Whole pig anyone?

[ZooBeeQ]

Long story but I've done a few pig roasts and now i've been asked, conscripted,         

enlisted 

to do a whole pig, in febrewary in buffalo. Brrrrrr.

Now I have used those bloody awful Caja chinas and they fine in the summer but when it's 32 or below? yah ahh no.

I have 2 problems here:

1) Can my 23 OTB actually  handle 100 lbs of hog and

2) Anyone actually cut one up to do on the KK? Watched a few YT so I might be ok.

I came to the conclusion it had to be on my KK cuz it was that or build a concrete pit in the beer garden outside where the  festivities are, in less than ideal weather, or struggle with that GD china box.

*heavysigh*

Any hints, tips, tricks, advice or just plain old commiseration gladly accepted .

Going to inject and brine and should probably cut it up then soak.

Thanks All.

Zo0

[Basher]

Good luck with that Zoo.
I’m looking forward to the photos.
Not sure I have any useful advice?


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[Bruce Pearson]

My guess is you would have to know if it will fit in your KK. If it will fit, without having to be stuffed in. It should probably cook ok. But there have been several people who have cooked whole pigs they will give you better advice than me. Good luck, looking forward to pictures of this cook.

[ZooBeeQ]

Yes pics of the cook for sure. I thought someone here would have done this, just need to wait until they see this.

I may have to do it in 2 cooks. Hams and shoulders last and ribs section first. I get the pig next thursday and will break it down after work then decide what to do.

Thnks for your input Bruce and Basher.

TBC

Zo0

[tekobo]

Hi there @ZooBeeQ. First, commiserations.  A big job for a chilly day.  If you are going to have to chop it up then I would go for cooking the different parts of the pig differently.  Low and slow for the shoulder and hotter and faster for the legs and mid section. See @Basher's recent post for a good looking pig head.  Good luck!

Edited February 15, 2020 by tekobo

[ZooBeeQ]

Hi tekobo ! Interesting, fast and hot on the hams? I was going to do hams and shoulders together on a low and slo and ribs midd section a bit higher. Love to hear why you think not low for hams. I am open to it .

Thanks ,

Zo0

[tekobo]

Hi @ZooBeeQ.  Some options:

When I say hot and fast for leg I mean cooking max 4 hours and aiming to make crackling of the skin.  I think the usual US low and slow ends up with something akin to pulled pork.  Here we are looking at sliced meat, particularly if you de-bone the leg and tie the joint.  I haven't tried any of the recipes on the links that follow but they are typical of what I would be looking for.  So....

for roast leg of pork you could use a recipe like this one: https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/meat-and-poultry/roast-leg-of-pork-with-perfect-crackling-and-ambrosia/

for the mid section, loin join you could go for a fancy crown: https://cookthestory.com/pork-crown-roast/

or for a guard of honour: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/double-rack-of-pork-with-burnt-orange-caramel-pan-sauce-368932

I am sure that is all too much work when you have so much to do.  Good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

[ZooBeeQ]

Hi tekobo, Hmmm guess I'm going to have to rethink this abit. If its cooked whole, its all pulled and thats what I was going for, A pulled pig roast.

This link     here     at about 22 mins in.

I have roasted a whole pig for slicing and I just never want to do that much work again. Hams only might be ok but pullin it easier I think.

Ill think on it

Zo0

[Basher]

Zoo do you have the double lined drip tray?
On reflection, this would be perfect for a big cook. I have a 23” and I reckon you could do a whole pig in one cook.
Indirect and once the KK has warmed up to 200c, drip tray on the charcoal basket, then pack out the lower grate, main grate and top grate.
Lace your charcoal basket with wood chips, once set up it will be difficult to access the fire.
I’d also use multiple different rubs on different cuts from sweet to spicy.
I’d run it up to about 200c, then load it up and I’d expect a big drop in temp for 2 hours while the meat draws in the heat.
Throw a probe into the middle of each grate.
You could even delay some meats in the KK to have some climb higher for pulled pork and some just roasted. A grate loaded up could cook for 2 hours before loading up the rest of the pork.
Could be fun.


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[ZooBeeQ]

LOL, Basher, oh yeah, its going to be fun that's for sure. I  have already started planning what grates will hold what .

I don't know If have the 2x lined pan but I do SS drip pan that came with the KK  the stone that  came  with kk  with bigger drip pan on top of that but I think that will eliminate the lower grate for cooking.

In this weather I thought I might just have to start a big hot basket in the KK to let it heat soak for a few hrs then pull it out and rePack the basket with all the coco char I have. I have a small SS smoker box I usually use, it releases its contents nice and slow. If i have room for it otherwise just some chunks of hickory and peach. Chips just evaporate for me

I like the idea of spicy and sweet!

Would you put the hams or the shoulders in first? Shoulders you thinking?

I have a Digi Q and thermoworks Signals so I'm gonna be use them all!

Thanks for the tips

[Basher]

Chunks of meat with connective tissue first and take the to a pulled pork temp.
Also thinking, you could fill the drip tray with peeled, cored apple, and half fill with apple cider vinegar. Or go sweeter cider if you prefer sweet. Makes a great sauce.
If you don’t have the double, I’d have deflector resting on the basket, the spacers, then drip tray.
You still have room for 3 levels. There’s a lower grate ledge between fire and main level, main grate, plus the top grate.


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[ZooBeeQ]

Awesome ! Thanks Basher,Great info on space. I like to put the grates etc in cold to see how it will look. You'd think I would know this 😕 .

