I ended up buying a whole hog and told the butcher to just cut it up and don't do anything to it. With this hog I want to try my own bacon as well as doing my own hams. With the ground meat I will experiment with sausages and other stuff. It was time to do the hog. I used pop's recipe. It is simple and delicous. I couldnt ask for better results. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927-s-wet-curing-brine I brined it for 12 days in a turkey brining bag which was inserted into a 5 gallon bucket. I then cut a slab of and tested it on that 12th day. It was a little salty (I could have eaten it no problem) so i soaked it in water for 1 hr and changed the water after 30 min. I then patted it dry added some ground pepper and let it sit in the fridge for a couple days before smoking it. On the day I was smoking it was 42 degrees out and i had two AmazeN smokers in my WSM with Apple and Hickery dust. I did add a dozen or so briquettes to get the smoker up to a max of 107 degrees but tried to let it stay anywhere from 70-85 degrees. I then took it off and let it sit in the fridge for a couple days. On slicing day i put it in the freezer for a little over an hour and here is the final result.
