Get Your Grill On

This year marked the 20th anniversary of the Great BarBeQlossal BBQ contest in Des Moines, IA. It is an all Pork contest as it is associated with the World Pork Expo held at the Iowa State Fair grounds each year. The entries for the contest include Pork Ribs, Pork Loin, Pork Shoulder, and Whole Hog. Every barbecuer should cook a hog at least once in their life. It is one of the most fun and rewarding tasks you can have as a BBQ cook.

This was our fourth year competing at the BarBeQlossal contest. Every year our goal is to get that hog cooked and in the box. We care more about being proud of our accomplishment than judges awards. Once again, we were proud of what we turned in, however, this was the first year that we didn’t receive a top ten award, but that’s okay.

In the picture above you have pork shoulder top left, spare ribs below, loin down the center, tenderloin top right, and ham medallions in the bottom right. The contest requires that you turn in at least parts from the ham, loin, and shoulder. We like to add a couple of ribs and tenderloin if they turn out.

First let’s talk about the hog. Fat equals flavor and the kind of fat we want is what’s called “inter-muscular fat”. In the world of beef, you hear this called “marbling”. The more marbling, the juicier and flavorful the meat is going to be. Certain breeds of hogs are more known for their inter-muscular fat than others. A Berkshire (or Berkie) is a much sought after hog for marbling. Availability and cost of Berkshires can be a problem. They are known for having small litters and are more costly to produce. They are typically not grown for mass markets. Duroc hogs, however, are a wonderful breeding stock and have excellent meat structure. You often see Duroc in the breeding genetics of commercially grown hogs.

Our hog was a 100% Duroc hog. He was provided by Stein & Stewart Genetics from Odessa, Missouri. A boar and gilt from the same genetics pool of Stein & Stewart’s won Grand Champion at the World Pork expo. Notice the red color. Not your garden variety pink pig.

There are many methods for prepping and cooking a whole hog. Skin down, skin up, foil, no foil, skin on, skin off, skin on but rolled back for a while… the one that got me was I hear someone talking about putting ice on the loin and tenderloin prior to cooking so that the temp of the meat going in was different from the hams and shoulder. This makes a lot of sense (we didn’t do that), because you only want about 145-150 in your loin, but 180+ in the other muscles. This is the hardest thing about doing hogs… different meats requiring different temps… then you have to turn them all in. If some are perfectly cooked, then the other is overdone, underdone, dry, or tough.

We like to place a couple of ribs in our box. To do that effectively, we separate the ribs into the familiar baby back and spare ribs. Removal is easier, but the pressure on the ribs is lessened as well. As the hog cooks, the meat shrinks and can flex the carcass at the ribs. If you want ribs from the whole hog, this is a key step. We use a Zip Saw to seperate the ribs bones.

The hog pictured was a young hog and weighed 95 lbs. live. Dressed with head removed and split he weighed about 60-65 lbs. Cooking at 225 degrees the hog spent over 15 hours in the smoker.

Find a hog, dig a hole or find some cinder blocks, and cook one. Just once and you’ll have memories for a lifetime.