Troble

@tekobo apologies for the delay I’m actually traveling for work and flew to San Antonio for a dinner last night. Trying to see if I can squeeze in a lunch trip today for a highly regarded brisket place the locals are talking about.....

let me try to answer you questions 

I used my hands to flip the pig it wasn’t very hard at all, it was 24 lbs and you know I work out 😀so I just picked it up, flipped it, sauced it and then flipped it back. I was going for pulled pork from the start so I thought saucing it would be a good idea. 
 

I started at 5am at 250 and I flipped it around 11am, cranked it up to 325 after I flipped it to try to crisp the skin. Took it off at 1pm but honestly it probably could’ve stayed on another 30-45 minutes but my guests were hungry. I pulled the pork to make sandwiches, it was soft, juicy and moist but the pig cost me $160, it was also previously frozen so not sure that affected my outcome but both my wife and I felt that my pulled pork had more flavor than the pig and for that price I could’ve bought 5 pork butts easily and cooked them 

I removed the eyes because we have 6 kids under 5 at the house and I didn’t want to scare them. I actually didn’t drink that much because I was too busy playing in the pool with my friends kids who I hadn’t seen in a year and there were two that were one years old that I hadn’t even met yet. The kids always like me to be the monster in the pool and toss them around and make them fall off the floating animals so I did that all afternoon and woke up sore the next day 

I wouldn’t change anything about the cook other than to try to find a fresh pig not frozen and I would leave the pig on a bit longer in an effort to crisp the skin more. That being said I don’t think I’ll do the pig again or very often given that my wife and I both preferred my pulled pork over the pig 

@C6Billit wasnt that hard honestly and I’m super glad I did it given that today was a special occasion for my family. For your retirement you totally should, I’m just saying I’ll likely not do it too often though 

2 hours ago, jonj said:

That is one fine looking pig! I wish I was there to help you with the eating part 😉

I wish you were here to help as well as long as you brought some of your wine 😛

@C6Bill yes that’s what I did. I planned to keep it belly up but I was texting with Dennis at the time and he told me to go for the crispy skin color so I put it back belly side down. There’s not enough meat on the suckling pig to really do the belly like I had thought or hoped (after watching Rodney Scott) so I think it was the right call 

all that being said the whole pig looks impressive but I struggle to think it’s worth the effort vs doing a pork butt, it was a little juicer and softer but I doubt most of my guests would know the difference. Lot more expensive too

5.5 hours in ham and shoulders are 170. Flipped it sprinkled some rub on it then sauced it with the sweet bourbon sauce, then flipped it back over, opened up the vents to get it over 300 to finish and crisp the skin. So far so good 

Almost four hours in. Shoulder and  Hams are 150 degrees. 
 

watermelon salad done, 4 trays of cornbread in the oven 

5am and the pig is on the KK @ 250

note removing the eyeballs in the dark is not a wids move, thought I could pop them out with a butter knife but had to saw through some flesh with a steak knife, should’ve done it yesterday when I was injecting & rubbing 

Glad you started tonight @PaulW good choice. Good luck, you got this 

Made my Mac & cheese and beans today, as well as the bread pudding. All in foil trays with foil on top of them ready to go to oven/kk 

soaked the pinto beans Friday night in water, sweet onion, sugar, chili powder, cumin, salt & black pepper. Put them on dimmer around 7am and added bacon, brown sugar & Worcester. Let it simmer till 5pm, stirring regularly 

Haven’t made my Mac & Cheese in years it’s really rich, but awesome. Pasta shells with sour cream, cheddar, havarti, ricotta & Parmesan, sautéed some red onion and applewood smoked bacon, added petite green peas and a little bit of mustard powder. Will finish tomorrow in oven and then broil with bread crumbs for a nice crust and probably finish the beans and Mac & cheese in the KK and get some smoke going 

made 3 trays of bread pudding which I’ll top with a vanilla/bourbon sauce tomorrow 

took the pig out and injected the hams, shoulders & belly. Used Slap Yo Daddy All Purpose rub which I’ve always made the knock off version for my pork butts but it’s the first rub I’ve ever used and it’s my go to, although I’ve never used the actual thing, thought this was a good time 

loaded the KK up with coco char, gonna get things going around 4:30am/5am. Fridge is loaded with .394 Pale Ales & Mango Margaritas. I’m ready to do this 

Looks good @tony b how did it taste?

Nobody uses the heat deflectors they are not needed on the KK. Doesn’t includes them because many BGE owners think they are necessary since they used them in the BGE. You will not ever use them in your KK

Bourbon sausages, indirect with mesquite wood & Alesmith Tony Gwynn .394 Pale Ale

43 minutes ago, Basher said:

Troble you are not cooking for 20...... there’s another 50 here watching........ no pressure!!!!!


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I’ve been telling my wife that I’ve been training for this cook for most of the last year plus planning/thinking about it now for well over 6 weeks. I’m fortunate that @tekobowent first and provided some great intel to help me. Everyone is asking what they can bring and my wife thinks I’m taking on too much and will get stressed but I told her that it’s not gonna be an issue cause I’m going to cook a lot of things early and I don’t want anyone bringing dishes cause I want to serve all the food. 
 

this is what cooking is all about for me we have our families, and best friends over. It’s been a long years we haven’t been able to this type of party for over a year so if there was ever a time to go big or go home it’s now. I’m prepared and confident for my cook, the only danger I now is gonna be the flip of the pig, which I’m likely gonna do solo but I’ll feel it out and if I can’t do it I’ll cook it on its belly the whole time. I have plan A & plan B

one other note is I requested people bring beer, wine or specifically if they wanted to they could bring this delicious cocktail that we discovered last weekend “Cutwater Spirits Mango Margarita”, I’m not one for premade margaritas but this particular beverage is absolutely divine, and  at 12.5% alcohol per can it packs a punch. We rimmed our cups with this chili lime salt my wife found at Trader Joe’s and poured the can over ice and it’s absolutely magnificent. Both Plan A & Plan B involve me not cracking any of those until after all food is served. Highly recommend though if one sees them on the shelf 

