Rag1
Executive Chef
I cooked a pig Friday night/Sat am for a wedding reception. That pig was really kicking my ass. I had it positioned towards the rear side of the grate to allow for room in the front for 4 butts. Bad mistake. There was a temp probe in each shoulder which told me the side closest to the back door was lagging by 15* to 20*. My extra time built into the schedule was eaten up and I started jacking the pit temp up 4 hours before serving time. I pushed the temp up 70*.
That cool side just hit a little shy of the target temp when I pulled it. Very little rest time.
The pig looked like crap. The higher temps made the skin pull up the sides and completely up over the ass. The foil covering was pulled way early to help bring up the temp which made the skin coal black.
Fruit was placed around the front for picture taking and show & tell time which helped a lot.
The meat was outstanding and the feed a success.
Some of the guests said they were at pig cooks where the meat sucked.
I can see it now...some dude will cook a picture perfect pig and these people will say "that ain't done right. It's should be black and shriveled up for the meat to be good".
By he way, I weighed all the pulled meat (this is the second pig I did this to) and the yield was 30% of raw dressed wt. The butts were 50%.
That cool side just hit a little shy of the target temp when I pulled it. Very little rest time.
The pig looked like crap. The higher temps made the skin pull up the sides and completely up over the ass. The foil covering was pulled way early to help bring up the temp which made the skin coal black.
Fruit was placed around the front for picture taking and show & tell time which helped a lot.
The meat was outstanding and the feed a success.
Some of the guests said they were at pig cooks where the meat sucked.
I can see it now...some dude will cook a picture perfect pig and these people will say "that ain't done right. It's should be black and shriveled up for the meat to be good".
By he way, I weighed all the pulled meat (this is the second pig I did this to) and the yield was 30% of raw dressed wt. The butts were 50%.
