Block the wind while i roast this bone

There are few BBQ or grilling main courses that command more attention than this one. Now learn how to cook a whole hog the way the pros do it!

But before you commit to smoking a whole hog, keep this in mind: It is a lot of work. If you screw up you are embarrassed in front of a large crowd, and it is easy to screw up. But most importantly, keep in mind that this is not the best way to cook pork. There are lean tender muscles like the loin and tenderloin that are best at about 145°F (62.8°C), and tough sinewy knots of muscles like the shoulders and hams that won’t get tender until they hit 200°F (93.3°C) or so. What you end up doing is cooking everything to the higher number and then shredding it, dousing it with sauce, mix in some crunchy skin, and have a massive pile of pulled pork.

The best way to cook pork is to break the animal down into individual cuts just like your butcher does: Shoulder (make Perfect Pulled Pork), ribs (make Last Meal Ribs), loin (stuff them or make chops), tenderloin (make Sweet & Sour Pork On The Grill), hams (smoke ’em), belly (make Maple Bacon), skin (make Cracklins), cheeks (cure them for guanciale), scraps (make Italian Sausage), and bones (roast them to make soup and stock).

But when it comes to whole hog, there is no place that takes it as seriously as the folks in the Carolinas. When you order “barbecue” in the eastern parts of North or South Carolina, you are usually ordering chopped meat from a whole hog, and many joints in the Southeast feature a “Pig Pickin’”, a sumptuous buffet featuring a whole hog on display. You just sidle up to the table and pluck off whatever you want. When lunch is over, there is nothing but a few bones. Even the skin is gone because, when it is cooked the way I describe below, fabulously crisp “cracklins” become an essential part of the feast.

Hog roasting is a time consuming meticulous process that requires vigilance and more than one person. But there is no meal you can serve that is more impressive. And if you don’t want to cook a monster hog, you can cook a suckling pig. I describe the methods below.

The pit

If you want to serve a whole hog, you have several options:

1) Hire a pro

2) Get a portable pit from a rent-all service

3) Borrow a pit

4) Buy a pit

5) Build a pit

Nowadays most caterers and restaurants use specialized cookers for hogs, but a handful of old timers like Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC, and Jackie Hite’s Bar-B-Q in Batesburg-Leesville, SC, still do it old school, on concrete block pits, with log embers for heat. You can do it old school too for very little money. Just click here and follow my design for an old school hog pit (and see a picture of Jackie Hite and his pits).

If you rent a pit, consider gas. Gas pits are really easy to control, and you can still add wood for smoke. Charcoal and wood require non-stop vigilance.

Why hog cooking is tricky

Ask people if they’ve ever had roast pig and, if they have, their response usually is “Feh. Nothing special.” That’s because it was not cooked properly. And cooking it properly is tricky. But you can pull it off with some planning, some help, and my instructions.

The challenge with whole hog is that there are so many muscles of different thickness with different degrees of fat, sinew, and collagen. The hams, the large rump muscles on the rear legs are the thickest and most dense muscle group. They are best when smoked to about 145°F (62.8°C) and sliced. The shoulders are slightly less thick, and they have large fatty deposits within. They are best when cooked to about 203°F (95°C) and shredded. The loins are lean and tender, not nearly so thick, and they are best at about 145°F (62.8°C). Tenderloins, thin tubes of the most tender meat on the hog, are also best at about 145°F (62.8°C). The curved ribs are on top of the loins, and they are heavy with fat and collagen and connective tissue. They’re best at about 190°F (87.8°C). The bacon is mostly fat and it can go to 200°F (93.3°C). To make matters worse, there is a lot of sinew, globs of fat, chewy membrane and silverskin that can seriously get in the way.

It is impossible to hit all these numbers so you must compromise, but there are tricks to get everything tender and juicy.

Cooking times at 250°F (121.1°C)

Cook low and slow. Normally I tell readers to cook most foods at 225°F (107.2°C) and to learn how to peg their cookers at that temp, but if you don’t crank the temp up a bit a hog can take forever. So we’ll take it up to 250°F (121.1°C) or so.That’s the temp recommended by Mike “The Legend” Mills of 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, IL, and winner of a room full of trophies for his whole hog. Don’t worry, it won’t dry out. There’s lots of fat in there to keep things lubricated and sealed.

At that temp, here’s how long it should take. Approximately. Give or take an hour. Maybe. Hopefully. The pig is ready when the pig is ready. The pig is in control, not you. The pig abides. Remember, the cooking time depends on the thickness of the meat, not the weight, but since thickness is related to weight, we go by weight. Plan on these times, and if piggy is ready early you can shut down the heat on the pit and hold it there for an hour or two safely.

40 pounds (18.1 kg), gutted, head on: 3.5 hours

75 pounds (34 kg): 9 hours

100 pounds (45.4 kg): 12 hours

125 pounds (56.7 kg): 15 hours

150 pounds (68 kg): 18 hours

175 pounds (79.4 kg): 21 hours

200 pounds (90.7 kg): 24 hours

Approximate timetable for a 75 pound (34 kg) dressed hog

A week or two before. Order the hog.

The day before. Build the pit, or clean your pit if you already have one. Pick up the hog and keep it chilled.

6:00 a.m. Dress and clean the hog, inject and season, prep it for the pit. Fire up the pit. Aim for 250°F (121.1°C). Drink some strong coffee as you work.

8 a.m. Find an assistant/pigsitter and move the pig to the pit, skin side up. Remember to remove the pit lid before hoisting the hog. Monitor pit temp closely, add lit charcoal if the temp is declining. Have a mimosa.

9:00 a.m. through 2 p.m. Monitor pit temp closely, add lit charcoal if the temp is declining and check to make sure dinner isn’t burning. Switch to beer at 12:01.

10:00 a.m. Remove the foil from the ears and tail.

2:00 p.m. 6 hours into the cook, check the meat temp, and with some help, flip it skin side down if it is ready. Have a beer.

4:00 p.m. 8 hours into the cook, check the meat temp, paint the entire cavity with one coat of your favorite barbecue sauce. Have a beer.

4:30 p.m. One more coat of sauce. Have a beer.

5:00 p.m. 9 hours in, check the meat temp, remove the hog if it is ready, and serve dinner! Have a beer.

Want to learn more? Take a class and see how the top pros do it.

Amy Mills runs OnCue, a consulting service for barbecue restaurants, and her Dad is Mike “The Legend” Mills. They conduct an annual two day “Whole Hog Extravaganza” at the family restaurant, 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, IL, about two hours east of St. Louis. The year I attended they had a luminous faculty: Sam Jones of Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC; Brad Orrison of The Shed Barbecue & Blues Joint in Ocean Springs, MS; John Delpha of The Belted Cow Barbecue Bistro & Grill in Essex Junction, VT; as well as The Legend himself. Many of the photos on this page are from that event.

So the cattle wouldn’t feel slighted, they had three cooks demo their brisket techniques: Wayne Meller of Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, TX; Barry Sorkin of Smoque BBQ in Chicago; and Mills.

Many of the photos on this page were taken at the Whole Hog Extravaganza. Best of all, we got to eat the demonstration hogs and briskets! Click here for more photos of the event.

Video: Here’s the whole process in a video

Top 14 block the wind while i roast this bone