How to Use a Smokehouse for a Pig

Smoking is one of the oldest food preservation techniques known to man.

A smokehouse is a sealed, insulated building, usually with a teepee-shaped ceiling, a vent or chimney and a feeder apparatus with tinder, wood chips/dust and heating element. They typically have single entrances, which seal when closed, creating an oxygen-starved environment that is perfect for long-term smoking. Preparing an entire pig is also comparatively rare, in the grand scheme of cooking techniques, and the technique is especially suited to a preparation like "cold" smokehouse smoking. Does this Spark an idea?

Print this article

Instructions

- 1
  
  Thoroughly clean out the pig, using a hose or pressure washer. The butchery of the pig should be left to a qualified butcher, so that internal organs are completely removed, eliminating a possible vector of bacterial infection.
- 2
  
  Attach the pig to an overhead beam by fiber-based rope (poly or plastic rope can be toxic in these conditions), splayed out. This means spreading the body of the pig out as flat as possible in the vertical orientation, in order to ensure smoke penetration of the maximum amount of surface of the pig.
- 3
  
  Pat the splayed pig down with paper towels in order to make the surface totally dry. Fill the firebox with sawdust or wood chips, then start a fire in the lower compartment, which will die down after an hour or two. The key to cold smoking is to allow the fire to create smoke from the dry wood, but only enough to fill the smokehouse, rather than cooking the food directly with heat.
- 4
  
  Repeat the smoking process for at least 10 days, allowing the smoke to permeate the meat fully before dissipation through the vent. The finished smoked pig can be kept in the smokehouse or another cool, dry area, as it will not only be smoked, but cured as well, and thus resistant to bacteria.