First time smoking a whole pig

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smokedstanley

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Oct 5, 2013
181
24
Taunton, Ma
This is my first whole pig. My son named her Piglet and she weighed 65 pounds. I salted and oiled the skin, and used my pork rub on the inside. It turned out to be a 12 hour smoke using Oak and Maple with a little Cherry thrown in for enhancement. I have yo say it was a great first try. I also made 6 racks of ribs, 2 Boston Butts and 14 pounds of jerked chicken to help back up the pig.






 
Good looking piggy...like the way them sausage look in the cavity.....would be nice to see some of the pulled apart pieces....I'm sure a good time was had by all. So, you gotz a Rec Tec and a big smoker..sweet.....Willie
 
Poor , Piglet
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 But it did look good...
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Have fun and . . .
 
Looks great, but, named it?

I always remember a line from The Culpepper Cattle Co.    A young greenhorn asks an old hand what the name of his horse is. The old cowboy tells him, "You never name anything you might have to eat."
 
mneely490, My son wanted to name the pig and he was my little helper, so why not.

Chef Willie, My wife is very supportive of BBQ. I cooked the pig, ribs, and shoulder in the big one and the jerked chicken in the Rec Tec. I also have a MES 30 for small smokes. 

To everyone else, thank you and the pig was great. Didn't think of taking pictures of it pulled apart, but it did pull apart easy. Just grab a chunk with with the tongs and pulled right out. The ribs went so quick last weekend that I didn't get any so we did more this weekend.


 
 
mneely490, My son wanted to name the pig and he was my little helper, so why not.

Chef Willie, My wife is very supportive of BBQ. I cooked the pig, ribs, and shoulder in the big one and the jerked chicken in the Rec Tec. I also have a MES 30 for small smokes. 

To everyone else, thank you and the pig was great. Didn't think of taking pictures of it pulled apart, but it did pull apart easy. Just grab a chunk with with the tongs and pulled right out. The ribs went so quick last weekend that I didn't get any so we did more this weekend.

What is that you're squirting on the ribs?
 
I was squirting homemade mustard bbq sauce. My kids are my camera crew, so my daughter got me in the middle of saucing the ribs. 
 
So I am doing my first hog this weekend. Should be in the 40 lbs range. What was your temp smoking yours? I have read so many different things I have no clue what to cook mine on! Thanks.
 
Great looking pig. Spectacular colour. You must have had a big tribe of eaters.

My Dad used to name the steers we kept for ourselves but only Loch Eille  lad 1  or 2 etc.That being the name of the family farm.
 
I kept the smoker around 225 for the whole smoke. Mopped every hour. The skin was nice and crisp and the meat was tender and juicy. I did the same thing. Reading so many sites it just got confusing.
 
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I cooked the two shoulders separately. I did put a few Italian sausage on the ribs though. I don't think it made any difference. 
 
OK, I am going to ask a dumb question here. 

I would like to do this when the weather warms up in Michigan (so not for quite a while) but I know the whole pig is going to bother my wife. However I am still planning on doing this.

My question is this, what do you do with the head? I know this will be the main part that bothers her.
 
We didn't do much with it. A couple people ate the cheeks and the rest was thrown out. Make sure you remove the eyes before cooking so you don't have to worry about them popping and running down the face.
 
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