Directions
THE DAY BEFORE COOKING, WASH pig inside and out; soak it in very cold water with vinegar for a few hours. This freshens and whitens the meat. If you pig is frozen, it can also defrost during this soaking. Over a medium heat cook the carrots, celery and onions in the oil for a good 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should become somewhat translucent, the carrots slightly caramelized. Add salt and thyme. Dry the pig thoroughly inside and out. You may stuff the pig with the vegetables at this time; however, if you use a conventional stuffing, such as one for a turkey, wait until just before cooking and make certain that the pig and stuffing are at room temperature. The easiest way to close the opening is to use an ice pick or an upholstery needle to punch rows of holes about an inch apart on both sides of the stomach flaps. Then lace it up with thick string just as you would a shoe. You may also use skewers and string as you would for a turkey. Because protein firms as it cooks, the pig will stay in whatever position you place it. It should resemble a dog resting on its haunches. Place the pig in the roasting pan; it may have to be placed diagonally. Tuck the hind legs close to the stomach on either side; tie them together with string under the stomach if needed. The forelegs should be pointing straight ahead (also tied together so they won’t spread out) and the head resting between them. Place a small piece of wood (like a child’s block) or a piece of bunched-up foil in the mouth, opening it as wide as you can. Twist the tail into a curl and secure it with string or tape. Place crumpled aluminum foil in the eye sockets (some people place marbles). At this point you may cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. Before cooking the pig, let it come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 450F. With the oil, thoroughly baste every inch of the pig, including the head, legs and tail. Out of aluminum foil make little covers for the ears and tail. If your pig hangs over the pan, use heavy-duty foil to extend the pan so that any juices will be collected. Place the pig in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the pig quickly, shutting the oven door, baste with oil again and return to the oven. Then reduce the temperature to 350F. Continue basting with oil every 20 minutes 4 to 5 more times (for a total of 2 hours). If the ears and tail haven’t browned, remove the aluminum covers for the last 20 minutes. The total cooking time will be between 2 and 2 1/2 hours. The cooking time is less because it is not fully stuffed; if it were, it would take an hour longer. (Approximately 10 minutes per pound lightly stuffed or unstuffed; 15 minutes per pound fully stuffed.) The pig is done when the temperature of the thigh reaches 165F (trichinae are killed when the internal temperature reaches 139F for a period of 10 minutes). When done, it may easily rest for an hour under foil or in a turned-off oven. To serve, make a garland for the pig’s neck by stringing together sprigs of watercress. Make certain your apple is nicely polished. Enlist some help and very carefully slide the pig onto the platter or carving board it will be presented on. It is rather fragile at this point and can even break in half. Make a sauce by skimming the fat off the juices in the roasting pan. Place the roasting pan over 2 burners, add the stock and the wine and bring to the simmer. Stir to dissolve all the roasting juices coagulated on the bottom and continue cooking about 10 minutes. If you wish to thicken the sauce, whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour that have been blended with 2 tablespoons of butter, bring the sauce back to the boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring. Remove any remaining foil, string or skewers. Place the apple in the pig’s mouth. Place the watercress garland around its neck and bring it to the table.

Directions
Apply the pepper evenly over the ribs, and then do the same with the dry rub. Place the slabs in a plastic trash bag, and put them in the refrigerator overnight. The next day mix the mop sauce and prepare the pit for smoking. Cook the slabs between 200F and 220F until you feel them crack a bit between the ribs when you bend the slabs with a gloved hand, approximately 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Every 30 minutes baste both sides and turn them over. Allow the slabs to sit 10 minutes before slicing them into individual ribs.

