Having been to several of these events, commonly called Q-Fest's or HTH at Bob's (Hoof to Head). The BBQ and food is always top notch. The highlight is the camaraderie and people. Kit and Janel playing guitar and singing, butchering a few hogs and chickens at Bob's, and grabbing a few cold drinks out of the cooler at Dan's. The people make it fun and a learning experience.

Bob has a strict definition of BBQ and so does Dave. Both styles are from North Carolina and they both are proponents of their favorite tradition. Traditional whole hog cooked direct is a delicious contrast of textures and flavors that makes up a pig. I was the first person in the BBQ community to meet Bob back in 2000 when Mary and I were invited down to butcher and cook a hog. I wrote about my experience here in the middle of the page.

After one of the recent trips I put together a PowerPoint presentation of the butchering process. The presentation can be downloaded from my website. Click on click to download. As far as I know this is the most detailed and graphic view of butchering on the internet.

I'm planning on going down sometime this spring. Bob and I have talked about making a video when I go down. I'm also running low on pork and lard.

Bob is not quite as vociferous about gas and electric as he was in the past. He still maintains its not traditional BBQ (which it isn't), but great BBQ "style" food can be cooked using other techniques. I tend to agree with him about the "BBQ competition circuit".

Traditional BBQ is becoming a lost art for several reasons. Gas/electricity=better profit margin and product consistency*, BBQ'ing a whole hog is more of project today with suburban living, time, and access to hogs. In more rural areas its easier to toss a pit together with bricks, cut up one of your hogs, and have a BBQ.

Even amongst the BBQ community the brick pit style doesn't get near the respect it deserves. Which is too bad.

*Notice. I left out quality intentionally.

G Wiv wrote:You can learn a lot from people such as Bob in Ga, Dan Gill, Danny Gaulden, Kit Anderson, Dave Lineback and Bill SF/NM, though some of it will be surprisingly contradictory as barbecue is more art than science.

Thank you, Gary, for including me in such a prestigious list.
I used to think I was one bad-ass BBQ'er by buying a fancy rig many years ago. But I was quickly humbled when faced with the reality that the alchemy of combining meat and fire requires a much more respectful approach - respect for the meat, respect for the wood, respect for the cooker, and respect for the deep and varied traditions of smoking meat.

All this may sound pretentious, but this art absolutely must be learned in small steps. But even the first small steps will yield BBQ better than any commercial establishment. No question in my mind that the WSM and Gary's excellent 12-step program to cleanse your system of liquid smoke is the best place to start.

Bill/SFNM

When I started reading the posts, I thought "this sounds like a fun summer project." By the time I read the last post, I was inspired to go right out and get a smoker. Why let snow and freezing weather stand in the way of BBQ! Will it fit in a car?

Gary, your directions sound terrific and I shall, as instructed, follow them to the letter.

Jyoti

jygach wrote:Will it fit in a car?

Absolutely!

Good luck! You'll have a blast with it, I'm sure.

=R=

Darn thread got me motivated to clear the snow off my deck & smoker last night in preparation for smoking some ribs and chicken wings on Saturday.

thank you lth

JeffB wrote:That's my BBQ Pit/Pizza oven/Fireplace up there.

Jeff,

I'm lost in a 5-minute daydream every time I see that pit. I'm thinking of printing it out and making a poster.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

JeffB wrote:That's my BBQ Pit/Pizza oven/Fireplace up there.

Jeff,

I'm lost in a 5-minute daydream every time I see that pit. I'm thinking of printing it out and making a poster.

Enjoy,
Gary

. . . and replacing Farrah Fawcett?!

I too am in awe. Simply stunning.

=R=

These brick pits look great and the project is something I've only dreamed about, since I live in the city.

My father and two uncles are masons and I worked with them for about 6 years, putting myself through school. There are some things to consider. I would not attempt to build something like this yourself. Hire a competent bricklayer. I saw another poster remark about the European bricklayers and I would say, be careful. These are the same guys that build my house in the city and their work may look ok to most but there were some serious corners cut due to lack of knowledge and cost. There is a huge difference between these outfits and union trained, apprenticed, and employed masons.

