Roasting a PIG?

[chickenstripe]

I'm thinking of roasting a pig.

I'm sure someone on this forum has done this.

Need some light shed on things like:
what size pig?
How long to cook?
best method (in the ground, on a spit, etc.)?
Type of fire or firewood?
Stuff or not to stuff?

and general tricks of the trade.....

[Hickory]

The best pork I have ever had was quartered.
And roasted over charcoal.
Bast it good to hold in moisture, and keep a therometer
handy. When it reaches 160+ degrees it is done.
I'd recommend a small to medium pig. (40-75lbs)
You can use a large hypodermic needle to inject apple juice into the meat

[fourarmed]

Years ago a bunch of guys from the deep south were here building a nuclear power plant, and they roasted a pig for a party at my place. This was a pretty big pig - probably 200 lbs on the hoof. They shot him, scalded him in a 55 gal. barrel, scraped and gutted him. They had a big grate welded from heavy rebar which they laid across a small 5' stock tank we had. They built a fire of mostly oak, and shoveled coals from it into the tank. They spread the pig, skin side down, on the grate, and cooked him all day, basting with salt water that had some spices in it. I think red and black pepper were the main ones. They had a bucket of the stuff, and sloshed it on with a rag tied to a stick. About an hour before it was done, they laid some hogwire (appropriately) over him and wired him to the grate. Then they turned him over and cooked him about an hour with the skin side up. It was quite a production, complete with adult beverages and adult stories. It was also the best roast pig I ever had.

[The Dove]

I bury mine (medium size pig, quartered) seasoned with dry rub, wrapped in tin foil real good, then soak burlap bags in water for a while and wrap around the tin foil/pig. Dig a pit, burn wood till you get a nice deep bed of coals, this usually takes about 12-20 hours. Lay the 4 pieces directly on top of the coals, place a sheet of sheet iron on top of the meat, then cover with dirt. Make sure no smoke escapes, and be sure to mark where the sheet iron is to make it easier to find. Wait 24 hours then dig it up. Be carefull cause you could very easily get burnt. It's tough and time consuming but well worth it in my opinion. I only will do this for big party's and even then only 1 every few years. Never, have I heard anyone complain though!!!!

The Dove

[Gee_Wizz01]

I bury mine (medium size pig, quartered) seasoned with dry rub, wrapped in tin foil real good, then soak burlap bags in water for a while and wrap around the tin foil/pig. Dig a pit, burn wood till you get a nice deep bed of coals, this usually takes about 12-20 hours. Lay the 4 pieces directly on top of the coals, place a sheet of sheet iron on top of the meat, then cover with dirt. Make sure no smoke escapes, and be sure to mark where the sheet iron is to make it easier to find. Wait 24 hours then dig it up. Be carefull cause you could very easily get burnt. It's tough and time consuming but well worth it in my opinion. I only will do this for big party's and even then only 1 every few years. Never, have I heard anyone complain though!!!!

The Dove

This is the method my Dad taught me, except we didn't wrap the meat in foil, just a whole lot of CLEAN burlap (Mom would wash the sacks in the washing machine). Dad usually Bar B Que beef this way. It was real good though. Now we have a 6X4' firebrick lined pit about 4' deep with expanded metal grate and metal lid. Tastes just as good and is lot easier.

G

[Boz330]

Years ago a bunch of guys from the deep south were here building a nuclear power plant, and they roasted a pig for a party at my place. This was a pretty big pig - probably 200 lbs on the hoof. They shot him, scalded him in a 55 gal. barrel, scraped and gutted him. They had a big grate welded from heavy rebar which they laid across a small 5' stock tank we had. They built a fire of mostly oak, and shoveled coals from it into the tank. They spread the pig, skin side down, on the grate, and cooked him all day, basting with salt water that had some spices in it. I think red and black pepper were the main ones. They had a bucket of the stuff, and sloshed it on with a rag tied to a stick. About an hour before it was done, they laid some hogwire (appropriately) over him and wired him to the grate. Then they turned him over and cooked him about an hour with the skin side up. It was quite a production, complete with adult beverages and adult stories. It was also the best roast pig I ever had.

