After my son said he wants me to try roasting a whole hog. Though it would be cool I think I would be fighting out of my weight class on that one.
Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion
- Thread starter Statefan515ISU
- Start date
My Dad dug a pit on the farm lit some wood on fire in the pit. When it burnt down to coals, put the whole hog in and covered back up. I dont remember the details but I remember all his old WWII buddies and VFW pals congratulating him on the great hog he served for them. I want to try it now. Thanks for the idea!
First go around with the big horn. So far I can’t seem to get it very hot at all. Pellets just roll smoke but not any flame out the top like it should
My uncle had a farm in Jones County and did a hog roast just like this every summer. Massive hogs, so cooking it in-ground was pretty much the only option. Tons of people, food was deelish. Great times.
I've had cornmeal burn when I've tried it. Flour less so.
tried it last night and struggled couldn't get it very hot. Both pizzas were undercooked with the second pizza being worse. I ended up with an undercooked pizzas that took forever (second one was in for 15 minutes before I gave up and pulled it because I was late for something). Not sure if it was air flow or the pellets or what. I had tons of smoke rolling out of it, but very little flame. The only time i would get any flames were when I opened the pellet hopper door and then the flames would mainly come up through the hopper.
A few things I'm going to try:
- get a small portable fan to put near fire box to help increase air flow
- add pellets in very small amounts to keep flames from being snuffed out
- maybe put pellets in the oven at low temp to dry out any potential moisture. I keep mine in buckets with waterproof lid, but maybe they have some moisture in them. (never had issues using with my Traeger)
If these don't work, I will buy an Ooni gas burner and convert it to gas. Many people on the Big Horn Facebook group converted theirs and say it is super easy with only a couple of self-tapping screws needed.
a couple of other learning experiences I had were:
- keep sauce/cheese/toppings to a minimum. Launch and turning were difficult due to pizza being heavy. I'm sure the lack of heat made it more difficult.
- assemble the pizza on the peel. I tried to make it on an aluminum pizza pan, but transfer was difficult
Damn, that sucks. Did you check out that YouTube video I shared on here? The guy had a couple of crucial tips that helped me a ton. I’ve blown in the pellet duct to get the new pellets I add to ignite with the front door open and let them burn for a good 3-5 minutes then with both doors shut in between pizzas. The last time I used it, I did 9 pizzas with the last couple being a little subpar due to too many ashes in the pellet thing. I do think there’s a trick to getting optimal crust I haven’t quite figured out yet but I haven’t made my own dough yet.
Do you have a link for converting to gas?
Here is a review on Amazon from someone who used the Ooni Karu 12 burner.
Ooni burner customer review - converting a Big Horn
The good thing about this is you can take it off easily and use the pellets, if you want.
the Ooni burner is around $99.
There is a cast iron retro burner that is mounted where the ash box is instead for around $26 on Amazon.
While not exactly smoker related, there is a Soft & Tender Style Sweet BBQ jerky on Jerky.com that is ******* amazing. It's up there with burnt ends for melt in your mouth sweetness.
On a side note - we were in the Mall of America last weekend and went to the beef jerky store where they have little cups you can try the varieties. I handed my sons the Carolina Reeper as a joke... I've never seen such expressions or had to run so fast to get ice cream for them to save their throats. For some reason I completely swapped Ghost Pepper and Carolina Reeper in my head on the scoville scale.
On a side note - we were in the Mall of America last weekend and went to the beef jerky store where they have little cups you can try the varieties. I handed my sons the Carolina Reeper as a joke... I've never seen such expressions or had to run so fast to get ice cream for them to save their throats. For some reason I completely swapped Ghost Pepper and Carolina Reeper in my head on the scoville scale.
6 lb flat. Done fat side down. Will use for sandwiches as I was surprised a Panpered Chef bread knife could cut it so thin.
I have a Big Joe and routinely do the following:
* pizza (crust from papa Murphy). I use the pizza oven attachment and cook at about 500 degrees. 4-5 minutes, rotate 180 and then finish the cook for another 2-3minutes.
* fajitas. Split the cooking surface with a half moon soapstone for veggies and grill the meat on the other half. (Trade secret, be sure to toast the tortillas before serving)
* smoke whole chickens
* STL pork ribs
* pizza (crust from papa Murphy). I use the pizza oven attachment and cook at about 500 degrees. 4-5 minutes, rotate 180 and then finish the cook for another 2-3minutes.
* fajitas. Split the cooking surface with a half moon soapstone for veggies and grill the meat on the other half. (Trade secret, be sure to toast the tortillas before serving)
* smoke whole chickens
* STL pork ribs
I have a tendency to screw up about everything I smoke. The one except are fatties. 
1lb of Fareway thin bacon
1lb of Grazeano
Jalepeno
cream cheese-let warm for a couple of hours before mixing in jalapenos
A little Monterrey Jack
Rub
245 (280 on Masterbuilt)
Glaze with BBQ at 155
Pull at 165+
Let rest for 10 minutes
It took 3 hours and was perfect
1lb of Fareway thin bacon
1lb of Grazeano
Jalepeno
cream cheese-let warm for a couple of hours before mixing in jalapenos
A little Monterrey Jack
Rub
245 (280 on Masterbuilt)
Glaze with BBQ at 155
Pull at 165+
Let rest for 10 minutes
It took 3 hours and was perfect
Update: I wanted to try pellets with my Big Horn again so I bought some Traeger pellets hoping it was a pellet issue last time. I wanted to get the pellets figured out so I could bring it tailgating this fall. I was able to have great success with the Traeger pellets! No issues at all for getting hot and my pizzas turned out great.
The YouTube channel you mentioned provided a lot of good pointers in case I have any issues but it looks like different pellets fixed it. My infrared thermometer got up to almost 1000 degrees at one point.
I’m gonna make the switch. The last time I used it my pellets got really messed up.