Whole pig and wood

[Mrdeville]

What is the best wood as far as flavor for cooking a whole pig ? Also, someone told me they cooked a pig with cedar and the flavor was great. Never thought you could use cedar with pig. I know people use cedar planks for salmon.
Thanks !

 

[gtr]

Hickory and Oak are traditional and delicious. Apple & pecan are good as well. From what I understand, hickory and oak are preferred due to the fact that the coals burn so dang good. I'm not aware of cedar being used in any way other than planks for grilling, but I'll be the first to admit I ain't seen everything.

 

[Twelvegaugepump]

I plan to use oak and apple next weekend for my first. We will see if it works. I like it on my pork butts.

 

[frognot]

I'd use hickory

 

[dwfisk]

I use kiln dried hickory, but I bet pecan (if you can find it) on whole hog would be outstanding. Best of luck!

 

[KSroadliner]

Hickory and apple would be my choice

 

[lantern]

All suggestions here are great.


My suggestion. NEVER use cedar for smoking anything...ever. Only for planking. You will be very sorry if ya do.

 

[hawkeye29]

latern.....i didnt read anything you typed!!

 

[coondogbbq]

As a kid we'd burn green red oak. Scoop up the coals and scatter them under the pig. It was an all night affair. Although it was a lot of work, I loved it.

 

[cowgirl]

I like to use hickory and oak.

 

[Murray in N.Z.]

The harder the wood the better the quality and life of the coals. The better the quality of the coals the more even the temperature and the less work you will have to do, so go for the hardest wood you can get.
Good quality coals means less ash flying around as well as the fire is being left alone to do its thing not being poked and proddded all the dang time to try to control it. Softwood like cedar makes tons of ash in my experience.

Muzza stuck in Perth for a bit longer dangit all!

 

[Lockon]

Just curious, how big of a pig and how long do you think it will take to cook?

 

[Mrdeville]

I'm thinking about cooking a 60-70 lb. pig. Not sure how long it will take. I'll just probe it and wait til it's done. I'm guessing 4-6 hrs.

 

[Oldhoss]

I used some Cedar on my first ever smoke and have never used it since. The chicken I cooked tasted like hot dogs. Since making my way around the net on various smoking boards everything I have ever read says use Cedar on fish only....and that all soft woods are bad for traditional barbeque.

If I was to cook a whole hog I would use hickory and a little bit of cherry tossed in for sweetness and red colouration.

 

[Mahoney86]

I'd go with mostly oak and add some apple to it

 

[dwfisk]

My last (and only so far) was about 55 pounds dressed, cooked in a little over 7 hours at 250* in my RF stickburner. The "60-75 minute per 10 pounds" rule seems to work pretty well.

Just curious, how big of a pig and how long do you think it will take to cook?

I'm thinking about cooking a 60-70 lb. pig. Not sure how long it will take. I'll just probe it and wait til it's done. I'm guessing 4-6 hrs.

 

[HUCKS]

cooked one this past weekend he weighed 125# dressed.he cooked for 19 hours.i started with a bed a charcoal then had a barrell bedside cooker where i burned down oak and shoveled the coals in.

 

[neuyawk]

I use mainly oak and that's largely because of where we're at. I'll throw in some pecan any time I can get it but I'll toss in raw pecan wood as opposed to burning it down to coal. That's a sweet cook right there.

 

[legendaryhog]

What is the best wood as far as flavor for cooking a whole pig ? Also, someone told me they cooked a pig with cedar and the flavor was great. Never thought you could use cedar with pig. I know people use cedar planks for salmon.
Thanks !

Cedar? I dunno about that one... My two favorites are hickey and oak. Fruit hardwoods are good too. I'd say go with whatever hardwood you have that is prevalent in your area.... really dunno about that cedar though. Leave that for the salmon. Don't ruin a whole pig.

 

[Mrdeville]

I won't use cedar. A guy I know said he used it when he cooked his hog. I said cedar? He said yes it had a good flavor. I told him I didn't think you could use cedar. I just wanted to see if anyone knew anything about it. But ahh , I won't be that's for sure!