We managed to score a free range Wessex Saddleback Boar from a new pig farm in Binalong Bay. In fact, we got three one for us to smoke up and a couple for friends. After rustling the three pigs on to the trailer we took them for a cruise, little did they know they were on their way to the slaughter yard! We left them in the safe hands of the Butcher and returned the next day to collect. Don't know what its live weight was but it was approximately 70kg in the picture below. After getting the beast home and on to the prep table we then set about butterflying it. In order to do this we cut the tail bone out with a rough tooth hand saw - new of course! As I was in a hurry I broke her open by hand, yeah ok I broke a few ribs doing it but hey this was for home consumption, not a comp. We then set about trimming the beast up, removing all of the unsightly blood stained muscles and excess that weren't necessary for the cook. After trimming we injected the beast with a mix of Apple Juice (4 litres), Willie Smiths Apple Cider Vinegar (1 litre) and brown sugar (1kg). The injection was made prior. Heat until all sugar has dissolved, cool and inject. Once we had pumped 5 litres of fluid in to it, we gave it a rub with our custom made pork rub. The same rub that we use in comps and that has seen us win both Pork categories in both Tassie comps this year. Thankfully its been chilly in Tas so we wrapped the pig in foil and let it marinade until the next morning. At 5am the next morning we carried the beast up to the block pit only to find that it was too big for the pit! As you can see from the pic above, the hocks are flanked by a temporary course of concrete blocks. After getting the pig positioned we had to add to the height of the pit so we did some last minute hack mods and fired up the pit. Even though we got the pig on the smoker at around 6am it took until about 7:30 until we got the pit to temp. We used cherry wood only and maintained a target temp of 275f. At 2pm we gave it a sauce and covered it up again. We let the shoulders hit 205f and the legs 180f internal. We did this as we wanted to keep the legs for sliced meat to use in lunches the following week. Just before 5pm we took the pig off the smoker, gave it another saucing, wrapped it up and let it rest for an hour or so. After the rest period Justin & Jimi set about pulling the pig (except for the legs) and we tucked in!! After some good ol Tassie Moonshine, a few Willie Smiths Ciders we woke up to Pete from Tamar Artisan Small Goods frying up some of their hand crafted smoked bacon for breakfast. Now that's what friends are for :)
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