Cooking half a hog

[buckeyefarmer]

My church is doing a 200# one next month. We made a pit with block, small fire at one end. Maintain 250° . last yr we cooked 160# for about 12 hrs i think. Meat was well done falling off the bones.
Put a metal cover over it, and has a nice cooking rack with handles.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

View of the fire, used hickory.

 

[dickfoster]

My church is doing a 200# one next month. We made a pit with block, small fire at one end. Maintain 250ｰ . last yr we cooked 160# for about 12 hrs i think. Meat was well done falling of the bones.
Put a metal cover over it, and has a nice cooking rack with handles.

View attachment 468563

Many open bit barbecues are built just that way. Most shovel coals into the pit and burn the wood into coals in a separate burn box or barrel.

 

[lilranch2001]

I wonder how the food turned out.....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We've done them in scouts with a metal cooker, usually use charcoal in it, but we add wood coals also.

 

[teejk]

Many open bit barbecues are built just that way. Most shovel coals into the pit and burn the wood into coals in a separate burn box or barrel.

One place at the Wisconsin state fair does that with pigs and chickens although they use rotisserie. They use the true "lump" charcoal (not the briquettes). Starting to see more and more of that lately. Back to rotisserie...bought the Weber kit for my oversized 6 burner LP hog...I love it! Something about that slow rotation that puts the meat to heat, then back off, only to repeat. Have done chickens, rump roast and pork...all come out great.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The metal cooker. Nothing like camping in the woods and eating pulled pork fresh off the cooker. And we built an oven for baking.

 

[teejk]

View attachment 468579
The metal cooker. Nothing like camping in the woods and eating pulled pork fresh off the cooker. And we built an oven for baking.

View attachment 468580

But you are doing it for the church! Seems to me that BBQ requires a long cooking time and a lot of "fluids" for the cooks. That's how we do it in Wisconsin anyway.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

No extra fluid for me, lol

 

[dickfoster]

One place at the Wisconsin state fair does that with pigs and chickens although they use rotisserie. They use the true "lump" charcoal (not the briquettes). Starting to see more and more of that lately. Back to rotisserie...bought the Weber kit for my oversized 6 burner LP hog...I love it! Something about that slow rotation that puts the meat to heat, then back off, only to repeat. Have done chickens, rump roast and pork...all come out great.

I use natural hardwood lump charcoal and wood chunks in my smoker. Never briquettes as that stuff is made from clay, coal dust and other junk, that's why there is so much ash left over from burning that stuff. Nasty stuff.
I use lumps of different woods depending on what I'm cooking, I usually use hickory for pork, along with oak, apple, cherry, maple, mesquite and others for other meat and fish. For example Mesquite goes good with beef brisket but is too strong for fish but apple works well.
IMO the best lump charcoal seems to be Royal Oak in the red bag and it's also easy to come by. There is a website out there that rates and tests many brands of lump charcoal. If I can't get Royal Oak, Cowboy is good but seems to have a lot of scraps from manufacturers of wood flooring. I'm about to take down a maple tree in our front yard, it will make a lot of good wood for my smoker. BACON!