On this week’s show, we’re inviting you to a midsummer barbecue for the ages! We’re traveling through country pithouses and urban kitchens in search of the best whole hog barbecue.

We begin with Rien Fertel, author of The One True Barbecue, who demystifies the role of the pitmaster in the tradition of whole hog barbecue in Tennessee and the Eastern Carolinas. Rien’s exhaustive research led him to some of the smokiest and most storied barbecue shacks in America.

Then, we visit Michael Gulotta at Mopho in Mid-City, as he prepares for his weekly whole hog celebration. Out on the restaurant’s patio is a huge fire pit where Michael roasts a whole hog on a spit, suspended over an open flame. We join him at the smoky pit and then in the kitchen to see just how he goes the whole hog.

Finally, Nathanial Zimet, chef at Boucherie, shares his obsession for the meticulous process of deconstructing a whole hog, and shows us how his restaurant lives up to its name!

We’re makin’ bacon and so much more on this week’s Louisiana Eats!