Its not going to get much above 35 this week or weekend so its going to be a cold layout,

I love the apple idea and I have a bushel of apples in storage just waiting.

I have some Kombucha I forgot  about so its a bit vinegary, i"ll add that to the sweet cider and apples. Got my sweet rub ready, will do the spicy rub later.

I see you are in AU, Hope things are getting better down under? Been big news here for a while still. ❤️

For any of you spice hounds, I've been getting some fantastic spices from Burlap and Barrel  here

I adore their chillis

Thanks,

Zo0

Edited February 16, 2020 by ZooBeeQ
speeling

[Tyrus]

Zoo, I did a whole pig approx 60lbs last year in warmer weather but accomplished the act on my 48 Lang offset. I realized the 23 wasn't big enough so I added the larger cooker to the arsenal. 100 lbs even cut up just ain't going to fit. Six Butts will fit up on the top two racks if that's a way out and you could cook 6 to 7 racks of ribs prior as an addition. You would have to tray everything over. How about a cinder block configuration with the rack holding the pig up high and the coals fed in down below coming from a fire on the side.  (If you got the time we got the beer.) Seen that set-up many times on you tube, take it down when done however a February roast, alot of work and I hope you have help. I'd lend you my cooker but 100lbs is pushing the limits for that too. Good luck and don't forget the pictures........only death is an excuse for no pics and with all that work it may be a possibility.

[tony b]

@ZooBeeQ - Only one suggestion - bail on the stone deflector. It's not needed with the drip tray and it will severely slow down your initial heatup. Almost no one on here uses it anymore, including Dennis. 

If you have time for a small project, consider making the Syzygies smoker pot out of a cast iron Dutch oven. Works great on long cooks, prolongs your smoke generation and by forcing the smoke down into the fire, cleans it up nice (burns up some of the nasty volatiles). I plan to use mine on a rib cook this afternoon. It's warmed up to almost 35F here!

[ZooBeeQ]

Tyrus, Great pics man!

Yeah, cinder block was how we were going to do it but I am just getting too old to do that kinda sh in this kinda weather ( 32'f)

The pit would have been downtown in the beer garden, where I would have to feed it every hour, all night and sleeping arrangements were uhm non-existent ( read inconvenient )

did I mention I'm getting too old for that kinda sh??

I have been looking at getting a smoker like yours but nless I can get my beer buddies to pony up. . . . .  They already got the Caja chinas for this, its not in the cards right now.

 

If you were closer I'd consider borrowing it LOL Looks like you had some room to spare.

No fair taking the head off!! Heads are tasty.

I'll post pics, no worries and I'm not dead yet, think I'll go for a walk!

Zo0

[ZooBeeQ]

toni b, there you are! I was wondering if you would post.

OK , good thinking on the deflector, already working with heat deficiency Thanks.

On the smoker, I actually changed up the Ss box design using syzygies design for just that reason. I

ll post a pic of that later.

35 yes, wish it was gong to be that warm here next weekend but no, dipping down from an arctic blast to 21.

Although that's the thing with weather here in buffalo, you don't like it? wait 5 minutes, It'll change.

TBC

Zo0

[Tyrus]

A beer garden...imagine that, sounds warm and magical. Well, you sound like the person I could kick a few back with and compare a few adventure stories with. You know that age thing is just a myth, keep on truckin.  Two bulls on top of a hill, the son says to the father, hey Dad let's run down there and kiss one of those cows, the Father bull says, NO son, let's walk down there and kiss them all. Kinda like that.

[ZooBeeQ]

Why Thank You  Tyrus.

I'd like to imagine all of us being that friendly in here., and I absolutely would take that opportunity to kick back and   trade BBq stories and good beer.

LOL yeah, warm and magical in Tampa this time of year

Gene McCarthys O.F.W. Brewing.

pics here

I love that story about the bulls, I've heard the more ribald vs but yeah, just like that hehehe.

Zo0

[tekobo]

On 2/15/2020 at 10:39 PM, ZooBeeQ said:

If its cooked whole, its all pulled and thats what I was going for, A pulled pig roast.

Rumbled!  You identified my underlying motivation.  I am a roast pig girl and don't much like pulled pork, hence all that distraction activity around crown joints and such.  Happily for you, other more sensible people turned up to give better advice.  

On 2/15/2020 at 11:05 PM, Basher said:

You could even delay some meats in the KK to have some climb higher for pulled pork and some just roasted. A grate loaded up could cook for 2 hours before loading up the rest of the pork.

I like this idea @Basher.  As you say, no chance to move grates much but it sounds like a good way to vary the cooking times.  Only challenge would be how to get the crunch on the roasted joints.  Maybe put them in close to the end and raise the temp once you have taken out the pulled pork joints?

On 2/16/2020 at 5:36 PM, Tyrus said:

Good luck and don't forget the pictures........only death is an excuse for no pics and with all that work it may be a possibility.

 

Help!  Didn't realise the choice round here was pix or death!!

[ZooBeeQ]

LOL death or pictures , yeah.

Having a meet tonight over beers to discuss all the great input here, see if anyone wants roast too. That might be cool, something for everyone.

So shoulders on first and bottom, hams on second mid and chest section on top last.

Depending on what I can fit.

I was thinking of I got it all on by 6pm friday , depending on heat steal, i should be able to get chest section on in the morning ( whatever AM hell its finished lol ) and ready for the beer gardens by 1 PM saturday

Yeah I have a deadline here, hungry beer drinkers will want something warm and tasty soon.

TBC

uhm I could post pics of the last 3 pigs ive done I guess