The OFFICIAL meat smoking thread

[Swirls]

Looking to have a pig roast--anyone wanna throw out some tips?

We're gonna be looking to feed around 30-50 people. After consulting with one of my friends who used to throw one of these every year, he said he always got a 30 pound suckling for around $120.

Well, since im going into this blind, i was calling around local butchers and the first lady i got through to quoted me at right around $300 (for everything) for a 250 pound hog. 250 pounds seemed pretty obscene, so after double checking with my friend he laughed at how silly that was and said to get a suckling. I didn't know the difference--but yea now i do. Anyway, i'm still in the process of locking down a "pig".

Anyone wanna comment on the actual cooking process? I know my friend would usually just build a firepit on his patio out of bricks and had a makeshift grill.

Again since we're kinda going into this blind--just looking at tips on the actual cooking process, assuming im able to lock down a pig--it's a month a way, so im not sure if that's a enough time or not.

Nah, to do a pig roast right you have to dig a hole in the ground and fill it with all of your charcoal, then a layer of banana leaves, then the pig, then more leaves, then cover that [expletive] back up with your giant dirt pile and let it cook overnight. A case or more of beer is recommended.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

GB, I've done multiple in-ground cooks. If you go that route, you'll need a place to do it and a tractor or backhoe. This is by far the best way to do a whole hog.

If you can't do that, I'd highly recommend butchering the hog pre-cooking. I once tried to do a whole hog on a massive grill/pit thing and it took....FOREVER. We did it for like 12 hours and even that wasn't enough to get a lot of the inside parts done. I can't remember, but when we took it off and started pulling it apart, a lot of it went back on. Luckily we had enough to feed the masses, but...yeah, it was a mess. To do it right, you need a lot of time and an environment that can hold a good temperature (like 250 or so) for a long time and a backyard open-air pit is going to burn a lot of the outsides while possibly not getting the insides done.

One idea would be to make an outdoor oven type thing. Get a big area (like 10'x10') and cover it with a lot of heavy duty foil. Build a little rack to put the pig on. Cover the pig with an aluminum trough with the open end obviously face down. Place charcoal all around the trough and light it. Place some charcoal on top of the trough, but not too much. Cook it this way for I don't know 6-10 hours?

Good luck, it's going to be a fun, time consuming, and learning experience.

Edited to say, the advantage of doing an apparatus that closes the environment is preventing air flow over the hog. If you can keep air off it, it'll help maintain the moisture that the air flow will suck out. Also, maintaining moisture, which should be your goal, will make the hog fall apart as it cooks, so it would be a good idea to wrap it in a chicken wire or enclose it in a burlap sack prior to cooking.

[go birds]

good stuff AW--how big was the pig you "grilled"?

I just locked down a 30-40 pound suckling.

I really don't think cooking it in the ground is gonna be an option, so we're gonna be doing a rotisserie style roast or grill--more than likely what you described.

My friend who threw the pig roast every year did the make shift fire pit as you described, but placed the pig between two metal racks and would flip the pig every so often and it turned out fine. Believe it took around 6 hours to cook (dont quote me on the time).

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

good stuff AW--how big was the pig you "grilled"?

I just locked down a 30-40 pound suckling.

I really don't think cooking it in the ground is gonna be an option, so we're gonna be doing a rotisserie style roast or grill--more than likely what you described.

My friend who threw the pig roast every year did the make shift fire pit as you described, but placed the pig between two metal racks and would flip the pig every so often and it turned out fine. Believe it took around 6 hours to cook (dont quote me on the time).

Sounds like fun. We always did young hogs but nearly full grown. Maybe 150-200 pounds. We would feed maybe 50+ people with a [expletive] TON leftover.

[Jocephus]

how about letting the pig go and instead have gazpacho?

[cardinalkarp]

Looking to have a pig roast--anyone wanna throw out some tips?

We're gonna be looking to feed around 30-50 people. After consulting with one of my friends who used to throw one of these every year, he said he always got a 30 pound suckling for around $120.