If I were in your shoes, I would hire a union bricklayer that does some side work (they all do). You'll want a "journeyman" bricklayer that has performed residential work, specifically building fireplace boxes and chimney flues. The reason is that the firebox is sometimes complicated, having to take in account firebox height and depth (for air flow). My uncle has built a number of chimneys and there was always a reason why the foreman wanted him on the job - because he knew what he was doing. You may be able to find a mason by talking to a salesman at a brickyard or maybe by going on angieslist.com.

You'll also have to dig and pour a concrete foundation and here in Chicago, it'll be about 36" deep (past the freeze line). I would let the mason perform this as well as the foundation should be square and as level as possible.

If you have the right person, this should work out fine. I would guess that you would pour the foundation one weekend and then the smoker could be built the following weekend - although it may take a couple of long days.

I would say go for it, if you know you're serious about smoking meats. You may want to try buying a cheap smoker in the meantime, to see if you actually enjoy spending a whole day preparing a meal. Even if you become a really good smoker on a weber, you would still have to learn how to pit smoke items but at least you'll have a foundation to go off of. Good luck.

I don't disagree with any of that. Note that union and European are not mutually exclusive, though I'm sure there is lots of cheap non-union recent immigrant labor out there. As you suggest, there are masons, and then there are masons. My neighbor is a contractor himself, and the place he built is his own "dream house." The Polish and Italian crews he used are supposedly guys with historic building/church renovation backgrounds, and it shows. Union, too, I believe.

Also, good point about the foundation. That and the concrete cap on my structure (in addition to the arch and vault work) are not the sorts of things I'd suggest to a DIYer.

Anyway, I don't think that city living precludes a somewhat more modest setup. Outdoor fireplaces, and to a growing extent wood burning ovens, have been commonplace in fancy, but ass-to-elbow, neighborhoods in CA and FL for a while, and they are becoming fairly ordinary in higher-end construction here. The same house I noted before has a big stone fireplace attached to the brick garage. Another guy down the street has a fireplace on his brick deck. So, why not a BBQ if you want to spend the cash (or have the skills) and you think you will use it?

PS, all of this assumes a single-family house or similar in the city, obviously.

All this talk about smokers is making me want to wipe off the snow on my Big Green Egg and do some Baltimore Pit Beef (using eye of round instead of top round).

I guess I would say that I am by nature, cheap and I guess thats why smoking and BBQ'ing appeals to me. You can always find cheap cuts of meet to experiment on (99 cent pork butts as of late) and put out some darn good eats on a budget - the way it was done 150 years ago. Of course you can also spend big bucks like the professional rigs of sponsored teams or some of the elaborate "outdoor kitchens". My $600 dollar egg almost seems bargain basement compared to the pits and rigs that are made nowadays.

That said, it is easy for all of us to get hung up on the equipment or technical aspecxt of BBQ and forget what is important - the food and the fellowship of other BBQ lovers. Starting out, join as many forums as you can - go to some of the contests. For the egg lovers, there are eggfests that are alot of fun with some outstanding food prepared as well. Explore different sauces and rubs. My wife thinks I'm nuts when I go to grocery stores in other areas of the country looking for sauces that I haven't tried. Most restaurants that specialize in BBQ that actually have smokers and pits (that aren't electric) will be happy to talk to you. And when you have food to share from your smoking adventures, its amazing how many friends you really have.

Above all though, have fun.

To be clear, I spent years BBQing in dirt pits, cinder block pits, rented rigs and Webers. My brick pit saves some precious time and effort (not to mention yard) when it's whole hog time. Also, the pizza oven, unfortunately, cannot be done more economically. So, I agree that building a huge permanent pit is not a good initial step to learning about 'cue. But to the extent anyone wants pointers, I'm happy to oblige.

JeffB wrote:I don't disagree with any of that. Note that union and European are not mutually exclusive, though I'm sure there is lots of cheap non-union recent immigrant labor out there. As you suggest, there are masons, and then there are masons. My neighbor is a contractor himself, and the place he built is his own "dream house." The Polish and Italian crews he used are supposedly guys with historic building/church renovation backgrounds, and it shows. Union, too, I believe.

Also, good point about the foundation. That and the concrete cap on my structure (in addition to the arch and vault work) are not the sorts of things I'd suggest to a DIYer.

