How To Cook A Whole Pig On A Pit

Whole Hog

Building a cinder block pit to smoke a grunter is taking whole hog cooking back to the old school methods. Honestly, equally a BBQ nerd, there is naught more rewarding than this entire process.

We hosted my buddy Michael Letchworth (partner at Sam Jones BBQ in Ayden, NC) to come up to Texas and walk u.s.a. through this process that the legendary Skylight Inn has employed since 1947.

Sentry that procedure and cook in our Whole Hog Video: https://youtu.be/vu4us4TBYJ8

Ingredients:

1 Whole Hog (this video had a 135lb hog), dissever
one Gallon of Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce
1 package Morton's iodized common salt

Pit Supplies

64 cinder blocks
(eight) 4 10 1/2" steel rebar
(2) two x 10 corrugated roofing (sub any measurements to embrace the pit)

Other Tools Needed

Burn barrel (sub 10 more than blocks to burn forest as shown in the above video)
Shovel
Instant Read Thermometer
High heat gloves
Cleaver

Prepare the Hog

Whole Hog
Divide the back os & head with a sawzall and then it lays flat.

Whole Hog

Build the Block Pit
For a hog of comparable size - Stack 2 rows of five blocks long, stacked iv high. Connect them with 2 rows of iv stacked iv loftier. Identify the rebar to a higher place the 3rd set of blocks on the long sides about 10" autonomously. You will take to place the 3rd row of blocks slightly inset so the rebar volition reach.

Spotter this video for the build procedure:
https://world wide web.youtube.com/watch?v=vu4us4TBYJ8

Block Pit

Prepare the coals
Fire wood downward to coals in a burn butt. Supplement with lump charcoal if necessary.

Cook the Hog
Lay the Hog peel side upwards across the rebar. Many people use chicken wire or fencing on each side of the hog to help flip it. However, equally discussed in the video, nosotros simply used rebar merely, to let more room for the skin to aggrandize and chimera during the crisping procedure. This is a very old method. It's certainly ok to utilize wire and makes for an easier flip.

Sprinkle the peel with about a cup of tap water to moisture it. Sprinkle information technology with nearly 3/4 of the container of table salt. This volition assistance well-baked the peel in the concluding portion of the cook.

Sprinkle some coals downward the long edges of the pit.

Whole Hog

Continue this process until the hams reach 125 degrees internal.

Whole HOg

Flip the hog. We used high rut gloves that came half fashion up our arms. I recommend towels to cover up more of your arm if you go this route. Otherwise it's difficult to reach all the way nether the hams.

Whole Hog

Go on shoveling in coals until the hams are 185 degrees internal.

Whole Hog BBQ

Whole Hog

Shovel dress-down directly nether the hog for the final 15 - 20 minutes of the cook to bubble and crisp up the skin.

Pull & Chop the Pork
Pull the meat onto a chopping block. Also bring in pieces of the crispy skin. Using a cleaver chop all of the meat together. Adding the skin gives yous a crispy bit in every bite.

Whole Hog BBQ