We call that Western KY style around here. I've done probably 40 of them over the years. I just use concrete blocks and cover the top with sheet metal to make access easier. I have mine blocked out by the butcher shop to make handling easier but I turn it about half way through the process. I also pull all of the meat and cut it into smaller pieces. No fat, bone or skin in it at all.
Hickory would be the ideal wood but I mostly use oak because you can get slabs from the saw mill pretty cheap and it makes fast coals. There is a fair amount of smoking going on as well during the cooking process that you don't get with charcoal.
I make a number of slits in the carcass and pack that with salt. The Sop (what we call it) is 1 gallon of vinegar, 1 lb of butter, 6 lemons cut in half and squoze and salt, pepper, red pepper, sugar and anything else that might sound good. About once and hour we use a stick with an absorbent rag on it (Sop Stick) to sop the pig down.
The size pig depends on how many people you are feeding. I usually fed between 70 and 175 so I would get about 210lb hanging weight. Smaller pigs around us have to be custom ordered since the 210lb is standard size for the butcher shop to buy. A big pig takes about 20 hours to do but I try and get a smaller one and put it on around 4 in the morning.
Adult beverages and lies are pretty much the order of the day while cooking. It is a pretty big production to do it right, but well worth the effort. You have to be careful not to get too much heat or push the cooking process lest you set the pig on fire. When that happens it sounds like somebody lighting a brush pile with gasoline. Makes a big WHOOMP and sheet metal goes everywhere. Don't ask how I know this.:shock:
Here is a picture of the pit I use, the fire is to the left of the pit. Here is part of the crowd from the last one I did which was around 175 folks or so.


Bob

[frank505]

we used to have volunteer fire/rescue pig roast evry year for a fundraiser and drinking excuse. Make a rectangle using concrete building blocks at least a foot wider and longer than the pig. Put charcoal on the inside edges, light, place a hog panel over all, place pig on hog panel, add one more row of blocks, cover with plywood. takes a couple of hours and it is done.

[DIRT Farmer]

I used a 500 gal fuel tank with a door cut out on hinges. I have used an outside fire box and also used green oak or hickory under the meat. Air controll is imparitive when using direct heat. I put the meat side down so the meat would sear and the skin would hold the moisture in. About 16 hours with the cooker hot enough to press your hand on but hot enough you can't keep it there. Cook to 160 in the thickest part. This is for split in half served on the grate let the guests pick it off the bone, hence a pig pickin. What ever sause you like, I use a citris and vininger dip.

[MT Gianni]

Did one with a friend on a spit. His setup was a 30 gallon drum split and welded in half, with a 3/4" pipe spit on a 1/10 hp motor and a bicycle sprocket set up. Charcoal and wood in the drum, 125 lb pig and wrapped with chicken wire. We sewed 8-10 oranges, lemons and limes in the cavity and cooked it for 15 hours. The skin crisped up nice and it was done to a T. Good eats. I wanted to perforate it with a marinating needle full of salt and garlic powder but lost out.

[reloader28]

My cousin buried one for his wedding. Was most EXCELLENT.

I dont know the exact procedure, but I've thought of digging my own pit since then.

But I'm not picky. I'll take a spit roasted one almost as fast.

[Boz330]

I used a 500 gal fuel tank with a door cut out on hinges. I have used an outside fire box and also used green oak or hickory under the meat. Air controll is imparitive when using direct heat. I put the meat side down so the meat would sear and the skin would hold the moisture in. About 16 hours with the cooker hot enough to press your hand on but hot enough you can't keep it there. Cook to 160 in the thickest part. This is for split in half served on the grate let the guests pick it off the bone, hence a pig pickin. What ever sause you like, I use a citris and vininger dip.

You are close enough to western KY so it sounds like almost the same thing I do. I've tried the fuel drum thing with an outside fire box but thought it left too much soot on the meat. I've also used a fuel drum with the door to shovel the coals in and it work really well but the cooking space was limited. With the concrete blocks it is easy enough to build anywhere and the blocks help hold the heat. I use the same method for temp control except I look for it to get uncomfortable in 5 to 6 seconds. I also listen for the number drops of fat onto the coals. To much vaporization and it is a ticking bomb.
We have a hog roast scheduled for the 25th of Sep. It has been 3 years since the last one I've done. My mouth is watering already. I usually get my fill while cooking and cutting so when it is served I'm not even intersted.

