SugarMedia said:
Audiophiliac, I have eaten smoked pig except it was done in a traditional Hawaiian style where it was buried in the ground on hot coals. Mighty tasty stuff.
I too am thinking about building a pit and here's something I found on the net lastnight. It offers some rather good building plans.
http://www.ibiblio.org/lineback/bbq/wdh.htm
Although I've never met him, Dave Lineback, the author of the above, lives about eight miles from me.
You can smoke pork shoulders on a typical charcoal grill, so you don't need as elaborate a rig as Dave has. Dedicated smokers do make it easier though, because they typically seal better, so you have better control of the air getting to the coals, which also gives better control of the cooking temperature. Serious pig pickins do a whole hog at once (about 130 pounds pre-cooked weight). Traditionally, the pig is smoked with hardwood coals, usually oak, that have been fired in a separate fire then shoveled under the cooking grid. An alternative is an offset-smoker that has a fire box built onto the side of the grill. You put lump charcoal or small logs into the side box, which then feeds heat and smoke into the main cooking chamber. A number of portable smokers use gas/propane. This gives much easier control of the heat. While still darn good, it doesn't taste quite the same as wood-fired barbecue.
One of the original ways to make a smoker was to cut a (clean) 55-gallon steel drum in half lengthwise. One half serves as the grill and the other half serves as the lid.
There are custom manufacturers that do everything from simple smokers like the above to full custom trailer rigs. Klose is one of these:
http://www.bbqpits.com/
You can also use Japanese-style kamado cookers like this:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/
Bob Garner is a local authority on NC barbecue, and has written a couple of books (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0895871521/102-9966792-8703302?v=glance&n=283155). He did a hour long PBS special about the subject, and at the end shows how to smoke a shoulder on a normal grill and how to prepare the sauce and other side items, which typically includes boiled potatos, slaw, Southern-style green beans, and Brunswick stew. I don't know if that part is in the book though. The real trick is to cook the pork for a looong time with indirect heat at about 200-250 degrees F. This gives the collagen and connective tissue in the meat a chance to melt into it, as opposed to getting tough. Eastern NC style sauce is vinegar-based, with red pepper flakes, Western style has some tomato sauce in it too. South Carolina style has mustard in it.
