whole pig brine,.......... school me,....

[key]

going to be cooking a whole pig for christmas/new years. i have a large plastic drum cut in half i can use. whats some ingredients for brining a pig??? one day?two days? ice down the pig during the brine process?? help me out!!! thanks,....

[DATsBBQ]

That would be a new one on me, never heard of brining a whole hog. Not that it can't or hasn't been done. The skin is pretty thick, don't think it will absorb any moisture.

Now I've seen where some guys cook the pig feet up and fill the cavity with juice/cider/you name it and I've seen where a pan of liquid is placed below the grate with the hog in the crouched position above. The idea is to keep the meat moist. Some folks even inject.

My personal opinion is that a good quality hog will have enough fat in it that if cooked properly all the above is just show. I don't consider myself an expert on roasting hogs, so take my comments through a filter. DJ or Honu have much more experience so if they post I'll defer to what they say.

[3 star redneck]

Dont brine a whole hog! The ribs will be mush, just inject the hams and the front shoulders the nite before you cook. I cook lot of whole hogs for comp and catering. If you want to fill the cavity with fruit thats fine, but for me we just smoke over hickory/oak until done, spritz with apple juce every half hour