# Bethel Pig Pickin!!!



## Finger_Mullet (Aug 19, 2005)

Well Friday night and Saturday was a long day. Put 65 hams on the cookers at 2200.
Started firing them every 30 minutes. Turned them at 0400 on Saturday morning.
Smaller ones were getting done around 0800. 

Started serving at 1100. Sold out at 1700. Home by 1800. Served approx 900 people. $7300.00 in sales and $3500.00 of it was profit. Attendance was a little low due to the bad storms that passed thru but we still had a great turnout even with the crappy weather.

I have pictures of the whole ham cooking operation. I have to download them and post them. May do it later tonight.

Darin


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

Would love to see pics.


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## bstarling (Apr 24, 2005)

Here's the pics:


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## Finger_Mullet (Aug 19, 2005)

Thanks for posting those pics Bill. The time was screwed up on the camera I guess. I took the last pictures on Saturday morning.

There are 3 of those wooden cookers. Each cooker had 9 hams on each side. We had a gas cooker that had 11 hams on it. 
The hams on the wooden cookers taste much better. Well, any hams cooked over coals taste better than those cooked over gas. In my opinion anyway.

Thanks!

Darin


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## bstarling (Apr 24, 2005)

When Darin first told me about those wooden cookers, I thought of an old cartoon of a Polish wood stove, it was made of wood! After seeing the thing and hearing him explain it, it makes sense. Sho nuff cooks well. 

Bill


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

Nice looking finger. Could you post how these wood cookers were made. Maybe the dimensions also. I've heard of them but have never seen one. Thanks.


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## OBX Rookie (Dec 22, 2003)

Would have thought that the hide would be removed for smoking to get better smoke penetration. WD did a search and found this one http://forums.mathewsinc.com/archery-4/stickies-29/smoker-plans-41686/ looks like a nice design.


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## Finger_Mullet (Aug 19, 2005)

We generally cook 70-125 hams at a time. The skin holds the grease in so it does not dry out. And really we don't have time to skin 70-125 hams. We are not looking for a really smokey tasting meat. We are just cooking low and slow until the hams just about fall apart. You can drop one down on the table and it pretty much just falls out of the skin and apart on the cutting board.

WD, if you have a cell # send it to me via pm and I will send a picture of one of the cookers laying on the side. You can really see how it is made. I know they are 8 feet long but I don't know the exact height or width. The guy that made them pasted away long ago. These things are old. The last one that was made had a few design improvements. They lines the bottom of the inside with sheet metal about 8-10 inches from the bottom. This helps keep it from catching on fire. Although we have never burnt one up. The pan underneath keeps the coals away from the side. Pretty much any fire is just pig fat catching on fire but that does not happen very often.

Thanks!

Darin


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

PM sent.


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## narfpoit (Jun 16, 2004)

When you say ham is it just a pork picnic or is it a cured ham and if cured what kind did you use? Sure looks tasty and they have the picnics on sale this week so probably going to pick some up tonight.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

Narf, not FM, but I can tell you they are fresh hams, not picnic or butts. If you look at the hams, you should see they are whole with hocks and skin. Cured hams look entirely different, plus nobody could afford to cook 65 country hams.


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## Finger_Mullet (Aug 19, 2005)

They are competely raw hams. We used to have to cut the feet off of them but they do it for us now.

Darin


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## narfpoit (Jun 16, 2004)

So a ham is a picnic with the butt still attached? I usually just do butts but looking to start expanding my smoking repertoire.


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## Finger_Mullet (Aug 19, 2005)

The butt and picnic do not come from the ham. They come from the front shoulder: "the term “ham” is usually applied to the meat taken from a pig’s back legs. Picnic hams are instead taken from the front leg and shoulder area." Butt is also from the front shoulder of the pig. The top of the shoulder actually.

Pull up a pig cut of meat chart on Google. The ham is just the entire back leg of the pig, less the foot. That is what we cook. 

Darin


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