And on the eighth day God created barbecue …. because he DOES love us and he wants us to be happy.
Current smokers: Egor (trailered RF) and Easybake (tabletop pellet drive)
Mini pig ? Here in the mitten state we call them feeder pigs. A mini pig is full of beer! Well you do have it on beer so I think that count's lol.. if not drink more beer then it won't matter.
here is the pig out of the plastic wrap. it was pretty clean. just had to trim off a few pieces of wtf and rinse. i split the rib cage and pulled the membrane off the ribs and belly flaps so i could get more rub in there.
after reading up on these mini patio pigs, i came up with a plan. going to cook it belly up so hopefully the skin holds it together some and keeps all the juices in. the box says cook to 165, but that apparently is for carving. going to go for the usual pulled pork temp 185 or so.
i went easy on the injection. internet says these little pigs have more flavor than bigger pigs, so i didn't want to over power that on this first cook. so a moderate amount of pineapple juice and mojo. dumped a bunch of rub in there and lit the fire.
with the skin on, not sure how much smoke it will take.
not a lot a fat on it, might not be as forgiving as a regular shoulder.
i'm aiming for 275, it's cold out, hard to get my dampers set for a steady temp. not sure how long it will take. i've read 4-5hrs for 165 internal temp for carving, but i am going for pulling temps.
here is the finished pig. it came out awesome. all the different parts had their own flavor. the "bacon"/pork belly and cheeks were the best. i cooked it for 8 hours. after 5 hours it was at 175 at the ham. i bet it would have been done at 7hrs.
i wouldn't do a 26 pounder again. there was still room in my smoker. for the effort that goes into cooking something all day, a few more pounds of meat would be nice.
Congrats man! I think you started the mini-pig club today
I'm hitting my local restaurant supply tomorrow….
And on the eighth day God created barbecue …. because he DOES love us and he wants us to be happy.
Current smokers: Egor (trailered RF) and Easybake (tabletop pellet drive)
i have to redo the extra shelf to make room for slightly bigger pigs, also, i have to buy progressively bigger mini pigs until i figure out how much will fit in the smoker.
at first i had a concern about the pig being slightly bigger than the door opening, but the skin toughened up and i was able to flip it over, move it around and it held together fine.
haha that's great! Looks awesome bro!
I think we will hafta make the "Mini-Pig Club" Official! what do you think? maybe a "I Conquered the Mini-Pig" sorta title?
Of course mofomatic will be the first honorary member