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Old October 16, 2009, 05:26 PM   #1
simonkenton
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Roast That Pig


Stuff him and wire him onto the spit.



Get the fire started. It takes one American pickup load of oak to roast a pig.



Put the pig on the fire.



The pig has to cook all night long. We had one fire to burn the oak, then shoveled coals to the cooking pit.



Next afternoon the pig is cooked. Notice there is some charring of the skin. This is because, one of the pig chefs decided he knew more than me, and he insisted on putting coals directly under the pig.



Lug the spit back to the porch, it is chow time. Notice two branches had been left at the butt of the spit, sticking out a foot. This makes it easier to rotate the pig.

Last edited by simonkenton; October 19, 2009 at 06:47 AM.
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Old October 16, 2009, 05:30 PM   #2
fisherman66
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OHHH.....AHHH

Now we're talking

Can I get sum GPS coordinates?

That looks like a domestic pig.
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Old October 16, 2009, 05:37 PM   #3
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Fish, The snout resembles a feral pig but I could be wrong and await the reply from Simon...
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Old October 16, 2009, 05:44 PM   #4
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It is a domestic pig.

I have had two pig roasts with wild hogs that I shot, but don't have pics.
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Old October 16, 2009, 05:46 PM   #5
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Gawd, I can't believe I'd do this to you Brent........but that snout looks too obtuse to be a multiple generation feral. How does one get all the hair off a feral and keep the skin? Torch?
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Old October 16, 2009, 05:49 PM   #6
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De-hairing a feral is the same as a domestic if not previously gutted... ie: trapped hog killed when ready to butcher. But if it is toted out gutted, you use a "roofer's" torch and singe off the hair, scrape, repeat until smooth as a baby's bottom... Me? I just skin them

As for the snout... The pics on the pit seemed longish to me but I am always willing to admit when I was wrong... unless such admission could result in jail time...
Brent
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Old October 16, 2009, 06:07 PM   #7
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With the wild hogs we roasted, we just started off the roast with high flames and burned off the hair.
I didn't know about the propane torch technique, that is a good idea.
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Old October 16, 2009, 06:09 PM   #8
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Simon, I learned the torch method from a NZ bud. He said move the flame fast or it will scorch the skin in a hurry.
Real fast "swipes" followed by a quick scrape... repeat...
He can't believe us "yanks" actually skin pigs
Brent
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Old October 16, 2009, 06:12 PM   #9
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Nice, very nice! Looks like a great set up and a great place for a pig roast.
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Old October 16, 2009, 06:22 PM   #10
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View of my cabin from the pig pit. I built this cabin 14 years ago.


View from my porch. The Appalachians in autumn, near Marshall NC.
The pig roast was held in the parking area, we built the little shelter the day before the party, because rain was forecast. Just built the little rock pit a few minutes before we lit the fire.

I was planning to take all that stuff down last Sunday but the girlfriend likes it, so I will leave it up for a while.
Won't last too long, the posts are set 24 inches in the ground and they are poplar I cut in the woods a week ago.

Last edited by simonkenton; October 18, 2009 at 09:40 AM.
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Old October 16, 2009, 06:29 PM   #11
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That looks like heaven. Beats the hell out of Dallas.
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Old October 16, 2009, 07:56 PM   #12
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Damn, I just ate dinner and you have my mouth watering..
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Old October 17, 2009, 11:45 AM   #13
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You can't just post pictures of something like that without going into the seasoning/cooking process a little more.

And you for sure have to tell us how good it was, especially the crispy skin!

And the cabin, and the view!!!

Second thing out of Louann's mouth was about the scenery. A place like that must justify all the hard work it took to get it.

Of course the first thing she said was that as soon as our season opens we need to focus on a small hog and try that.
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Old October 17, 2009, 12:18 PM   #14
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Quote:
You can't just post pictures of something like that without going into the seasoning/cooking process a little more.
Agreed!
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Old October 17, 2009, 01:44 PM   #15
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. .

Last edited by simonkenton; October 17, 2009 at 02:00 PM. Reason: failed attempt to delete
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Old October 17, 2009, 01:52 PM   #16
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I think we have a sticky candidate! What say you mods?

Thanks fer sharing the process.
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Old October 17, 2009, 01:53 PM   #17
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This is my 9th pig roast, but for the first time I used a "rib rub" recipe I got off the internet.

1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
7 tbsp chili powder
6 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp black pepper
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder

Mix together. Rub this on all the interior parts of the pig, an hour before you put the pig on the spit.
This stuff was a big hit. It is very spicy, but, you are only seasoning a small amount of the pig. So you get some real hot, tangy ribs.

