Gearing Up for the Big Pig Pickin' for Jim's 50th Bday

My college buddy, Jim, is gearing up for his 50th birthday pig pickin' which will be later today. He is going "whole hog" on the barbecue and the pigs were dressed and ready to be fired up early this morning at 2:30 a.m. Whew! That's an early wake up call, but it takes a long time to do a whole pig.



I generally do shoulders or Boston butts, becuase whole pigs are heavy and hard to handle. Also, you need a really big smoker to do a full pig. Whole pigs do look impressive though, and you have that nice ratio of dark and lean as well as plenty of outside brown. So, whole pigs make some mighty fine barbecue.



In addition to all the traditional sides for barbecue (slaw, potato salad, beans), I know we'll be eating some southern pecan pies. Jim talked his sister into baking those up yesterday, and they look fabulous as you can see. I've never had pecan pie at a pig pickin', but it's hard to beat pecan pie for a dessert. Thumbs up!

Southern Pecan Pie Recipe

Here is the Yummy Pecan Pie I Made to Go with Smoked Barbecue Shoulder


We grew up with pecan trees in the yard, so we had pecan pies often. If mom was willing to make pies, all “the kids” were certainly willing to pick up and crack out the nuts. We went through a lot of nut crackers, and my dad kept buying new and improved crackers. As we grew up and moved out, he continued to crack out nuts with his various crackers. And, mom kept making pecan pies but mostly at holidays when the family headed back to visit.

There are loads of variations on the basic pecan recipe, but I’d say that I like the traditional southern recipe the best. It’s simply hard to improve on something so delicious.

Check out my Southern Pecan Pie at Yes You Can Cook. It's an easy pie recipe, and I include some tips in case you run into questions and/or problems.

Pecan pie is probably not the first dessert that comes to mind when you're grilling, but no one is going to complain. It's very tasty. Pecan pie is more traditional if you're smoking during the colder months or if you enjoy deep frying turkey outside.