Bob

[Hardcast416taylor]

We do about the same as Dirt Farmer does. We made a spit and fashioned up a roterisse using the drive gear box from a "clown car" for rotation.Robert

[Boz330]

I think it comes down to that cat skinning thing. But lets face it, it is hard to fix a pig where it ain't good:bigsmyl2: All you have to do is look how bad everybody says it is for your heart. Sort of like bacon, it can make so many so so things taste good.

Bob

[94Doug]

I was just at a get together over the 4th, where a pig was the guest. They did a small-ish one on a grill that you see at Farm and Fleet and such with the smoke stack on the top. Even so, I think they grilled it most of the day, must have been pretty low heat. They also basted it many times, not sure exactly with what. Foil covered the sensitive parts. Sure was good.

Doug

[Heavy lead]

275 gallon oil tank split in half oak, hickory or a combination stuff a 100 lbs. pig with sour kraut with a few cut up onions and good sausage sewn together, lay belly down with the legs spread out to the back and front and keep the damper closed enough to keep the heat at about 180 to 200, I usually start it at about 5 am and it'll be done by noon. Nummy, honestly though, I'd love to try the buried method.

[Boz330]

How much Kraut does it take to stuff a pig?

Bob

[DIRT Farmer]

Boz, my wife has a lot of relation in the O'boro area, Some of the best memories were the Sundays in picnic season. Her parents would make most of the picnics and I got to ride along for the food. The best part was the women competing to make the best deserts but as you say it's hard to do a hog wrong, just don't burn it or dry it out.

[giz189]

Google "cajun microwave". We cook one every year at our deer camp for Thanksgiving. 200 to 250 pounder cooked whole.

[Boz330]

Speaking of which, deer is pretty tasty done that way as well. The boys on the next farm back from where we camp always cook a pig. They use the same 300 gal fuel tank that I spoke of earlier.

Bob

[cattleskinner]

I just did one the other day for a party at the house. I have an old corn crib foundation behind the barn(looks like a big trench). Ended up digging down about a foot out of the bottom of the trench and stacked the loose dirt on one end sealing it off. I then used concrete block to seal the other end, and the top with a sheet metal "roof". Used a half dozen trap stakes pounded straight in the bottom and wired two long rebar rods to the top of the stakes, with a old wire hog panel layed on top to support the hog. The hog was half a hog skinned(approx. 80 lbs.), stuffed with a gallon of saurkraut and wired shut. Rubbed entire thing with Lawry's seasoning salt and cut 4 slits in the thick parts and shoved a quarter stick of butter in each slit. Wrapped hog in wire fencing and then aluminum foil. Started it belly down and about 4 hours in flipped it to "skin" side down(one flip altogether). 6 bags of charcoal and 6 hours later and I was eating like a king. Could have gotten by on 5 bags of charcoal but being the first time of cooking a hog, I wasn't sure how much to use. I used 4 bags regular and 2 bags hickory flavor. Didn't matter, I ended up cooking corn on the cob on the extra coals after the pig was done. Didn't take any pictures of the cooking, but I will try and take a couple of the pit when it is light outside.

[Lloyd Smale]

One thing i learned that was very important to have when i was down south in the service is a couple of jugs of good shine! Have to do something while the pig is cooking. We found it also worked real well in kerosene lamps.

