LarryWolfe
Chef Extraordinaire
YaYa said:I cooked a 110 lb dressed out pig this past week - for prep - I peppered and salted the meat and skin, then mopped a mixture (not sauce) that contained no sugar onto the meat and skin - we cooked on gas but we also smoked the pig for most of the cooking process - the result was a delicious pig but I had a "bark" on the top of the meat - I know in contests that judges do not want to see a "black" pig - where in the cooking process did I go wrong? Also, the mop mixture was supposed to turn the meat and skin a reddish color but everything turned out a dark brown - any suggestions?
Only thing I can think of that would turn the meat "black" would be either the gas wasnt' burning "clean" or the rendered fat was puddling up somewhere in the cooker and boiling to the point of smoking. Was there a grease drain on the cooker? Seems to me that either of those things would have effected the taste though.
How were you getting the smoke? Pieces of wood? Pellets? Chips?