In Search of Tips Re: Grilling Skin-on Whole Hog on a Spit

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Whiteguy

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2017
5
0
So I have this hog that I butchered and scraped for a friend's surprise birthday party. Per his wife's request (in an attempt to placate city folk who will be attending) the feet and head have been removed. She intends to cook the pig on a rented propane grill with a motorized spit attachment. I've done a few hours of research and I've read that the exterior and interior should be rubbed down with salt, spices, and oil. The cavity should be filled with herbs, vegetables, fruits, whatnot, and then sewn shut with butchers twine or wire. The legs should be fastened to the spit. The carcass should be at a distance from the fire where one can at most hold their hand for 8 or 9 seconds. The skin should be scored in a gridiron manner of sorts. The heat should not be directly underneath the hog, but just off to the side so as to decrease or eliminate the possibility of flareups caused by dripping fat. The meat should be regularly dipped with some kind of a marinade or fat. The internal cook temperature of the thickest portion of the hog (for this specimen would be the rump) should be cooked until it is 150 degrees Fahrenheit. To remove the meat from the hog, the spit should be removed by two people with the pig still attached. Then it should be set somewhere safe where the skin can be removed, and then the meat. The latter is accomplished just by sloughing it off the bones perhaps with a serving fork.

I am curious to know if any experienced grillers can tell me if anything of the above ought to improved upon or just scrapped completely. Also, is there a formula to determine roughly how long this process can be expected to last? I haven't weighed the carcass, but I have the means. It is on ice, and I intend to allow it to warm to room temperature (eg, 70 degrees) before actually starting the heating process. Can I use lard instead of oil? I think it is a better fat to cook with, but also a healthier alternative to the new tradition of olive oil. How often should the hog be sprayed with a fat/oil, or be doused with it? My guess would be every 15 minutes.

The party isn't until Saturday, so I have a day to read responses, etc.

I'm sorry if this topic is already addressed on the forum. I spent a long time searching but could not find anything that close enough mirrored my situation to be of any reliable help.
 
Can’t really help you much as all the ones I’ve helped with have been cooked in the ground luau style.

There’s a hindered or so whole hog threads here:

http://smokingmeatforums.com/index.php?search/43909/&q=Whole+hog&o=relevance

You may want to post your question in the Pork forum, you may get more replies.

Yes, I've seen those whole hog threads but none seem to be applicable to me because I am not smoking the hog.

I contemplated posting the thread in the Pork section but decided not to as it seemed that the Pork section was dedicated to smoking pork and my questions don't pertain to smoking. Then again, this website is called "Smoking Meat Forums," so perhaps my thread doesn't even belong here at all. I chose the GRILLING TIPS area because I thought it was the best fit for the advice I seek.

Regardless, thanks for the help. I'll try to give you reputation points if this forum allows as such.
 
Here is a pretty good video.



Hope this helps!

Al


Thanks Al. This was one of the many videos I watched, and one of the more useful. It does not address the lard question, it seems to stand to reason that if the lard cannot drip onto the heat source then all should be well. I'm crossing my fingers that the unit my friend rents has the heating element offset from the spit. I'm also thinking the skin should act as a fireguard against the half inch think fat cap over the meat, just in case.

I found another website after making the thread that suggested 6.5 minutes cook time per pound of dressed pig for roasting. That would be quicker than my propane powered Oil-Less Fryer, which by the way is awesome.
 
I have cooked many whole hogs, this is how I have done it and had great results. I season as you have mentioned above and sew it shut also. I do not score the skin as I have found it has a tendency to split and fall off, I also found that I do not need to spray as there is plenty of fat that renders and self bastes as the spit turns. The rump will probably not be the longest cooking part of the hog, I find that it takes considerably longer for the front shoulders in between the shoulder and ribs to get up to temp. You should let the hog rest for an hour to and hour and a half after reaching your desired temp, depending if your slicing or pulling. As far as cook time, it really varies depending on weather conditions. I have always used all charcoal and wood, and keep my temp around 300 degrees. the 125 pound dressed weight hogs I have cooked take around 10 hours using an indirect heat. I hope you can get some useful information out of my rambling. Good luck with your cook.
 
I do not score the skin as I have found it has a tendency to split and fall off, I also found that I do not need to spray as there is plenty of fat that renders and self bastes as the spit turns.

Excellent point. I definitely wouldn't want the fat cap to be charred. Sounds gross. Virtually nobody was interesting in the skin, which for some reason surprised me.

The rump will probably not be the longest cooking part of the hog, I find that it takes considerably longer for the front shoulders in between the shoulder and ribs to get up to temp.

Very counter-intuitive. Thank you. Quick question, do you stretch out the limbs to make a tubular shape or do you allow he legs to stick outward? The lady who prepared the carcass allowed the legs to stick out, though the front two protruded a lot more than the rears.

You should let the hog rest for an hour to and hour and a half after reaching your desired temp, depending if your slicing or pulling. As far as cook time, it really varies depending on weather conditions. I have always used all charcoal and wood, and keep my temp around 300 degrees. the 125 pound dressed weight hogs I have cooked take around 10 hours using an indirect heat. I hope you can get some useful information out of my rambling. Good luck with your cook.

Do you let the pig rest to allow further cooking, give it a chance to cool off, or some combination of the two?

This may be the dumbest question, but how do you take the temperature of the fire? My guess would be to hold the thermometer at the bottom of the pig for several dozen seconds. Am I right?
 
Don't score the skin. I prefer butterflied flat on the grate ( belly side down first, then finish back down) over racer style on rotisserie.
 
Excellent point. I definitely wouldn't want the fat cap to be charred. Sounds gross. Virtually nobody was interesting in the skin, which for some reason surprised me.



Very counter-intuitive. Thank you. Quick question, do you stretch out the limbs to make a tubular shape or do you allow he legs to stick outward? The lady who prepared the carcass allowed the legs to stick out, though the front two protruded a lot more than the rears.



Do you let the pig rest to allow further cooking, give it a chance to cool off, or some combination of the two?

This may be the dumbest question, but how do you take the temperature of the fire? My guess would be to hold the thermometer at the bottom of the pig for several dozen seconds. Am I right?
I leave the legs stick out, but cut them short. I allow to rest to allow further cooking and cooling/juice redistributing into the meat. I have several thermometers around my roaster for monitoring temps.
 
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