[mroliver77]

We usually stuffed the pig (200+lbs) with carrots, corn, cabbage, spuds, lots of onions, butter and whatever then sewed it shut. Foil over the snout and legs. We used a rotisserie when available. I have a large syringe for whatever the sop of the day is. Back in my partying days the was usually lots of beer and other alkyhol involved in the sop and the chef! Being a farm boy my setups used a lot of the same stuff as cattleskinner used. One night/day/night in Olive Hill KY we cooked a road kill deer in a scrap pickup bed. It worked out great! Parties seemed to materialize out of thin air when we went to KY for the week!
Jay

[easy ed]

Here are some pictures of a two pig roast that my brothers and I did for a wedding reception back in August. One of the pigs weighted (hanging weight) 200 pounds and the other was 220. The pit is double brick lined about 10 feet long, 3 feet wide and 31/2 feet deep. We burnt about a half of cord of wood in the pit for the bed of coals. The bed of coals was about 12 or so inches deep. A large iron rack was placed over the coals. Each pig was tied to an iron rack and the two racks were placed on the rack at the bottom of the pit. The pigs were about 6 inches above the coals. The insides of the pigs where coated with BBQ sauce and then wrapped in sheets and burlap sacking, all of this was tied together with bailing wire. We put them in the pit at 10 PM. The pit was covered with roofing tin then ¾ inch plywood sheets and then everything was covered with 12 inches of sand. We pulled them out of the pit at 2:30 the next afternoon. The meat was so tender you could just reach in and pull out pieces of meat.

[JesseCJC]

Without sound like too much of an idiot, I would like to ask what is the proper procedure for cleaning/gutting a pig before roasting? Will be my first time to hunt hogs and never really was taught how to clean/prep one :(

[Thumbcocker]

Isn't it also very important to have lots of funny stories to tell about the pigs life at at "pig roast"?

[Changeling]

Without sound like too much of an idiot, I would like to ask what is the proper procedure for cleaning/gutting a pig before roasting? Will be my first time to hunt hogs and never really was taught how to clean/prep one :(

When I was a kid we had 2 50gallon drums split and welded together, there was a tunnel built under a "Rack" type affair. The drums were filled with water and brought to a boil, hogs were dipped into the boiling water until the hair started to slip. Then they were cranked out onto a table where they were "scraped" with commercial hand scrapers till all the hair was gone. Then they were dipped again into the boiling water and brought out for a final scraping and cleaning.

After this they were as clean as a spanking new baby! They were cranked up swung around and hung to dry. Then cut into the various parts as you see in a butcher chart or in the case of whole roasters split and pulled further down the line.

Sounds simple and it is, IF, one is set up for this type of operation, we were. My Dad was an Engineer and designed the whole set up witch was fairly simple, ONCE you seen how he did it!

OH, forgot to mention, you did all this when it was COLD AS HELL!

Anyway I hope this answered your question.

[Boz330]

I cooked a pig for a party this weekend and here are a couple pics of the guest of honor as well as the cutting crew, and crew benefits, snacking on some of the best cuts.

Bob

[DIRT Farmer]

Bob that looks like a pig picking team. If they don't volenteer to help with the hog, as we know the best part is gone. Been ther myself.

[Boz330]

By the time I get done cooking one and of course snacking during the cutting, I don't want any till the next day. The best meat on the pig is what would be the bacon from the rib area. After you Huck a couple people into trying that, there is no problem getting helpers. Not much of that meat makes it into the pan. UMMMM, UMMMM GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob

[gefiltephish]

Here's 9 pages of pig roast info. From prepping the pig (they bought theirs) and building a block roaster to cooking and eating! Gotta try it out myself.
http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html

[RP]

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/Ricky1965/Genral/lastdownload004.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/Ricky1965/Genral/lastdownload020.jpg
Looks easier then digging a hole and cutting alot of wood granted and you dont get the good times doing those things but sometimes you just dont have time. Family members of mine in Texas had pits to cook in and it was some good eating miss those days. But this is a NC grill this is how most do it here some use wood most now use gas. The sauce is the big diff around here nothing like the Texas sauce but still good sometimes we they make it sweet. Oh the pics were taken at a cook off to raise money for the boys club.

[Lloyd Smale]

If i remember right from my days in the service down south. One key ingredient to making a good pig roast is a jug of shine to hit on all night while it was cooking!

[RP]

Thats true but not to shine that leads to a burn or uncooked hog.

[The Dove]

Hey Rick, enough shine = perfectly cooked oink!!!

The Dove

[RP]

Well Dove iam more of a beer drinker and drinking shine like beer dont work to well I know.