The Traditional Pig Pull

Introduction to the Pig Pull. A friend of mine who is a very good trout fisherman, a formidable cook, and a sometime poet, sent me a couple of odes to swine that he had composed. A pig pull is a form of gluttony practiced in the Deep South. First, kill the pig. When the skin is crisp enough to break (They call it cracklin’) and the meat falls apart, the pig is done. No one agrees about it, except that no decent host should serve commercial sauce. The liver is chopped up very fine and is called “hash.” It’s the reason that heart surgeons in the Deep South drive Bentleys. It’s called a pig pull because the assembled diners literally pull the swine to pieces with their fingers. If you pick the stuff when it’s young, and know how to cook it, pokeweed will not kill you. If you get it at a pig pull, it’s bound to be OK.
Pig roast pull picking
To have a pig pull, eat at the pig until there’s nothing left.

A friend of mine who is a very good trout fisherman, a formidable cook, and a sometime poet, sent me a couple of odes to swine that he had composed. I, having no poetry in my soul, sent him this description of a pig pull, a cultural and culinary experience that is without equal in the western world. I thought you might be interested as well.

A pig pull is a form of gluttony practiced in the Deep South. It’s suitable for anywhere from half a dozen to 50 people.

First, kill the pig. You need an adult swine for this, and adult swine are quite intelligent, so when the designated shooter walks up to the sty with a rifle, the piggy knows exactly what is about to happen. Watching this took some of the fun out of the event for me, and even more out of it for the hog.

Scald the pig and scrape it. Leave the skin on.

Gut it, and save the liver.

Build a grill out of chunks of railroad track or whatever scrap iron you have in the backyard. You need something about 8 feet square. Build a hardwood fire underneath it (hickory, ash, or oak) and let it burn down to coals.

Put the pig on the grill and cook at a low heat for about…

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