Whole Hog Barbecued Over Wood Coals ***with bonus drone footage***

In the 1830's a large iron ore deposit was discovered in the cedar creek valley which is located in the northern tip of the county I was born and raised, Shenandoah. By the 1840's there were multiple mines operating in the valley including Van Buren Furnace which was located at the base of Capola Mountain and owned and operated by the Siberts. Van Buren Furnace was later purchased by Dr. Frank King of New York State and some time around 1880 he built a home at base of the mountain, the Capola House.

Photo of the house (date unknown)


Photo of the furnace which is intact today


For the last 3 generations the Capola House has been owned by my friends, our grandfathers used to hang out here just as we do today.


Every March the boys head over the mountain to watch the NCAA tourney and enjoy the scenery, great food, and most importantly- fellowship. We arrived on Thursday set up the TV's and my new whole hog pit- the Virginia Spinner.



The pit was designed and built by Brethren. Thank all of you you who assisted me with the design, especially Dave (dwfisk) who answered ongoing questions I had, and Garrett who built it for me down in NC. This was its first cook, we heated it up, scrubbed it, and seasoned it with oil.


The temp outside dropped quick and we knew rain was coming in so we hung some tarps and set up some canopies to be prepared for a friday barbecue. We went ahead and injected on thursday evening as I knew that I wouldn't have much help the next morning at 6 am. The live weight on the hog was 158 pds, I'm guessing 120 dressed.


I woke up early the next morning to find this. I freak snow storm blew through and dropped 3-4 inches of HEAVY snow. It had been in the 60's all week.


We were not phased by the mother nature curve ball. I got the burn barrel cranking and seasoned the flesh side with my pork rub and the skin side with salt. The burn barrel worked perfectly.


We shoveled out coals and loaded them in each end of the pit. We supplemented at the beginning with a little charcoal to build the coal base.


It was a beautiful mornings in the Cedar Creek Valley.



It ain't a party unless someone passes out on the deck


I'm going to shut up now and give you what you want. I started flesh down and flipped around the halfway point to crisp up the skin. We then kept the cavity moist with my 1752 Barbecue Virginia Red Sauce.









I have good news and bad news. Bad news is the payoff pron is farking awful. My new (used) camera was outside and when I brought it in the fogged up kitchen with 20+ men I couldn't see a thing through the lens. By the time I got my camera phone out they had destroyed it like a pack of wild animals. But here is what I have.



Now to the good news. A friend of mine brought his new toy out this year and made a video of the weekend. There are some live hog shots in here as well as some BAD ARSE aerial footage of the property. There is also a drunken foot race between two of my friends.

Enjoy and remember: BBQ IS BETTER WITH FRIENDS!

[FONT=&quot][ame]http://youtu.be/5ep-xQZ4kOI[/ame][/FONT]

Garrett said:

It feels good when you see someone enjoying something you built!! That's a great looking time!!!

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Well buddy mark your calendar for March 2016 and plan on coming up next year! The pit worked flawlessly, dimensions were dead on, welds solid, thanks again!

Garrett said:

How was the balance and spin once it was loaded? I know empty, it was balanced and very easy to spin. Just curious how it did loaded and with some heat to it.

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It rotated great but it is a good idea to have both hands on the turning handle. if not when it gets past perpendicular the weight would want to take it our of your hands. But as long as you have a somewhat sober operator is very easy.

tree said:

That's AWESOME. Like Garrett said, It's good to get to see someone enjoy your work. Garrett and I really enjoyed building this and I hope you get many good times out of it.

Brian

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Thanks Brian! I know you both but in a lot of time after work on Fridays when you could have been spending time with your families. Your hard work paid off big time! I hope to catch up again soon!

cowgirl said:

Great place and great lookin' pig!
Garrett, nice job on the pig turner. Now you can build me one. lol
I only turn a pig once during a cook, but that would make it nice n easy to do! :thumb:

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Thanks cowgirl! I only turn once as well but it makes it real easy to get to the coal bed during the cook to shift or rake out coals. Once I flipped it skin down I also was able to check the skin every once in a while to see if it was crisping up by turning it a 1/4 turn

dwfisk said:

Congratulations, that's an awesome post.:clap::clap::clap: Garrett and Brian did a great job bringing your vision to life, you and your pals executed the cook to perfection, I have no doubt the fellowship was outstanding and you gotta really be thankful to the original pioneers up through the current owners who discovered, made and preserve that little chunk of heaven:thumb:

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Thanks Dave! In case you are wondering, I left the spring loaded chain system on my shop bench by accident. Luckily I threw the bolts in the bucket so at least I had a back up. I will have to test the chain system out the next time!

You are right about giving a nod to those that settled that area. The fellow that built the house in 1880 employed almost everyone in the valley, including my wife's family. My wife's GG Grandmother was the school teacher in a one room school house there. You have to believe that at one point they had a pig roast to celebrate something!