Whole Hog in the ground.
A different pit altogether. Got a receipe to share, Glazer? That’s a skill worth knowing.
Some people criticize this site saying it’s more of food pornography, rather than practical cooking. In any case it’s my favorite. If I somehow get to live in the US, I’d like to hang out with these guys.
Dig a pit 3’ by 6’ by 5’. Fill the bottom foot with 5" to 6" large gravel.Lay on a piece of steel screen or mesh then top with a couple of inches of 1" gravel or dry sand. Build your fire and fill the hole with good sized logs 4" to 6" diameter and 24" long. Keep adding wood until you have a bed of coals 6" to 8" deep. Lay on another layer of logs as evenly as possible and cover with another piece of screen. Then one final inch of sand. Lay on the pig and cover with the overfill. Pour a quart of water over the top of the mound every half hour or so for the first few hours then only every hour or so. Dig up the pig after 12 hours. Soak the pit.
Meanwhile acquire a gutted and dressed pig, head optional. Soak pig in a tub full of ice brine overnight. Dry pig inside and out. Apply favorite BBQ rub inside of carcass. Inject shoulders and hams. Fill cavity with onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Tie feet and close cavity with twine. Wrap whole hog in banana leaves and a cotton canvas. Tie with twine and a natural fiber rope to lower and raise from the pit. Soak canvas with water before lowering into the pit.
Spud, have you seen anything other than Cowboy lump charcoal around here?
I’ve got to share that with a friend, Glazer. We brand cattle Memorial Day weekends and bring in a dozen area wranglers to help gather and cut, plus usually another 30 to 50 friends come out to watch and share in a big feast. It’s all cooked by one guy with a trailer rig but it would be of great interest I think to do a pig like this too. I’d assume a calf or side of beef could be substituted.
I only do St. Louis (or KC) spares. They just turn out much better, in my experience.
I’m just glad to hear the term Barbecue used correctly.
Burgers and hot dogs on a grill is not a “Barbecue” in any sense of the word. That’s “grilling”.
Call me pedantic, but also call me correct in terminology.
I understand the reason that Texans prefer beef ribs, but I can’t say I’ve ever had a beef rib that I prefer to a pork rib.
On one of the online sites they’d described beef short ribs as being more flavorful so I went real easy on the rub, using mainy kosher salt and black pepper with just a little Bone Suckin’ sprinkled on it and hoped to let the natural flavor come through. I had no idea how it would compare so when I took that first bite I just started laughing, turned to the wife and said my gosh, this is the best rib I’ve ever had! Now I’d agree that a perfectly done pork rib is a thing to behold, but the reason beef ribs aren’t as popular can’t be because of taste. They may be less meaty and certainly have an amount of fat that’s will probably necessitate removal before most folks will want to fill their mouth but done right I do think they can be every bit as good as pork.
I’m going to stock up at my favorite store on the way home and will get plenty of both. Clearly more testing is in order.
I bought a Smokenator for my Weber grill based on comments people made on the SDMB and I’ve been dialing it in all summer. First I made pulled pork that came out a little dry, but lately I’ve had a lot of success with country shoulder ribs. This weekend I think I’m going to try ribs. Unfortunately, my wife is out of town so it’s just me and the dog. I enjoy cooking most when I can share it.
I use a old Brinkmann Cookin’ Cajun smoker, mostly do ribs with a simple rub, use Kingsford charcoal and Gulf lighter fluid and hickory chunks from the hardware store and the smell of those ribs makes grown men cry and makes grown women come.
All yer fancy equipment and techniques and apple juice spray ain’t gonna beat that. 
How about the Australian sense of the word? Where I grew up, all apparatus for outdoor cooking is called a barbeque, as is the party/event you go to to consume said tasty food. Except if it’s a sausage sizzle.
So don’t be hating. You don’t own English.
A “sausage sizzle”? That’s so cute! 
I would if I could; sadly I live in a second floor apartment in a wood framed building. I don’t think my neighbors or the landlord would appreciate me burning the frickin’ building down.
spoilsports. I’d love to have a charcoal grill and a smoker.
Sorry, just noticed this… and no, Cowboy is all I’ve seen, but I’ll be doing something over flames in the next few days so I’ll keep my eyes open.
I’ve got a Cabela’s electric smoker I’ve done many pork buits in, as well as brisket, and made my own linguica once. Smoked a turkey with apple and cherry chips, and the dark meat came out tasting like roast pork. I’m now on a rotisserie kick right now, indirect roasting on my gas grill, with a smoker box. I’ve got a small pork butt to do tomorrow, I slather it with cheap mustard, cover it with my own dry rub blend, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it soak over night. The nice thing about a rotisserie is it is self basting and takes less attention; pretty much set the temp low, and forget it for a couple hours. Not as pull apart done as a 14 hour smoker, but still moist and tender.
an electric smoker… you happy with the Cabela’s one? part of me wanted to go all elitist snob and get a WSM (keeping it at someone else’s house) but all I’ve read says a novice will screw up a few times until he/she gets the hang of temperature management. Plus, the fact that the thing basically consumes an entire bag of charcoal for a session is a bit of a buzzkill.
It’s strange for me to hear the WSM being referred to as “elitist” gear. It’s pretty basic stuff, works well, and is fairly efficient for what it is. You want really efficient use of coals and get to “elitist” territory, you can talk about those kamodo-type smokers. (Which I think are awesome, but make more sense to characterize as “elitist,” even though I think that characterization is misplaced.)
I’ve never gone through a whole bag of charcoal on a single smoke on my WSM. If we’re talking a 20 pound bag of briquettes, maybe a half bag for something like pork shoulder or brisket.
And, yes, you might screw up a few times when it comes to temp management. It’s a great lesson to learn, because then you can jerry rig smokers of all kinds when you know the theory, and that exact temperature management is not that important. You want this book. When you know how all the parts of barbecuing fit together, you can do something like this.
I like it a lot. I have had it for 5 years, store it outside in the weather, and it works fine every year. I just unplug the thermostat control and bring that in, the rest stays outside. It has a tray in the bottom for chips, a drip tray to catch fat, and three racks for a large quantity of meat, though the lower racks are going to be hotter than the upper one, so you need to rotate your meat if you fill all the racks. I usually don’t. I think it is a lot less trouble than charcoal or wood chunks. Tastes the same.
In the Petrified Forest, Leslye Howard asks the waitress, “What exactly is a bar be que?” and she responds, “Well, today, it’s meatloaf.”
Of course, the film was probably made by Yankees, and, indeed, the English invented a language they cannot speak.
