are thinking of trying to hang in my 22.5 WSM, I have access to another 22.5 and I'm going to use the center section stacked on mine to have the space to hang. Were not sure on what temp to smoke at and for approx. how long? Anybody have any thoughts on this and if it will even work. My initial thoughts were somewhere around 250-275 on the temp for maybe 13-14 hours?


Thanks
 
Mark, I have not cooked a hog. I did just get back from a class where Myron Mixon cooked one tho. According to him the hog lying on its back and sides propped up with logs creates a boat for the injection and natural juices to stay in. His hag was cooked at 250 for about 16 hrs, wrapped in loose foil the whole time. MMMM MMM good. If I did a hog, I personally would not cook it hanging, due to loss of juices running out. Just my opinion, your's may vary.
 
Mark,
I'm a newbie to smoking so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I don't see how you can smoke a whole hog in the traditional way on a Weber.

I'm from an area of West TN where whole hog bbq is big and the pits these guys use are made of cinder blocks. The hog is cooked whole. Now, there are other pits for cooking whole hog but they have to be large. I believe its meat side down at first and then skin side down. The benefits of whole hog bbq is that when skin side down the hog is cooking in its own juices (plus added sauces). The combination of shoulder, ham, bacon, tenderloin juices is key to the flavor. By hanging the hog you lose the flavoring. Also, you'd have to hang a pretty small hog to fit it into a Weber. Nevertheless, if you can get it in and smoke around 225 to 250, you'd probably get some pretty good stuff.

You might be interested in a video on the traditional method for whole hog bbq. Here's a link to the video. I just found this a couple of months ago and it centers around Scott's BBQ in my hometown. I went to high school with the most of the characters on the video. It's about 40 minutes long and won't help you with Weber but does describe the traditional method of whole hog bbq.
Whole Hog Video
 
Mark, I have heard of folks cooking a suckling pig in a WSM by tying the feet/legs together to make a smaller package. Sounds like you want to cook a larger animal however. I think that this idea calls for a new project. Dig a trench!!!!!

Mark
 
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