Directions
WESLEY’S RIBS – Wes Gulley From: “The Only Texas Cookbook”, Texas Monthly Press, 1981 By: Linda West Eckhardt Everybody wants Wes to bring his ribs to a barbecue. He even knocks off from work early to give them enough time to cook. After building a cool fire in his oil-drum pit, with a baffle over the coals, Wes puts on a side of pork ribs to cook and begins mopping each side with his mop sauce, He sits out in the backyard and reads or talks to his wife or plays with his little boy whom he calls Honey-and about every 20 minutes, he goes back to the barbecue pit, mops the ribs, and turns them. He doesn’t necessarily cover the pit, but he might, just depends. After 4 hours, the ribs are done enough to suit Wes. The way he can tell is this: he takes a pair of kitchen tongs and lifts up one end of the ribs. The meat should be real flexible and bend almost double without threatening to break. When I first started cooking ribs by this method, everybody told me I was crazy. It couldn’t possibly take 4 hours to cook little skinny ribs. They quit arguing after they ate them. Need I mention that if the fire is too hot you will burn them to a crisp. Take Wes’s advice. Be parsimonious with the fire. Just a little heat, a lot of smoke, mop and turn the ribs regularly, and by nighttime you’ll have the best damn barbecued ribs you ever ate. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Directions
Combine dry spice rub ingredients and coat both sides of meat with barbeque seasoning. Let stand at least 30 minutes before cooking. Grill over medium coals (225) for about 15 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Sprinkle on additional barbeque seasoning after turning meat

Directions
Pierce meaty parts of ribs with a fork. Mix rest of ingredients. Soak ribs in marinade overnight in refrigerator. Remove from marinade and place ribs in smoker. Smoke 3-4 hours at 240-250F. – -

Directions
Smoke the pork butt with your favorite wood at a low temperature for about three hours. You might even consider boning it and cutting it in two pieces. The idea here is to get the smoke flavor and NOT to cook it till it is tender. Once you think you have plenty of smoke on the butt, transfer it to a large pot. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a hard simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for about 2 hours. When stirring, stir hard, trying to break the pork up. When the water is gone, but there is still plenty of moisture, the pork is done. Posted to the BBQ List by Carey Starzinger on Mar 27, 1996. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - NOTES : This is excellent meat for use in tacos. To make tacos, heat two small corn tortillas on a hot plate. Fill hot tortilla with some of the carnitas. Add a big spoonful of freshly made Pico De Gallo and your favorite salsa or hot sauce. The tacos should be eaten on a double tortilla. The inside tortilla soaks up all the juices, while the outside tortilla stays dry so you can handle it without making a mess. The smoked carnitas would also be great as a filling for taquitos.

Directions
I dunno if yer socks’ll be knocked off, but gather the crowd to see you flip head over heels about this simple pork tenderloin marinade. Let marinate in an air-tight plastic bag, at room temperature, for 2 hours. Grill.

Directions
I am becoming convinced that *simple* is better. I am on a quest to develop BBQ techniques that use a handful of ingredients to deliver the BBQ taste we all crave. To that end, here is the rub and baste I used today: (BTW, the BBQ drew raves by my most severe critics…my family.) BBQ Pork Roast Prep: Wash roast and pat dry. Rub a thin layer of prepared table mustard over the entire surface. Mix rub ingredients together well, then sprinkle on the rub (makes enough for a four pound roast) and “rub” it in to the meat if you want. I just “press” it into the meat here-and-there with my fingers. Let the roast stand for at room temp for about an hour (if you want to dry marinate it longer, be sure to refrigerate the meat, then bring it to room temp before cooking.) I cooked this on a Weber kettle using both charcoal briquettes and hickory chunks. I filled my chimney starter about 2/3 full of Kingsford briquettes and topped it off with a couple of baseball size chunks of hickory. When the hickory started to really blaze, I dumped the fuel into the Weber and moved it all to one side. I put a pan with water opposite the coals, replaced the cooking grid, and put the roast over the pan of water. The bottom vents were 3/4 closed and the top vent fully open. After 30 minutes I rotated the roast 180F and spray-basted it with the mop. I continued to rotate and baste the roast every 30 minutes for three hours, adding a couple of water-soaked hickory chunks to keep the smoke flowing. At the three hour mark I added another 2/3 chimney starter full of blazing briquettes and hickory chunks. Right about that time, my wife called (from her mother’s house) and said, “Supper better be ready when I get home.” Since she would be home in an hour, I figured I better check the temp of the roast. I *almost* panicked when the thermometer read 140F, but I got a grip and let my imagination and common sense kick in. I removed the roast and cooking grid, put the water pan in the middle of the cooking grate, and made two piles of coals on either side of the pan. Then I put the roast over the water pan and cranked the bottom vents all the way open. Every ten minutes from then on, I turned the roast and sprayed it liberally with the baste. When the boss got home, the roast was done. It was juicy and tender, it tasted like BBQ, and I didn’t get clobbered with a rolling pin….Life is good. – - – -

