I don't make sausage, although I have cooked head on.. love the jowls.
Again, I assisted my friends cook in those pictures. He calls a long time butcher-friend and tell's em he wants a whole hog. They will chop off the head unless you specify otherwise. The hog comes cleaned with the backbone split. His pig cooker has a built in flipper so that much is easy. That one came out dry because of an apparent problem with his regulator.
His first one was perfect.
I use a style taught to me by Jim Minion, and he learned it from competitors like the Pig Pounda Kappa folks, Gray Kerse (I believe that is how he spells it) also one of the top hog cooks in the country. A Georgia boy that cooks MIM a lot, Lilly and Jack's Old South use same tecniques. Jacks Old South does pretty good, even if he is a bit surly.
I actually grew up in Charlotte....our church had several acres of wooded land, and our homecoming every October featured a whole hog.
We stayed up all night with 2 big oil drums of burning oak dropping coals through an iron grate. These were shoveled under the pig, which was suspended on wire fencing 2 feet above the coals. Our pit was a U-shaped row of cylinder blocks. That's where I first learned q.
Being born in eastern North Carolina and having lived all over the state,
I am proud to support my heritage....whole hog or shoulders cooked over wood coals. That stance (with varying meats) meets the definition supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In your introductory post, you refused to give me advice on how to achieve crisp pig skin. Perhaps it was because you were unable to give me that information based on your experience with wood pits only, or perhaps you're an asshole. When I bought my pit, I had several decisions to make. Around 22 percent of pre-tax income goes to child support for a child I adopted. I don't regret any of it, but I can't afford to
buy a Klose or similar model. I chose gas for financial reasons, mainly for the profit margin of the little bit of catering I do.
However, no where in my response to your post did I claim to make bbq. That requires smoke. I and my friend, (who uses a gas pit that has been in his family for years), use what we have. Which is why (as stated in your introductory post) I modified my pit to add smoke. Last fall we went whole hog (head on) to film a pilot for a possible series for the Outdoor Living Network (still in the works). My modifications filled the neighborhood with the smell of hickory...and the meat was wonderfully smoked. Most there said it was the best pig they ever had. Sorry no pictures of that cook, only videotape which is being edited.
To answer your question above, I don't want to get into grinding meats at this point. I've eaten hog's head cheese, but I don't want to make it.
I'm glad you're here, and hope someday you'll explain your technique for perfect skin. Perhaps it's not possible on my grill, but I'd like to know anyway. Someday I hope to have a real pit. But for now, I'll continue to learn with what I have.
And I'm ok with that.