Whole pig cooking

[will raymond]

Hello all,

Got a wedding that we're catering for this Saturday and they wanted a hog roast with a difference - cue large reverse flow smoker!

Have ordered a 65-70kg pig to serve 120-130people.

Timetable so far (subject to any suggestions)

8pm Friday - light pit and get to temperature
9pm Friday - pig on
|
| tend fire through the night (not much sleep for me!)
|
1 to 3pm pig will reach desired temperatures in hams and shoulders
Wrap in lots of foil to rest and travel to venue (30mins away) hopefully little miss piggy will be in one piece still by then!!
5pm til 9pm food will be served. I will be stripping meat off the pig into gastronomic trays into chafing dishes to be served by a helper.

Can anyone spot any problems with my plan? Assuming a 70kg pig and using amazingribs.com's guide to whole pig cooking I'm banking on a 16-18 hour cook and at least a 2 hour rest covered in lots of foil.

Going to be using a technique I've seen on here before cooking the pig racer style and on lots of layers of foil rolled up at the edges so when it comes to resting it won't need to be lifted off the cooking grate.

Not sure on bap numbers either. I don't play on being stingy with portions so not sure how many people might want seconds. Boxes come in 48s so I guess I'll have to get 4 boxes to be sure (192 baps)

Any advice welcomed!

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Will, can not give any guidance on the cooking Temp/Time on a reverse flow.

As fars as serving, this is a guide. Pig X 45% (this is waste). Subtract this from the pig weight then Devide by 175grams per serving.

70Kg X 45% = 33.75Kg
70Kg - 33.75Kg = 36.25Kg
36.25kg divided by 175g = 207

Will please use this as a Guide only.

 

[jockaneezer]

Only ever done whole hogs on gas I'm afraid, why not drop Smokingmonkey a pm, he makes a living out of it and might have some tips for you.

 

[will raymond]

Will let you all know how I get on. What I really don't want to happen is to end up with it taking too long and also really don't want to run out either but hopefully neither will happen!

Maverick Et732 arrived today along with a big injector for a brine mix into the legs and shoulders.

Fingers crossed for a sunny day!

 

[smokewood]

35% waste, wow that's a lot of wastage

 

[smokin monkey]

45%!!!

 

[smokewood]

Sorry Steve my mistake, that is even worse then !!!

 

[smokin monkey]

You have to remember, Bone, Rendered fat, Head, Trotters etc. Lot of weight in that lot.

 

[will raymond]

In the end my worries about under catering were completely unfounded as at its peak there were maybe 60-65 people present despite being asked to cater for 130. Luckily we were already paid based on the 130 figure!

They sure had a lot of leftovers!!

 

[smokin monkey]

Glad it all went well Will. They are the jobs we like to do, pay up front [emoji]128077[/emoji]