Directions
Yesterday I smoked some ribs. I got an 8 lb. pack of spareribs, and a 6 lb. pack of baby backs (cryovac packages from Price Club). Here’s roughly how I prepared them: After rinsing and drying them, I removed the membrane from the underside of each rack. I know some people debate the necessity of this, but I always do it. BTW, use a paper towel to get a good grip. I rubbed them liberally with the Galena Street rub from Penzey’s. This is a pretty decent rub mixture. I’m not sure if I’ll buy more, since I have a recipe that I like, but hey, I got a two cup shaker bottle out of the deal. I smoked them for 4 hours (about 220F) using whole pecan logs. I then wrapped each rack individually in heavy-duty foil and tossed them back in the smoker for another hour. I suppose you could just keep them in the oven, since they don’t get any smokier, but the oven was being used for something else. During smoking, I sprayed them regularly with water from a spray bottle that I use just for this. You could use a mop, but I find that, for my tastes, really liberal application of rub and the light spritzing of water give them plenty of flavor. BTW, don’t wash off the rub, you just want to keep the surface meat from getting too dry. I also placed a pan of water right where the heat from the firebox enters the smoking chamber. It held 4 cups of water and about 1 was left, so it’s not a lot of steam generated. I separated them before serving and put sauce on half and left the other half dry. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Directions
I am becoming convinced that *simple* is better. I am on a quest to develop BBQ techniques that use a handful of ingredients to deliver the BBQ taste we all crave. To that end, here is the rub and baste I used today: (BTW, the BBQ drew raves by my most severe critics…my family.) BBQ Pork Roast Prep: Wash roast and pat dry. Rub a thin layer of prepared table mustard over the entire surface. Mix rub ingredients together well, then sprinkle on the rub (makes enough for a four pound roast) and “rub” it in to the meat if you want. I just “press” it into the meat here-and-there with my fingers. Let the roast stand for at room temp for about an hour (if you want to dry marinate it longer, be sure to refrigerate the meat, then bring it to room temp before cooking.) I cooked this on a Weber kettle using both charcoal briquettes and hickory chunks. I filled my chimney starter about 2/3 full of Kingsford briquettes and topped it off with a couple of baseball size chunks of hickory. When the hickory started to really blaze, I dumped the fuel into the Weber and moved it all to one side. I put a pan with water opposite the coals, replaced the cooking grid, and put the roast over the pan of water. The bottom vents were 3/4 closed and the top vent fully open. After 30 minutes I rotated the roast 180F and spray-basted it with the mop. I continued to rotate and baste the roast every 30 minutes for three hours, adding a couple of water-soaked hickory chunks to keep the smoke flowing. At the three hour mark I added another 2/3 chimney starter full of blazing briquettes and hickory chunks. Right about that time, my wife called (from her mother’s house) and said, “Supper better be ready when I get home.” Since she would be home in an hour, I figured I better check the temp of the roast. I *almost* panicked when the thermometer read 140F, but I got a grip and let my imagination and common sense kick in. I removed the roast and cooking grid, put the water pan in the middle of the cooking grate, and made two piles of coals on either side of the pan. Then I put the roast over the water pan and cranked the bottom vents all the way open. Every ten minutes from then on, I turned the roast and sprayed it liberally with the baste. When the boss got home, the roast was done. It was juicy and tender, it tasted like BBQ, and I didn’t get clobbered with a rolling pin….Life is good. – - – - – -