I’m too excited so I decided to make my BBQ sauces today. Not really sure on quantity so I ended up making a lot. Then the wife told me she threw out all the tops to my mason jars because “we didn’t use them and we only use those jars for decoration” so had to improvise with a little press n seal 

on the left is “Rodney Sauce” from Rodney Scott’s cookbook. It consists of white vinegar, lemon, red pepper flake, cayenne pepper, black pepper and brown sugar essentially. It’s pretty spicy and is gonna be labeled as “spicy sauce”

In the middle I have Aaron Franklins Vinegar sauce which is white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper & white sugar. This is going to be labeled “mild sauce”

on the right is @Syzygies Bourbon BBQ sauce that consults of onions, butter, vegetable oil, bourbon, ketchup, orange juice, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, maras pepper (which I substituted paprika for), maple syrup, molasses (which I subbed for brown sugar) & Worcester sauce, I also added a decent amount of salt and a couple extra dashes of paprika and cayenne. This sauce will be labeled “sweet sauce”

Welcome @Lila you’re coming in strong with two KKs nice one! You won’t regret the decision except maybe that you waited this long to get one 

My vote is to stick to your original plan. Start early take your time, you can always crank it up later when you wrap it it you need to. If you get done early you can always wrap a towel around it and put it in the cooler. You also want it to rest at least an hour preferably 1-2hours+. I’ve had Bridget rest wrapped in the cooler for up to 4 hours with no major issues. Relax and take your time with Brisket. Biggest mistake people make with brisket is not giving themselves enough time 

the wood selections shouldn’t matter too much just make sure you fill the basket. You said you’ve got temp control down to stick with the wood that you have the most confidence in nailing the temp. Don’t worry if your temp fluctuates a bit during your cool it’s ok. 
 

ive also had a lot of success developing good brisket bark by spritzing it with apple juice every hour after it’s been in there 5-6 hours. I usually put mine on at night like you mentioned, wake up around 6am, start spritzing, then wrap it around 11am-1pm, take it off KK around 3pm-4pm serve 5pm-6pm. Usually I do my briskets at 240/245 and I usually get a 13-15lb one 

hope that helps and good luck 

Looks perfect @MacKenzie

Picked her up. 24 lbs. fits in the KK perfectly. Going to try my method of starting on stomach and then flipping to finish and baste but we’ll se how it goes. Also need to pop the eyeballs out before cooking 😀

Very happy that it fits in my fridge as well

@tekobo I appreciate your feedback but that’s my working plan as of the moment. I’m not against cooking it on its belly the entire time but my ideal cook would involve a flip and mop/baste. I won’t know if that possible until I get the pig home and see how easily I can maneuver it, I would likely have to do the flip by myself so that may not even be possible but as I sit here this morning before I’ve picked up the pig that’s the plan. Once I pick it up I plan to put it on the grill to confirm the size and see how easy it is for me to lift and maneuver it then I’ll finalize my cook plan. 
 

also @tekoboif you have not watched this series on Netflix yet you absolutely must. The Rodney Scott episode is my 2nd favorite after the Lennox Hastie episode. It’s truly inspiring you’d love it 

https://www.netflix.com/title/81292974?s=i&trkid=13747225&clip=81261408

@Basherno sacks will be used. Going to foil the ears and snout and take it from there 

I’m gonna pick up the little piggy in about 3 hours from now so I’ll post some pics later today 

Thanks @MacKenziei plan to do the sauces Friday so they can take a long time to thicken up. Soak the beans overnight Friday night, then do the beans and Mac & cheese saturday, put them into a foil tray and cover them in the fridge 

Sunday I’ll do the hog early, then the watermelon & cucumber salad, cornbread, fruit salad, Coleslaw & bread pudding while the pig cooks.

take the pig off and while it rests heat the beans and Mac & cheese in the KK.....serve 

it all sounds easy on paper!

My butcher called me today and asked me how to prepare it. We had a lengthy conversation about it, I’ve known this butcher 20+ years no joke. He’s gotta cut it so I can basically spatchcock it and we discussed head on vs off. I plan to cook it on its belly, back up the first few hours then flip it and sauce/mop it a la Rodney Scott to finish it. My concern was when I flipped it and out the stomach facing up that it would not lay flat with the head on. My butcher assured me it would lay just fine with the head and that when he was cleaning it out it was laying find on it’s back/stomach up 

now the dilemma I’m facing is whether to put the rub and inject it early or just do it day of/morning of. Picking it up tomorrow cooking it early Sunday. Planning for 6-7 hours at 225. 
 

butcher said the pig weighs exactly 24 lbs 

went shopping today got all Ingredients but switched out the Angel food cake & strawberry desert with bread pudding & French vanilla ice cream, added a green bean dish and added a fruit salad 

10 dishes (including pig) plus 3 homemade sauces. My wife thinks I’m nuts, but I think I can pull it off 

Truly inspiring @tekobo very happy for your success. I’m still sticking with driving 15 minutes to pick up some fresh pressed tortillas from my local Mexican markets but you’re well on your way to being featured on “Taco Chronicles U.K.” I’m certain 

For some reason the search function doesn’t seem to be working this week, when you go to page 2 it gives you an error but I stayed up till 1:30am watching various YouTube videos on cooking a suckling pig. Feel better but still unsure if I’m going to chop the head off and butterfly it or not, will have to see what it looks like tomorrow when I pick it up