Pig Picking

[Wing Commander]

A friend of mine and me been talking about whole hog cooking since a longer time. This weekend we gave it a try: We got us a little hog of 25 kg and built us a stone brick pit to cook it low and slow.

On Friday I made two sauces: 2,5 bottles Piedmont style dip and one bottle of South Carolina Mustard Sauce
Die ersten Vorbereitungen traf ich bereits freitags: es wurde eine Flasche South Carolina Mustard Sauce zubereitet und zweieinhalb Flaschen Lexington Dip (mit letzterem sollte auch das Schwein eingepinselt werden).



On Saturday I made some cole slaw.



Here are some pics of building our pit:











On Sunday we lightened 12 kg of charcoal briquettes in a really BIG charcoal chimney...



We prepared and trimmed the pig, butterflied it, injected a simple brine of just water and salt. The pig was seasoned only with salt.







The coals were spread along the sides of our pit. Some chunks of beech wood were placed upon the coals.





The hog was placed on the grill and all was covered.





After three hours the hog looked like that, was flipped and slathered with the Piedmont style dip:





After six hours we pulled the pork.



































Quite a lot of waste...



...but also a lot of pulled pork:



We had a bakery bake some buns for us to assemble some delicious pulled pork sandwiches:





That was real fun! Although it was a lot of work, it was a really great experience!

[sliding_billy]

Awesome job.  Thanks for all of the great pics.

[muebe]

Very cool!

Looks like a lot of fun just to put together and the pork looks great!

[Smokin Don]

I always wanted to do that too WC. You guys did a great job and a beautiful looking hog!!! That was a nice pit you made up and great photos!!! Don

[tlg4942]

How much charcoal do you figure it took?  The pit looks great. So does that pork...

[ACW3]

WC,
That looks fantastic.  I helped do a whole hog a couple of years ago.  The skin on the belly is a much sought after part of the pig.  Those who cooked got first shot at that skin.  It is a combination of tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  It seems everyone likes the skin.  The only way to be fair is to chop up the skin into small pieces and mix with the pulled pork.  That makes for good eats.

Art

[Scallywag]

I have always wanted to try that as well.. looks like it was a great day WC!

[Las Vegan Cajun]

That looks wonderful and I bet it was a lot of fun too. 

[drholly]

Wow, what a great series of excellent pictures. What a great cook! Thank you for sharing that.

[Smokerjunky]

That looks wonderful and I bet it was a lot of fun too. 

X2

[Pappymn]

Very cool!

Looks like a lot of fun just to put together and the pork looks great!

X2

[RAD]

That was one heck of a picture show. Looks outstanding.

[spuds]

Super post! That wasted skin would have been deep fried here for sure.

Thank you or taking the time to share that.

[Old Hickory]

Great job and lot's of good pic's.  Thanks so much.  Cooking whole pig is a lot of work.  Haven't done that since my younger days.  It was in the ground and a two day experience for the men involved, then a pig picking feast for about twenty.  Lots of fun and lots of adult beverage consumed .

[HighOnSmoke]

Fantastic photos and cook WC!