Pig gig

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Rag1

Executive Chef
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
3,022
Location
Berks Cty, Pa.
  • Did a pig catering on the 4th. I tried cooking with all charcoal to get a lighter shin color. Charcoal didn't work worth a crap. I used 120 pounds of charcoal and couldn't keep the pit temp up. Hitting 200* was difficult. Towards daybreak, (about 10 hours into it) I switched to wood and had no trouble keeping temps on target.
    Meat turned out good and all guests enjoyed it. I couldn't pull meat fast enough. Barb noticed many were starting to hit the desert table which meant a break coming for me.
    The pics didn't turn out real good because of the bright sun and contrast with anything shaded
    Was up for 40 hours straight. Then slept for 12 hours wire to wire.
    Good gig.








 
I started with 40#s. Empty, the pit came up to 240* in an hour. Put the pig in. Struggled to hit 220*. As more cc was added the temp struggled to hit 200*, with it sliding down to 180*. The pig temp held (to a graft chart line on where it should be) to about 8 hours, then falling behind. At the 10th hour I pulled the plug on cc and went to wood.
The fire box (2 ft cube) was full of cc, sloped from the back to where it would been hard to get more in. The whole bed was lit with a blanket of 1" high flame over it. That bitch was hot, but wouldn't heat the cook chamber.
When I added 2 logs on top the temp went right up. Some guys have good results with cc baskets, probably because of air flow like you suggest.
I think I'll stick with wood and coal black pigs. Was that a hill billy song title?
 
Damn Rag that looks OUTSTANDING! Great color on the pig (as far as I can tell) and the garnish looks great too. I like the halved pinaples, they look good.
 
I never could get my Lang to temp with just charcoal either. JD's smokin misfits uses a basket and royal oak lump... he just throws in a whole bag at a time.. bag and all.

I only use a chimney of charcoal to start the fire.

BTW... Daaaaaaaaaaamn nice lookin pig thar!
 
Fine lookin hog and beautiful garnish! I use wicked good lump and hickory splits and have no trouble kicking her up to 300 or so with or without the split.
dj
 
Thanks for the color kudos. I liked it too, but it came out good because of half the cook being cc. It cooked all night with cc. When switching to wood, the pig was light tan. The remaining hours of wood darkened it to dark mahogany. 100% wood would have been my usual jet black.
The old mantra is charcoal for heat and wood for smoke. Not so with my pit.
I went through 120#s of cc which cuts into profits...think I'll stay with stick burning.
 
Crap, you weren't supposed to see that. I had the gator clip on my pit temp probe clipped to the top of a coffee can. Didn't realize it had a plastic label on it. It's a learning moment. :LOL:

Pig was 134 pounds.
 

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