The Pig Pickin'

A pig pickin' is a Carolina party built around a whole hog. The pig is the centerpiece, guests help themselves straight from the cooker, and the whole afternoon is about good food and good company.

What a pig pickin' is

The name says it all. A whole hog is slow-cooked, usually overnight or through the morning, and when it is done the cooker is opened and guests "pick" the tender meat right off the pig, sometimes with gloved hands, sometimes with tongs and forks. It is a long-standing tradition across North Carolina, and you will find pig pickin's at weddings, graduations, family reunions, fundraisers, church events and political gatherings. The hog is usually served with a thin vinegar-based sauce, coleslaw and a few classic sides.

The appeal is part food, part theater. Everyone gathers around the cooker, people swap opinions about which part of the hog is best, and the cook gets to show off hours of patient work.

Planning the party

Pick the date and the place

Pig pickin's are outdoor events. You need a safe spot for the cooker, away from buildings, trees, shrubs and overhead branches, and a sheltered area where guests can serve and sit. Have a rain plan. Check local rules about open fires and burning, especially in dry weather.

Decide who is cooking

You have three options. Cook it yourself with a cinder-block pit or a rented hog cooker; hire a barbecue caterer who brings the cooker and the pig; or cook pork shoulders instead of a whole hog for a simpler "pig pickin' style" party. If you cook it yourself, read our whole hog guide well ahead.

Order the hog

Order from a butcher, meat market or farm. Give them your headcount and the dimensions of your cooker, and ask them to recommend a size. Ask when it will be ready, whether it is fresh or frozen, and whether they can split or butterfly it for you.

Work backward from serving time

Decide when you want to eat, then work backward: resting and serving time, the cook itself (many hours for a whole hog), fire-building time, and setup. Many hosts start the fire the night before. Build in extra time; hogs, like briskets, rarely cook on schedule.

The menu

A traditional North Carolina pig pickin' menu is simple and generous:

The hog, picked or chopped.
Vinegar sauce. Eastern style is vinegar, red pepper flakes, black pepper and salt; Lexington style adds a little ketchup. See Carolina vinegar sauce.
Coleslaw. Creamy or vinegar-based, both have their fans.
Hushpuppies, deep-fried cornmeal dumplings.
Baked beans, potato salad, boiled potatoes or Brunswick stew.
Soft buns and white bread for sandwiches.
Sweet tea and banana pudding.

Offer a sweeter tomato sauce too for guests who are new to vinegar sauce.

Setting up the serving line

Place the cooker or a serving table with the opened hog where guests can reach it safely, with the fire and hot metal clearly out of reach. Keep children away from the coals.
Provide food-safe gloves, tongs, forks and plenty of plates and napkins.
Set sauces, slaw and sides on a separate table to keep the line moving.
Have pans ready to pull meat into, so later guests are not left picking at bones.
Put out trash cans and a station for wiping hands.

Many hosts now pull and chop most of the meat into pans and keep just part of the hog on display for picking. It is cleaner, faster and keeps the meat warmer.

Keeping food safe at an outdoor party

Pig pickin's tend to last for hours in warm weather, which is exactly when food safety matters most. According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS):

Hot food should be kept at 140 °F or warmer. Keep pans of pulled pork covered over low heat, in warmers or in slow cookers.
Cold food such as slaw and potato salad should be kept at 40 °F or below, for example in containers nested in ice.
Perishable food should not sit out for more than two hours, or one hour when the temperature is above 90 °F.
Leftovers should go into shallow containers and into the refrigerator promptly.

Check the hog's doneness with a food thermometer in several thick spots before serving. FSIS lists 145 °F with a three-minute rest as the safe minimum for whole cuts of pork; pit-cooked pork for pulling is cooked well past that until tender.

Etiquette for guests

Thank the cook. Somebody probably stayed up all night.
Use the gloves or tongs provided, not bare hands.
Try a little of everything: shoulder, ham, loin and skin.
Do not drown it in sauce until you have tasted the meat on its own.

Smaller-scale pig pickin'

Not ready for a whole hog? Smoke two or three pork shoulders following our pulled pork guide, chop them with some of the crispy bark, and serve with the same sauces and sides. You get the flavor and the fun without the overnight shift.

Sources

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