A Whole Hog Barbecue Tour

Mapping out the joints that still cook whole hogs on wood-fired pits, the old fashioned way.

By Robert F. Moss

A whole hog on the pit at Summerville's Swig & Swine
A whole hog on the pit at Summerville's Swig & Swine (Robert F. Moss)
It's very rare to find a barbecue joint that cooks whole hogs these days, and for a long time it looked like the practice might fade away altogether. In just the past two years, though, there's been a bit of a rally, and whole hog cooking is starting to make a come back

Eastern North Carolina and the Pee Dee region of South Carolina have long been the last bastion of this traditional form of barbecue, but now a few ambitious cooks have undertaken the art of cooking whole pigs in other places, too. Today, whole hog joints can be found in Atlanta, central Tennessee, and even way up north in Brooklyn. Here's our map of the whole hog joints that are keeping the wood fires burning today.

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Are there whole hog joints out there that we've missed? If so, we'd love to hear about it so we can add it to our map. (As a note, we've included only restaurants that have whole hog on their regular daily menu and not ones that may cook a whole hog once a week or for special occasions.)

About the Author

Robert F. Moss

Robert F. Moss is the Contributing Barbecue Editor for Southern Living magazine, Restaurant Critic for the Post & Courier, and the author of numerous books on Southern food and drink, including The Lost Southern Chefs, Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, Southern Spirits: 400 Years of Drinking in the American South, and Barbecue Lovers: The Carolinas. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Related Reading

Is America on the Verge of a Whole Hog Revival?

Once on the brink of extinction, traditional whole hog barbecue is now poised for a remarkable comeback.

Swig & Swine Goes Whole Hog

A new all-wood whole hog joint has opened in Summerville, SC