HELP: how to roast a pig?

[milius2]

Hi there fellas, my mum has her birthday in two weeks time. My present for her is a roasted pig
It's about 35kg porky that shall be prepared the day before. I'm planing on about 8 hours cooking time, as it my be around -10C outside. I will cook it on a big fire with a set up that I'll show later on. But in advance I would like to know if there are any of you that has done this before, I mean cooking a whole animal in one peace, on a bar, over a fire. I would like to know your experiences Thank you!

 

[Sniper]

Not too close to the fire, keep it turning constantly, and baste regularly, I have'nt done it myself but I have just been watching a programme where the homeowner was a greek chef and he did a full porker for a special dinner night. It looked very very tasty.

 

[sandbender]

"...cooking a whole animal in one peace, on a bar, over a fire..."

Is the pig alive when you collect it?

Roasting it over a fire seems like such a waste, there is so much that you can take from a pig if you take it apart properly and maybe barbecue a few choice bits (IMHO).

 

[bernie66]

Make sure you have a big pile of wood & then double it. You will use more than you think. Also it will take longer to cook than you think / work out / people tell you. Unless you like black on the outside & bloody in the middle. If you are having it killed at a slaughter house collect the day before to allow it to warm (relatively) up a bit from the 2 deg c they will have it at. Dont do one too big - 50lb killed out & took over 12 hours of slow cooking. MAKE SURE THE MEAT IS TO THE SIDE OF THE FIRE NOT OVER IT OR IT WILL BURN. If poss have two fires oner on each side with the meat in the middle. Only trouble with that is if you get it wrong you cant move the meat further away

 

[shaggystu]

i've never cooked a pig over a fire but i have done a fair few in a professional hog roast machine, as such i don't know a great deal about cooking times, proximity to fire, preperation etc. but what i do know is that there's no need whatsoever to baste the pig if you don't score the skin. people would point out, quite correctly too, that if you don't score the skin then you don't get good crackling, my response would be that you're cooking the pig for it's meat not it's skin. of course you can score it, salt it, and get great crackling but as sniper pointed out you'll need to baste it almost constantly then. constant basting, constant turning, and surely at least the odd drink or two (it's thirsty work raosting a pig) and you'll soon realise that you need at least three pairs of hands. it's also much easier to keep the meat on the pig and not dropping off into the fire if you leave the skin intact (pig skin does such a good job of holding the pig together that you could almost imagine it was designed for the job).

just my two-penneth worth

stuart

 

[shaggystu]

that's good advice from bernie66 about letting the pig warm up a little from the cold store temperature, we always recommend at least overnight at room temperature before cooking, it makes a big deifference.

oh yeah, and get yourself a temperature probe, one with a 6" stainless probe is best and probe the shoulders of the beast. the thickest part of the shoulder can take a good couple of hourse longer than the rest of it to cook

last thought - if you want to spead up the cooking procces you can stick loads of spoons into the pig (handle first) before you cook it, the spoons transfer the heat to the inside of the meat, it can cut the cooking time down by almost a third.

stuart

 

[Bushwhacker]

How friendly are you with your local baker?
We've taken whole pigs down to the village bakery a number of times and used their big oven to start them off.

 

[sandbender]

How friendly are you with your local baker?
We've taken whole pigs down to the village bakery a number of times and used their big oven to start them off.

What about baking her in a pit to begin with, rocks from the fire, cover the hole with a tarp, cover that with earth, bake for six to nine hours?, then dig her up and put her on the spit to roast in time for the guests arriving.

That way you will get some crackling, the pig will be thoroughly cooked and if you have placed large enough pots below her in the pit you will have saved some of that lovely fat!

 

[stovie]

Admittedly it was a bit warmer when we did this one below, but about 50kg took around 6 hours (we allowed 8+) fire to one side with a reflector on the other side and over the top resting on the uprights...effectively an open fronted oven. Constant basting and turning kept it even. One other little tip, more fire at head and rump ends and less in the rib/back area, helps even out the cooking.

 

[Shewie]

Pretty much all been said but a large pan under the pig helps to catch the juices which you then use for basting.

 

[Oblio13]

We cooked two in an "above-ground pit", if that makes sense. One as practice and then one for our wedding. We made a rectangle of rocks, with a way to suspend a 4' x 8' wire mesh panel in it. We made a big hardwood fire in it and let it burn to coals, "butterflyed" the pig by hammering a machete along it's spine, laid it on the mesh, filled it with orange juice and garlic, and then covered everything with a sheet of aluminum, cardboard and canvas and left it for about 12 hours.

 

[Mojoracinguk]

Nice....slightly peckish now though

 

[milius2]

Thanks everyone!
About a pit roast... I can't do that as the ground is frozen solid this time of year. I can't make an "above ground pit" as there are no that many stones around.
Thanks, I didn't knew about reflector and roasting it away from fire, that's great to know!
About the scoring.... I thought I would do that near the end? Is that possible?

I'll post a bit latter. need to go now.

 

[shaggystu]

.......About the scoring.... I thought I would do that near the end? Is that possible?......

i'd say no, but i might be wrong. the way we do it is to pull the skin off in pieces, cut it up with scissors, salt the inside, and then put it back in the heat to go crunchy, nom nom nom

stuart

 

[milius2]

Oh, then I got it wrong. Sorry.

What else?.. About cooking it for a start. Well I don't have that option I'm afraid.

More about the basting. What do you use for that? I think some honey at the very end should do a nice job?...

I'm planing to use Alder. Good isn't it?

Sandbender it's a pig from my neighbour, I'll try to prepare it myself a day or two before. It will not be frozen, maybe sored in a cool place. But warming it is a good idea.!..

And how should I prepare the meat? Sal it ? I was thinking maybe covering it with a paste from mayonaise and herbs? How do you prepare the pig?

 

[dwardo]

The last time i did this i stuffed the cavity with bread soaked in cider and a load of veg. This helped to keep the meat moist. I basted regular with honey watered down a little with warm water. Dont Have you spit set too high or you will ahve to double the amount of wood and think "SLOW" cooking.
I think our cooking time was about 12 hours so get it going early a.m. or you wont be eating till midnight.

I like stovies idea of a reflector, i bet that makes a whole load of difference to the cooking time..

If all goes well you should end up with this mmmmmm hungry now.

 

[Tony]

Ohhh, some great pics in this thread, guess want to go out and do

 

[nuggets]

any reason why an apple was put into a pigs mouth on the spit - as you see in cartoons -Was it just as a garnish ???

 

[Bushwhacker]

any reason why an apple was put into a pigs mouth on the spit - as you see in cartoons -Was it just as a garnish ???

I think it's to keep the mouth open and let the hot air circulate.

 

[milius2]

I think a piece of wood or rock should keep the mouth open, apple would not stay there for long, only when it's done an apple should be chuked into mouth.. (sorry for my English )