Well, since im going into this blind, i was calling around local butchers and the first lady i got through to quoted me at right around $300 (for everything) for a 250 pound hog. 250 pounds seemed pretty obscene, so after double checking with my friend he laughed at how silly that was and said to get a suckling. I didn't know the difference--but yea now i do. Anyway, i'm still in the process of locking down a "pig".

Anyone wanna comment on the actual cooking process? I know my friend would usually just build a firepit on his patio out of bricks and had a makeshift grill.

Again since we're kinda going into this blind--just looking at tips on the actual cooking process, assuming im able to lock down a pig--it's a month a way, so im not sure if that's a enough time or not.

Nah, to do a pig roast right you have to dig a hole in the ground and fill it with all of your charcoal, then a layer of banana leaves, then the pig, then more leaves, then cover that [expletive] back up with your giant dirt pile and let it cook overnight. A case or more of beer is recommended.

That's how Hawaiian's do it, but I don't think that's how you smoke a whole hog.

See if you can track down the BBQ Pitmasters show online (it's on Destination HD or something like that) and they have a show where they do a whole hog (or suckling in your case).

It looked like the pig was sliced down the middle (on the underside) and they applied their rub and injections foiled the entire pig and put it on the smoker. Time of cooking obviously depends on the size, but I would guess a 30lb pig would be in the 12-15 hour range depending on the temp.

[33anda3rd]

If you can't cook it in the ground your next best option is a China Box, which is a bit expensive at like $350 but it will last you forever if you treat it well.

Another option is to get a big sheet of canvas, a few aluminum rods, and build a teepee over your open pit to keep air out and smoke in. Like this:

[SHOW]

[go birds]

So i put in an order for a suckling today...30-40 pounder.

But, there is an issue with the original planned process of roasting it...originally we were gonna build a makeshift firepit (cinder blocks, aluminum foil/metal racks) but it's not looking like that will be feasible.

So now, we are looking to rent a smoker. It's not as festive as a rotisserie spit (which we absolutely cannot find to rent anywhere, or buy for that matter), but it's looking like this is our only option.

Looking at this one: http://www.brentwoodrental.net/equipmen ... y=065-0802 simply it was the first option that came up. Does this look like itll do the trick for a 30-40 suckling?

Kind of in a pinch right now, so I'm up for suggestions, but our options are really limited to a smoker or a spit if i can find one to rent (or even if a spit is relatively cheap).

33--not sure if we wanna spend $350 on something like that.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

That thing will more than do the trick. Yes.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Go birds and I have been talking about cooking whole hogs via pms. He was planning on building a pit with concrete blocks and putting the hog on a grate above the fire. But, as you can see, things have changes and I'm going to put this in here because I think people probably have more experience/advice on cooking a hog (that I think will be butterflied) on a grill than I do.

So it looks like we will be cooking this thing on a propane grill. It is less than ideal, but there is a disturbance in the force with the party planning committee and it seems this is the only way we will be able to do it for the following reasons:

-can't find a rotisserie spit anywhere in nashville to rent
-no one is gonna buy one because they aren't very cheap
-my buddy doesnt wanna go with fire pit idea because of the things mentioned before

So, i had to scramble to find a smoker and all i could find in town was a 6x3 propane grill.

In your opinion, even though less than ideal, is this a cause for any concern really?

I'm kind of irate about it right now, but we have no other choice.

I've never smoked on a propane grill before, but here is a video (warning: this lady is extremely annoying, but other than not soaking her wood chips in water first I would say she's spot on) of how to set up a gas grill for it.

Anyway, the only cause for concern is this method is going to take a lot longer (like probably closer to 8 hours I'd guess) than the fire pit because your temp is going to be a lot lower (like probably 225 as opposed to in the 300ish range).

The one time I cooked a whole hog on a charcoal fire smoker, it took....forever. We put it on around 9 am and it wasn't fully finished at 9 pm. That is a whole hog, and obviously a lot bigger and takes longer. But...yeah. Keep that in mind.

On the bright side, I always start drinking when I start cooking, so...if you start 4 hours earlier...well, that's not all bad.