Monk: Last month, I cooked my second whole hog for my neighborhood swim club event to close out the season. In case you missed my post leading up to it, here’s a link to refresh your memory on what I thought I would do differently for this hog cook:

Seven Things I’m Going to Do Differently when I Smoke My Second Whole Hog This Fall

Utilizing our patented 5 hogs scale, I’ll rate how well I changed up each thing for hog #2 and total it up at the end. Let’s see how I did:

Thing #1: I’m going to use a pig cooker (a BQ Grill, specifically)
Verdict: 5 hogs

I’m fortunate that a neighbor 1) owned a BQ Grill pig cooker and 2) let me borrow it for free. And boy, was I glad that I had that instead of having to haul the cinder blocks to and from the swim club parking lot. There isn’t a super steep learning curve to the BQ coming from a cinder block pit and the BQ drew a lot of positive attention from the crowd. I can’t wait to borrow it again.

Thing #2: I will get a bunch of wood coals going before I start the cook
Verdict: 3 hogs

That same neighbor who let me borrow the pig cooker is the one who I bought a burn barrel from several years back. I finally got a chance to use that burn barrel and built up a good base of coals for about an hour plus starting at 10pm that Friday night before I finally put them into the cooker. I did a decent job with this part but found myself without coals at times and having to play catch up. Once again, I went through a half cord of wood and then some.

Thing #3: I’m going to crisp up the skin and chop it into the pork
Verdict: 0 hogs

I said earlier there wasn’t a steep learning curve to the BQ Grill but I really should have said “other than the deflector plate.” I had a vague understanding of how removing it would crisp up the skin at the end but no real sense of how mechanically to do that considering how heavy and hot it was. I will have to do more research ahead of time next time but for this time around I made a business decision not to mess with it in case I messed up the pig right before the party start time.

Thing #4: I’ll probably throw some pork butts on (just in case)
Verdict: 4 hogs

I got a little bit bigger pig this time around – 157 pounds vs 126 pounds – but was also feeding a much larger crowd (~350 vs 100). I ended up only grabbing two extra pork butts but the crowd ate every last bit of the pork that was available, with only a half full gallon Ziploc bag remaining after the party.

Thing #5: I will try the head this time
Verdict: 5 hogs

I most certainly tried (and started) the cheeks from the head and absolutely found them to be extremely tender and flavorful. From this point on, I will definitely not be wasting the head.

Thing #6: I will not waste any pig this time around
Verdict: 5 hogs

As a reminder, last time close to a quarter of the pig fell onto the ground of the cinder block pit due to carelessness on my part, although I was able to salvage most of what fell. Thankfully, that did not happen this time around but next time I will use the grated screen next time so I could cook the pork butts on that instead of resting in the cavity of the pig. The consistency of the butts didn’t quite come out the way I wanted.

Thing #7: I’m going to recruit a crew to not only help out but enjoy the cook
Verdict: 4 hogs

I had a crew of folks hanging out for the start of the pig cook with a couple of guys even making it until about 3am and helping me flip the pig before they went to their respective homes. And not only did they help flip the pig but they came through in the clutch with a late night McDonald’s order of cheeseburgers. Then, in the morning, my neighbor came back out for an hour or two to see where he could be of help. And then, of course, I have to mention the guys helping me serve the crowd.

Final Tally: 26 hogs (out of a possibly 35)

The main thing for next time is figuring out the best way to crisp up the pork skin. The pig turned out amazing but that will be next level for me. Until next time!