Anyway, I don't think that city living precludes a somewhat more modest setup. Outdoor fireplaces, and to a growing extent wood burning ovens, have been commonplace in fancy, but ass-to-elbow, neighborhoods in CA and FL for a while, and they are becoming fairly ordinary in higher-end construction here. The same house I noted before has a big stone fireplace attached to the brick garage. Another guy down the street has a fireplace on his brick deck. So, why not a BBQ if you want to spend the cash (or have the skills) and you think you will use it?

PS, all of this assumes a single-family house or similar in the city, obviously.

Good point on the union vs. European. I was part of the union for a few years and worked with some great craftsmen from all over the world (those arches on the Harold Washington Library showcase some of my fathers work). The key here is that the union has an apprenticeship and you have learn a "best practices" way of doing things. Many of the recent immigrants (regardless of origin) are "handy men," learning new trades on the job or not familiar with certain building codes. This is what you want to avoid.

Unfortunately, I can't build a pit in the city since I'm on the third floor of a three flat (great skyline view from my rooftop though). I'd hate to even admit the best I have is a weber gas grill (since building fires on wooden decks isn't the best idea). I've thought about the green egg though and heard it was a very safe smoker/grill - containing the ash/embers well and insulated so the outside doesn't become overly hot. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks and enjoy the holidays...

Jeff

Didn't mean to imply that people shouldn't build brick pits or expensive rigs to do BBQ. Hell, I certainly wouldn't turn down a Klose offset and I know that there are friends of mine that think I was an idiot for spending $600 on an egg that doesn't even have a gas insert and is, for all practical purposes a fancy charcoal grill. I think that our society has been brainwashed to think that you have to have the best (and you have to have it now) to be a good cook.

I can still remember cooking outside in the snow trying to keep the temp. in my $25.00 Brinkman. I did learn alot about smoking and temp control so it was well worth it but the egg is so much easier. And with devices such as the BBQ Guru which regulates temp., it can literally become "set it and forget it."

BTW, how is that pizza oven working for you - that looks VERY interesting.

JeffB wrote:T. But to the extent anyone wants pointers, I'm happy to oblige.

Pointers? Heck, we want invitations.

Bruce wrote:After one of the recent trips I put together a PowerPoint presentation of the butchering process. The presentation can be downloaded from my website. Click on click to download. As far as I know this is the most detailed and graphic view of butchering on the internet.

If you're interested in this sort of thing, I have some selections I put up on an old version of my website around 2000 of a traditional pig kill in Hungary. You can find it here. It's hard to find anyone who appreciates pictures of a pig slaughter. I wonder if I could unearth those negatives. Might be worth a rescan. I think I took about 20 rolls of images the whole day.

Binko wrote:If you're interested in this sort of thing, I have some selections I put up on an old version of my website around 2000 of a traditional pig kill in Hungary. You can find it here. It's hard to find anyone who appreciates pictures of a pig slaughter. I wonder if I could unearth those negatives. Might be worth a rescan. I think I took about 20 rolls of images the whole day.

This guy appreciates a nice butchering and hog slaughter. Great set of pictures. Here's a link to site in Romania of butchering a hog and a couple of other animals.

I'm curious how the use of propane to remove the hair works out. Is there any impact on the skin regarding taste? I'm sure the smell of the burning hair is rather unpleasant. I've always scalded to hogs to remove the hair.

Yeah, the smell ain't great, but I don't think there's much of an effect on the taste of the skin. I can't say for sure, because I didn't have anything with the skin. Hungarians love their pork skin, so if it really affected the taste, I would assume they'd use another method. The pictures in the Romanian pig kill, with the piling of hay around the beast, is the more traditional method of removing the hair...just a hell of a lot faster with the propane torch.

(Incidentally, there was an urban legend [or I guess, rural legend] when I was in Hungary where the fire method of hair removal plays an important part in the story. It goes that one winter, a farmer and his family decided to find a more humane way of killing the pig. In the end, they decided that gassing the pig would be the best way to go, and they jury-rigged a device involving the exhaust of a Lada [Russian car], a long tube, and presumably an enclosed space of some sort. Well, the device works as planned, and the pig dies a peaceful death. They drag it out into the yard, pile the hay on it, and light it on fire to burn off the hair. As they're drinking their plum palinka [brandy] celebrating the kill, the pig suddenly explodes from the pent-up gases and it's raining pork blood and guts in the village.)

I just had some blood fritters during the slaughter and took home the typical assortment of pig kill sausages: a blood sausage, a liver sausage, and a fresh paprika-and-garlic sausage.