Rag1
Executive Chef
I cooked my 3rd pig today. The first one was cooked in a Lang60 for 9 hrs at 240*. It came out perfect.
The second one was cooked in my MC 250 at the tail end of a snow storm in Feb. That was a large hog that could have cooked longer. A lot of drunks at the party kept opening the door which threw off the cook times.
Today's cook was a dress rehearsal for catering. It was the same size as the first one. I figured 9hrs at 240*. Started at 3 am and by 8am I could see the meat temp lagging; so up went the chamber temp. I boosted it 4 or 5 times till the last hours were at 350* for a total time of 11 hrs.
The meat was very good. The skin as you can see turned black from the hot temps. One spot deep in the shoulders did not pull from bone freely.
One other major time effect was 2 cut up butts stuffed in the cavity. I had to make a sewing needle to lace the cavity shut. I cut one from walnut with a curved end....worked great. In the future extra butts will be external of the pig; most likely in oven bags after the bark forms.
I found a cheaper wire brush at a restaurant supply store that works as good or better than more expensive ones ($3.95). It ain't purdy, but works well.
Oh, the damned apple was way too big. Better suited for a steer.
http://usera.imagecave.com/Rag/Marchpig/
The second one was cooked in my MC 250 at the tail end of a snow storm in Feb. That was a large hog that could have cooked longer. A lot of drunks at the party kept opening the door which threw off the cook times.
Today's cook was a dress rehearsal for catering. It was the same size as the first one. I figured 9hrs at 240*. Started at 3 am and by 8am I could see the meat temp lagging; so up went the chamber temp. I boosted it 4 or 5 times till the last hours were at 350* for a total time of 11 hrs.
The meat was very good. The skin as you can see turned black from the hot temps. One spot deep in the shoulders did not pull from bone freely.
One other major time effect was 2 cut up butts stuffed in the cavity. I had to make a sewing needle to lace the cavity shut. I cut one from walnut with a curved end....worked great. In the future extra butts will be external of the pig; most likely in oven bags after the bark forms.
I found a cheaper wire brush at a restaurant supply store that works as good or better than more expensive ones ($3.95). It ain't purdy, but works well.
Oh, the damned apple was way too big. Better suited for a steer.
http://usera.imagecave.com/Rag/Marchpig/
Oh well, we all gotta go sometime.
