Roasting a Pig?!
Answers: Has anyone roasted a pig before? We are planning to do one in April. We have a spit to cook it on. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or pointers they could share with me
Yes I have. If you want to use a spit, prepare for a long day.
Prepare an area for the fire. clean and dry the pig. Foil the feet and snout. Rub the pig inside the cavity with a dry spice rub. Prepare a clean bucket with water, wine, herbs (Parsley and sage and whatever you like) and lots of citrus cut up. Buy a new kitchen mop to spread this marinade!
Light the wood/coals making the hottest parts of the fire under the hams and forarms leaving the coldest under the loin. Tie the pig to the spit with wire tightly taking care to leave nothing flopping around. have extra wire to tie as the pig gets smaller when cooking. He will need to cook @10 hours under a modest heat. as you cook and turn the spit baste him with the marinade by mop. Let rest for 20 min after done (170) and leave 30 min or so for butchering.
There is a great new gadget called a chinese barbeque box that can make it easier look for it on the web.
Cubans (which I am not) have a tradition of cooking a whole pig on Christmas or New years, cant remember exactly but they were on the foodnetwork not too long ago showing how they do it and how long and so forth. It was pretty interesting to see.
check out
www.foodnetwork.com and see if you can find it under pig roast, or cuban. (the people lived in Florida, not all that far from Cuba is how I remember it)
A big factor on the taste is the type of wood, coals, or other materials you are using to create your fire- they all directly affect the flavor.
I have roasted many many pigs in my day,,to me the trick is to add the flavors you want after it is cooked. After De boning, I would put the meat into roasters to keep it hot and in one roaster I would add a 4 oz. bottle of liquid smoke to a two let er bottle of 7up and pour it over the meat to keep it moist. In the other roaster I would add my favorite BBQ sauce. Oh and salt and pepper to taste after it is in the roasters.
David C is right on. My ex and I used to do this for gatherings of various sorts and it makes for a long day. But so worth it in the end.