Whole Hog or Just the Butt?

There is a lot of attention given to the idea of cooking a whole pig for catering events or a whole turkey around the Thanksgiving holiday. That’s all fine and dandy, but I think sometimes the romance of cooking the whole critter causes people to overlook the advantages of smoking only certain cuts. For example, smoking a batch of Boston butts instead of a whole pig.

The idea of going whole hog is wrapped up in a lot of culture, tradition, and novelty—especially at parties and other special events. People love hanging around the pit, and a whole pig or bird on the smoker makes a great conversation piece or an interesting place to take your picture. 🙂

Cook Time

One slight challenge when cooking a whole turkey or pig is making sure every part of the animal is fully cooked. White meat cooks faster than brown, so in a whole turkey, the breast is often on the verge of drying out by the time the legs are done. If you cook breasts separately, you’re only dealing with white meat and don’t need to worry about scaring off that red juice around the leg bones.

Another example is grilling chicken halves. For one, it’s not practical to feed everyone in a mixed crowd half a chicken because there will be a lot of waste. Second, it’s hard to keep the white from overcooking by the time you finish the leg. One way to fix this is to just grill chicken quarters. Or split the parts and cook them separately; as they get done, pull them off the grill or smoker and cook the rest for longer.

Prep

You need to consider which is more achievable for you: a nice batch of Boston Butts or a whole pig? For many of us, it’s an easy thing to drive to Costco or some local grocery store and pick up a few Boston Butts, thaw (if frozen), unwrap them, season ’em up, and you’re ready to go. A whole pig is a different story. You could 1) order a butchered pig with skin on, get it home, butterfly or sew it shut, etc. or 2) butcher a pig, scald it to remove the hair, and so on.

If you don’t have a Meadow Creek Pig Roaster or have your heart set on a rotisserie, it will take some time to wire up the pig. Like I said, this process is all fine and good—no problem whatsoever. But if you are just starting out, it’s helpful to know what you are getting yourself into. Level of experience aside, sometimes it’s just better to keep it simple.

There is also a little more prep work with whole chickens and turkeys than, for example, split bone-in chicken breasts. Small pieces are easier to season and handle, but it gets pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Flavor

I am a big fan of barbecue seasonings and smoke flavor. Whole pigs are generally done with skin on and often sewn shut along the belly. In my opinion, you might as well cook a pig like this on gas as far as flavor goes. When you cut the skin open and pull the meat, you will know what I mean. It’s pretty much like oven-cooked pork. Of course, you can season the belly cavity before cooking, but you’re still lacking that smoke flavor.

This is why I prefer smoking Boston butts over a whole pig. There is no skin and each chunk of meat gets plenty of seasoning and develops its own bark and smoke ring. You remove the bone and pull that whole butt, mixing the inside with the outside and you’ve got some great sandwich material! Oh, yeah!

Now don’t get the idea you should skin turkeys and chickens before you smoke them. Not necessarily. The skin helps to keep the meat from drying out; besides, it’s not as tough and thick as pig skin. However, I do recommend that you carefully loosen the skin where you can without ripping it too much and work a little rub underneath it.

Conclusion

I don’t mean to put down one method or the other. Your situation is different from mine. But if you want to simplify the process and pump your meat full of flavor, try smoking just a portion of those tasty critters. And let me know how it goes.

Have fun,

Lavern

PS. I hope you survived Hurricane Sandy and are doing well. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones and are facing other losses from the tragic storm.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Tips and Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.