whole sucking pig

[goldentouch]

I have a friend that wants me to smoke a small around 20 lbs pig.   He has a lot of hogs on his property and loves the ribs I have been smoking.   My plan was to get one of the pigs.  scald the whole pig and scrap it clean.  Gut it and cut it in half and smoke the two halfs.  Any suggestions or a big thumbs up and go ahead with plan

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[DivotMaker]

If it fits, smoke it!!    What time's supper?

[SuperDave]

With my #4, this has crossed my mind a couple of times.  Be my pioneer!!

[goldentouch]

Thanks look for an update coming soon

[Pork Belly]

What model Smoker do you have? Depending on length of the pig my first thought would be; scald/scrape, then saw through the sternum to open it, split the vertebra with a hatchet and the pig will lay open flat. If you need to cut it in half due to size I would go from nose to tail leaving the head attached. With either method of cutting leave the skin intact, salt or apply rub to the interior and smoke skin side up.

[goldentouch]

I have a #2 and will probably have to cut the head off. 

[Pork Belly]

Save the head for a separate cook. Excellent eating on a pig head.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Man ..................that sounds awesome because I also have a number two Smoker and that very same thing has entered my mind but ..............................my question is.............. how long would the smoke be ( hours )and would you have to flip the pig from side to side or ...............?

[SuperDave]

I read up on it a little bit on SMF last night and I'm a little less excited now.  It sounds like a 25 lbs dressed pig only yields about 12.5 lbs of meat.  The rest is waste.  Filling my smoker with butts is sounding a lot more productive.  LOL! 

[Walt]

You CAN'T go wrong following Brian's (Pork Belly) advice on anything he posts WRT cooking.  He seems to only comment on what he actually knows.

[Pork Belly]

Thanks Walt, but WRT whats that? As for time I  have done two heads off of 300 lb hogs for 16 hours without rotating and they were great. The overall mass was likely near capacity for my #3. I had them on the second from the lowest shelf and the noses nearly touched the top. The rack was full and I had to force the door shut. I ran those at 250 for 16 hours the head in the back was more fall apart tender than the one near the door but both were done. The single head I did was centered in the smoker and went 16 hours on 235, it was fantastic. This was my first head, it is actually a half
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1837.msg10838#msg10838
When I cooked the other half of that head I went longer about 14 hours.
I would weigh the pig head off and guts out and see what you have figure 1.25 a pound at 235 and look at it when that time expires. That should give you a baseline as to where to go to finsh that one or to smoke another.

[Walt]

With respect to = WRT

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Goldentouch , you really need to Smoke that pig-let ......ASAP with all in mind , cook time , taste , prep , etc .

[goldentouch]

I plan on doing it after all the ice is gone.  I know some of you are under several feet of snow and ice but here in Texas just a dusting brings everything to a hault   I will post the results

[DivotMaker]

Helluva mess in the DFW area today, Eddie!  What were they thinking?  Guess the mayor and Gov didn't learn anything from the fiasco in Atlanta last year!