Going whole hog

[mtnbiker]

Has anyone here cooked a whole pig? I saw this image in a Traeger email a few weeks ago and thought it would be interesting to give it a try. The write up is here.

0716_Whole_Hog_RE_HE_M_800.jpg

The Traeger site says to use a 65 lb pig, so I ordered a 60-lber from a local butcher. When I picked it up, the dressed-out pig came to 68 lbs. I won't go into the fun time it was keeping it cold from Friday afternoon until the Sunday cook. That sucker was way too big for my normal-sized coolers, though.

The pig was way big for the smoker, much bigger than the one pictured above. I couldn't fit it into the smoker upright. I had to cut off the feet and put it on its side.

20160814_074729_800.jpg

I put it on the smoker at 7am, at 250*, per the instructions on the Traeger site. A little after 12 noon, I pushed the smoker temp to 350*. The instructions say to cook until the temp of the shoulder is 205*, but I never got it that high. It barely hit 195* by 6pm, when a few neighbors came over to share the experiment. I kept checking temps in the shoulder, ribs, and butt, but none of them got to 195 until the end. I would have liked to flip it over onto its other side mid-cook, but it was too hot and I didn't dare to risk dumping it on the ground. I should have at least probed both sides for temps.

20160814_175719_800.jpg

Once I had a couple neighbors there to help pull it off the smoker, it was obvious that the grill-side was way overcooked. It looked like Harvey Dent from The Black Knight. Oh, well, we pulled all the meat off it, and it was pretty tasty, but a little dry. I must have got at least 1 1/2 quarts of drippings in the waste bucket. It was really strange to see a bunch of that coming out of the ear.

20160814_180503_800.jpg

The Traeger site said this thing could feed 100 people. No way. We would have been lucky to feed 30. I get much more meat from the 2-pack pork shoulders from Costco. And they cook up way better.

So some questions for anyone that's made it this far.

I looked all over the web to see how to prep the beast, but found absolutely nothing. Sure, there were instructions about sawing down the backbone to flay it open, but a Traeger isn't wide enough for that. Would it have helped to at least saw through the breastbone to try to open it a bit? I couldn't find anything on the topic. I think I'd have had better luck if I could cook it upright, but that would have required a much smaller pig, or at least one without such a deep ribcage. Any suggestions?

The Traeger instructions say to heat to 205*. That is obviously bogus. 195 was plenty, but still left me with a lot of overcooked meat in the thinner sections. Any suggestions for temps and how to protect the thinner sections?

I don't think I'm going to try this again. It's a novelty I had to try once, but pork shoulders are the way to go.

[CardiacCoug]

If we had to look at our meat like that every time there would be a lot more vegetarians. Gross!!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Whole hog is very difficult to pull off and get good results. Some parts are done early and some take much longer. So you end up with overcooked and/or undercooked meat. Watch a few seasons of BBQ Pitmaster and you will see.

Kind of cool that you tried it, but no thanks.

[New Mexican Disaster]

If we had to look at our meat like that every time there would be a lot more vegetarians. Gross!!

My thoughts exactly.

[Moliere]

You need a setup like this



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Moliere]

That's a setup done by a friend of mine who is Samoan. You need to lay the hog out for it to cook more evenly. But like JL said, you'll never get all the cuts done properly. It's a novelty thing and is fun for big parties, but a pork shoulder done on a smoker is easier and tastier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wuapinmon]

Google "Pig Pickin'." When you get out of the mountains into the flat parts of the South, they like to go "whole hog." Up in the mountains, we cut them up into smaller, more manageable portions and don't waste time smoking the parts that taste better cooked other ways.

[San Juan Sun]

Or just avoid the cloven hoofed, unclean beasts and stick to brisket.

Only time I partook of whole pig was at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was tasty.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I think this is pretty awesome. I probably wouldn't have had the guts to try it.

[mtnbiker]

Well, some interesting replies there.

HFN and JL, thanks for the kind words.

Moliere didn't read the part of my post about not sawing the pig in half, and SJS just talked about himself.

Cardiac and NMD are <goatnapper's favorite adjective> pansies. (I didn't hear any wimpy talk from the ladies or young women who saw the pig come off the smoker; they dug in with everyone else. Once the skin was peeled off, the meat was fine.)

And wuap resorts to his elitist snob food persona.

And nobody actually tried to answer any of my questions.

What a crew we have here.

[Pelado]

Has anyone here cooked a whole pig? I saw this image in a Traeger email a few weeks ago and thought it would be interesting to give it a try. The write up is here.



The Traeger site says to use a 65 lb pig, so I ordered a 60-lber from a local butcher. When I picked it up, the dressed-out pig came to 68 lbs. I won't go into the fun time it was keeping it cold from Friday afternoon until the Sunday cook. That sucker was way too big for my normal-sized coolers, though.

The pig was way big for the smoker, much bigger than the one pictured above. I couldn't fit it into the smoker upright. I had to cut off the feet and put it on its side.


