Whole Hog vid!

Chez posted a link to this video on The Motley Fool "Funky Art of BBQ" forum. I just had to share it with you all. Have fun!

Whole Hog from Joe York on Vimeo.

Pork BBQlossal

The pork board gave each team "pocket roasts" and asked us to prepare them for the public. This is a new economy cut that they wanted to introduce. I think it comes from the ham. It really wasn't a very good cut of meat and I made sure that I explained to everyone who came to our camp that this wasn't something I'd serve them if I had my choice.

Jeff working on a turn-in box.

Mark "Oly" working on ribs.

The 10th place hog. Our first BBQ paycheck!

The hog box. As I look at this photo I really can't believe we didn't get 6s on appearance. Looks amateurish and rushed - though it was probably the best we could do with our limited experience. Oh well, we must have gotten a inexperienced table of judges.  Scores were 988 - 887 - 777 - 988 - 799 - 899.

Another good day.

The new team shirts are in ! Mark models the latest styles.

Mark and Jeff take the pig out of the cooker

Ready to pick.

Back at it!

Spare rib on top - trimmed to St. Louis on bottom.

Here's how I trim my thighs for comp. 
Some of what I put on the smoker.

A Fistfull of $$$$

The finished product

My first attempt at cooking a hog was a near disaster. The hog was too big for my cooker and about half of the poor creature never got above 120*. Here is the first successful hog we've done. As you can see we pay no attention to presentation. Pic quality is embarrassing - but the sucker was good

The pig was 62 lbs and was done in 6 hours. Butts were 200 and hams 190. The only thing left to do is make a removable grate so that we can turn the hog towards the end of the cook.

Pig's on!

Time to get ready for the BarbeQlossal in June. We got a small hog so that we could do some experimenting. Here's Mark with a new toy!

Some trimming - that's a dovetail saw. It works great!

My two oldest sons helped with the rub. They named the hog "Ned"

Ready to cook.

I'll post more pics of the finished hog tomorrow.

Smoked Chicken

My wife loves pulled smoked chicken. Since it's cheaper than buying her roses I'm always willing to make some for her when she gets a craving!