 Hogs smoking skin-side down | |
| Type | Smoked meat |
|---|---|
| Region or state | Southern United States |
| Associated cuisine | United States barbecue |
Whole hog barbecue is a style of pit barbecue, and the oldest style of barbecue in the United States. An entire hog is split open and slowly smoked over a wood charcoal barbecue pit. The cooked meat is then pulled from the bone and served with a vinegar and red pepper sauce.
Whole hog pit barbecue is the oldest style of barbecue in the United States. [1] Early definitions of barbecue in English literature referred to a whole hog, roasted or smoked according to West Indian tradition. [2] Barbecue parties, at which whole hogs were smoked, were popular in the Carolina and Virginia colonies. [1]
Whole hog barbecue is common in North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, and West Tennessee, where it is popularly featured at communal gatherings. [3] In other parts of the Southern United States, barbecue typically involves individual cuts of meat. [4] Whole hog barbecue may also be found in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. [1] In 2017, Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly reported that the number of restaurants serving whole hog barbecue was declining due to the difficulty involved in preparing it and the fact that meat suppliers increasingly distributed only butchered meat instead of whole hogs. [5]
Whole hog barbecue involves slow-smoking an entire hog over a barbecue pit. The pit is either dug into the earth, or it is a wide, shallow container built above the ground. [1] Barbecue pits are often made of cinder blocks. [6] The pit is filled with wood charcoal for smoking the meat. Wood is burned in a nearby fireplace [1] or a "burn barrel", made from a repurposed metal drum, to produce the charcoal. [6]
Bacon hogs, breeds of pig with more muscle and less fat, are generally preferred for barbecue. [7] The hog is dressed and split open before it is laid on a rack over top of the barbecue pit. [1] The backbone of the pig may be cracked and the head may be split to ensure that its entire body lays flat over the pit. [7] As it cooks, the fat melts into liquid and pools in the center of the hog, causing the meat to cook in its own fat, similar to the process of making confit. [6] [5] The hog is cooked skin down for the first half of the smoking process before being flipped upside down to cook muscle-fat side down until it is finished. [3] The meat is generally not basted or dressed in barbecue sauce while it is cooking, although in some cases a dry rub may be used to season the meat before cooking. [1]
The hog is smoked for many hours until the meat is tender enough to be pulled or chopped up into pulled pork. It is coated with a thin sauce made of vinegar and red pepper. Variations of this sauce are common in different states, including a mustard-based barbecue sauce in South Carolina and a tomato-based sauce in Georgia. The pulled hog is typically accompanied by sides like sweet tea and hushpuppies, and may be served in a sandwich with white rolls and coleslaw. [1] The tradition of eating it as a sandwich began in the 20th century. [8]
Whole hog barbecue is considered to be one of the most difficult styles of barbecue to prepare because of the size of the carcass, the time involved in preparing it, and the technical skilled required. [3]
There are two main styles of whole hog barbecue, Tennessee and Carolina. In Carolina-style barbecue, smaller hogs are usually cooked at high temperatures, resulting with crispy skin that is chopped up and mixed into the pulled meat. In Tennessee, larger hogs are used and are cooked at a lower temperature, which prevents the skin from becoming crisp. Because of this, the skin is not typically eaten in Tennessee whole hog barbecue. [9]