I put it on the smoker at 7am, at 250*, per the instructions on the Traeger site. A little after 12 noon, I pushed the smoker temp to 350*. The instructions say to cook until the temp of the shoulder is 205*, but I never got it that high. It barely hit 195* by 6pm, when a few neighbors came over to share the experiment. I kept checking temps in the shoulder, ribs, and butt, but none of them got to 195 until the end. I would have liked to flip it over onto its other side mid-cook, but it was too hot and I didn't dare to risk dumping it on the ground. I should have at least probed both sides for temps.



Once I had a couple neighbors there to help pull it off the smoker, it was obvious that the grill-side was way overcooked. It looked like Harvey Dent from The Black Knight. Oh, well, we pulled all the meat off it, and it was pretty tasty, but a little dry. I must have got at least 1 1/2 quarts of drippings in the waste bucket. It was really strange to see a bunch of that coming out of the ear.



The Traeger site said this thing could feed 100 people. No way. We would have been lucky to feed 30. I get much more meat from the 2-pack pork shoulders from Costco. And they cook up way better.

So some questions for anyone that's made it this far.

I looked all over the web to see how to prep the beast, but found absolutely nothing. Sure, there were instructions about sawing down the backbone to flay it open, but a Traeger isn't wide enough for that. Would it have helped to at least saw through the breastbone to try to open it a bit? I couldn't find anything on the topic. I think I'd have had better luck if I could cook it upright, but that would have required a much smaller pig, or at least one without such a deep ribcage. Any suggestions?

The Traeger instructions say to heat to 205*. That is obviously bogus. 195 was plenty, but still left me with a lot of overcooked meat in the thinner sections. Any suggestions for temps and how to protect the thinner sections?

I don't think I'm going to try this again. It's a novelty I had to try once, but pork shoulders are the way to go.

My BIL was selling some pigs he raised a while back. I was surprised at how little meat to expect off of it, especially when compared to a cow. I didn't buy.

That's a setup done by a friend of mine who is Samoan. You need to lay the hog out for it to cook more evenly. But like JL said, you'll never get all the cuts done properly. It's a novelty thing and is fun for big parties, but a pork shoulder done on a smoker is easier and tastier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A Tongan in our ward has cooked pigs for events in the past. I'll have to find out how he set it up - I think he used an underground method.

I think this is pretty awesome. I probably wouldn't have had the guts to try it.

Same here.

[Lost Student]

Well, some interesting replies there.

HFN and JF, thanks for the kind words.

Moliere didn't read the part of my post about not sawing the pig in half, and SJS just talked about himself.

Cardiac and NMD are <goatnapper's favorite adjective> pansies. (I didn't hear any wimpy talk from the ladies or young women who saw the pig come off the smoker; they dug in with everyone else. Once the skin was peeled off, the meat was fine.)

And wuap resorts to his elitist snob food persona.

And nobody actually tried to answer any of my questions.

What a crew we have here.

[grapevine]

When I was 15 hop skip and jump from goats dairy off 86 had a judging contest for dairy. Meant guy with hooked arm. Padre of host. His son is apostle. Prodigal dairy farmers son that is who lived where I served mission. For lunch someone killed whole pig and we ate sampling of whole pig. Best pig I tasted.

[wuapinmon]

Well, some interesting replies there.

HFN and JL, thanks for the kind words.

Moliere didn't read the part of my post about not sawing the pig in half, and SJS just talked about himself.

Cardiac and NMD are <goatnapper's favorite adjective> pansies. (I didn't hear any wimpy talk from the ladies or young women who saw the pig come off the smoker; they dug in with everyone else. Once the skin was peeled off, the meat was fine.)

And wuap resorts to his elitist snob food persona.

And nobody actually tried to answer any of my questions.

What a crew we have here.

You're the one who said "I don't think I'm going to try this again. It's a novelty I had to try once, but pork shoulders are the way to go." so why in the hell would we waste time answering questions? You can't cook a hog the size you got on the equipment you have without splitting it open the way Moliere showed you. My ancestors were barbecuing hogs in the Carolinas when yours were still deciding if salted cod tasted better boiled in salted water or seawater.

But, to answer your questions, you're paying your butcher for the meat, and your butcher is the professional who has the tools and the experience dressing whole animal carcasses, so have them do the things that you don't know how to do, so say something like this: I want a lechón-sized hog with its skin on, but the hair scalded or burned off (and not just shaved off), with the head, ears, and feet all on it. I'd like you to remove the spinal cord, please, so that it might cook better in my Traeger smoker."

[myboynoah]

You're the one who said "I don't think I'm going to try this again. It's a novelty I had to try once, but pork shoulders are the way to go." so why in the hell would we waste time answering questions? You can't cook a hog the size you got on the equipment you have without splitting it open the way Moliere showed you. My ancestors were barbecuing hogs in the Carolinas when yours were still deciding if salted cod tasted better boiled in salted water or seawater.

But, to answer your questions, you're paying your butcher for the meat, and your butcher is the professional who has the tools and the experience dressing whole animal carcasses, so have them do the things that you don't know how to do, so say something like this: I want a lechón-sized hog with its skin on, but the hair scalded or burned off (and not just shaved off), with the head, ears, and feet all on it. I'd like you to remove the spinal cord, please, so that it might cook better in my Traeger smoker."

lol, wap doubling down.

And wuap resorts to his elitist snob food persona.