From snout to hock, a plain-English walk through every primal cut on a whole hog, and what each one becomes once it hits the smoker.

My first pastrami cure went sideways — a cloudy brine, a bacterial scare, and a gut call at 11am that either saved dinner or ruined it. Here's how it actually went, what I'd do differently, and the recipe as scaled.

The stall, the bark, the Texas crutch — a no-fluff BBQ glossary built to skim at the smoker, not read like an article.

Thor's Hammer humbled me. After a 12-hour smoke ended in frustration, tacos, and one of my worst barbecue failures, I let six months pass before trying again. This isn't a guide from someone who got it right the first time—it's the story of what changed, what I learned, and why sometimes the hardest part of barbecue is giving yourself another shot. (