Well, I cooked a whole hog over the 4th of July holiday… It was really easy and a whole bunch of fun!
We needed to feed around 50-70 people, so I ordered a 72 lb. roaster hog from a local butcher. When we got it back home, I injected it everywhere with about a gallon of my Game Changer pork injection (see recipe below). Be sure to pay special attention to the hams, front shoulders and backstraps. The easiest way to inject the backstraps is to go in through the rib cage between the ribs along the spine on either side down the entire length of the carcass. Then, we tossed it back in the cooler and covered with bags of ice and let it rest overnight.
Game Changer Pork Injection (makes one gallon):
- 64 ounces Apple Juice (100% juice from concentrate)
- 64 ounce Ginger Ale
- 2 level cups Game Changer Brine
Add ginger ale and dry brine mix to a large pitcher and stir briskly until all brine is dissolved. This will cause a lot of foaming, so be careful. Then, add apple juice and stir again. Place brine mixture into fridge to chill for several hours. Brine should be below 40º F before you inject into the hog.
At 4:30 am the next morning, I lit a fire in my old Lang 84D and pulled the hog out of the cooler. The inside of the cavity was liberally rubbed with our Competition Beef & Pork rub. I also foiled the ears, snoot, front hooves and tail to keep them from burning up.
The pig went on the pit at 5:30 am with the head-end facing the firebox. I pulled the top shelf out of the Lang and used it to set the pig on, then we just slid the whole thing onto the bottom grates with the head facing the firebox end of the pit. For the cook, I used a 50/50 ratio of white oak & shagbark hickory for heat and flavor, and maintained an average pit temp of 235º throughout the cook.
After 2 hours, it looked like this…
After 6 hours, we rotated it 180º so the rear hams were pointed toward the firebox end…
Then at 12 hours it temped out at 195º in both the front shoulder and rear hams, so it was DINNER TIME! I loaded it in the back of my truck and drove CAREFULLY down to the neighbor’s house…
I set it on a 4′ table that we’d wrapped in plastic wrap first, then after it had rested for about 30 minutes, I carefully cut the skin down the spine and started pulling off the skin from one side. I left the other side intact for presentation purposes (we dug into the other side later)…
And this is my boy, Joe. I don’t think he knew quite what to think about it…
The meat was tender and very juicy everywhere. Nothing was dried out, not even the inside loins or the backstraps. The Game Changer pork injection did an excellent job of adding just the right of flavor and sweetness in addition to keeping everything very moist. Everyone had a great time and no one left hungry.
The best looking hog indeed, and it's BBQd! Looks so yummy!
Thanks for the kind comments! You can purchase the spices right here on this website, just look for the "Products" link at the top of each page. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any full service butchers in your area, but I'm sure the exist. You might try using Google to find them.
Awesome I just started in the BBQ world and I want to tackle the whole HOG where can I buy the Spices and Brine mixture, and where is the Butcher you bought the HOD from located. Or did you have a butcher in SO CAL. I live in 92582 area. Thanks for the posted pic and narriation. I will definitely follow this
Thanks, Derek!
That's one of the best looking whole hogs I've ever seen. I'm hoping to do my first whole hog soon. I may have to pick up some Game Changer injection. Thanks for posting this.