We used 4 of the 16 ounce Pepperidge Farms cornbread turkey stuffing bags.
Mixed them up according to directions.
Stuffed the body cavity.
Then, sewed the body cavity up with rebar wire. This is steel wire, not galvanized, you don't want to use anything galvanized.
You cut the end of the wire sharp, and you can hold it with pliers and use it as its own needle as you sew up the body cavity. If you can't make the wire work as its own needle, you can use a small screwdriver, or 6d nail, as an awl to poke a hole through the edge of the tissue as you sew up the cavity. Make that hole through some thick tissue, at least an inch thick is needed to hold well.

Some of the guests loved the stuffing, I wasn't real wild about it. If you made it with pecans and oysters like you do for a turkey it would be real good.

Or, you can cut up five pounds of apples, 3 pounds of onion, and one of the big chunks of garlic, say, 20 cloves all sliced up, and use that instead for stuffing.

Or, you can skip the stuffing, in that event, you don't need to sew up the body cavity.

Get 4 six inch or eight inch steel nails, not galvanized. Wash them off real well. Nail the pig to the oak spit. One nail through each ham, one through each shoulder. This keeps the pig from sliding around on the spit.
Then, with your rebar wire, attach the end of a ten foot piece of wire to a nail, then zigzag the wire around the pig, back and forth to the different nails.
Then, cut another ten foot piece of wire, fasten it to a nail, and wrap and zigzag around the pig from the other direction, always fastening to a nail when you get near one.

I cut the spit 3 days before the party, I want a nice green spit that won't burn. Oak or hickory are best for the spit, don't use pine, bad flavor. You want the biggest spit that will fit through the pig's mouth, my spit was about 1 1/2 inch diameter on the small end.

I used nice dry oak firewood that had been split and drying for 7 months. Of course hickory is fine.
Any fruit wood, such as apple, peach, or cherry wood will be good. For God's sake don't use pine firewood. You also could use charcoal.
Make one fire to burn the wood down, and shovel coals out of that into the fire pit.
The spit needs to be 22 inches off the ground.
Most people make the masonry pit from concrete blocks. They work great, but stone looks better.
The masonry surround reflects heat back onto the pig, and acts as a wind break. You save a lot of wood using the masonry surround [pit].
Don't put the coals under the pig. When grease drips down, if it hits hot coals you have a big fire.
Put the coals to the side and cook with indirect heat.
Most of the meat is in the shoulders and hams. Just put 4 piles of coals, to the sides of the shoulders and hams. Put the shovelful of coals right next to the rocks. You get the hams and shoulders cooked, and the ribs and pork chops will take care of themselves.
Set the pig right on its side and cook for 45 minutes. Then, flip over and cook on the other side. Don't cook with belly up, or belly down.
Just flip every 45 minutes, you don't need to rotate constantly with a motor.
The pig needs constant attention, you need to add coals to the pig every 30 minutes, or so, and you need to add wood to the main burning fire about every 45 minutes.

You want a fire of 250 to 300 degrees. A simple test, hold your hand open at the level of the lower part of the meat, start counting. If you can hold your hand there for 6 seconds, add more heat.

You can make a "tent" of 3 pieces of wide extra strength aluminum foil, 6 feet long. Secure this over the pig with little rocks so the wind won't blow it off.
This makes a sure enough oven, and cooks much more efficiently, but, with a tent you can't see the pig.



We cooked the pig from 7:30 pm until 11:00 am on the open fire, no tent. We used a meat thermometer, the kind with a 5 inch metal prong that sticks into the meat.
No need to even stick the thermometer in until the next morning.
Stick it right into a ham, or shoulder, do not put it touching a bone.
At 11 am the hams were 142 degrees, the shoulders were 152 degrees.
Shoulders not as thick, cook faster.
We applied the tent. First, we hung an oven thermometer from the spit.

In five minutes, the oven was 350! Too hot, but no big deal, just don't add any coals for a while, let it cool down for 40 minutes, we were right at 275, perfect.
In 90 minutes with the tent the hams were 173, the shoulders were 172, that pig was cooked.
You want 165 to 170 degrees.

So the pig was cooked at 1 pm, but we weren't to eat until 4. No problem, remove the tent and just keep a low level of heat, about 200 degrees, until chow time. I didn't try to use the oven thermometer without the tent, for the last 3 hours just held my hand for a ten count. If I could hold my hand for 11 seconds, added more coals.

Don't worry about removing the nails, just put the pig on the table, cut the wire off and get out the butcher knife.

Yes the skin was fantastic, I ate a pound of it.

The meat is great, but it is not seasoned very much, except for the part that got the rub.
Get a big bowl of barbecue sauce for the guests to use. Some people loved the oak smoked pork as is, I preferred it with barbecue sauce.

Last edited by simonkenton; October 17, 2009 at 08:51 PM.
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Old October 17, 2009, 02:13 PM   #18
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The 92 pound pig. He was a little frozen when we got him, had to put him in hot water in the bathtub for 45 minutes to defrost.



The rub applied, ready for the spit.

Last edited by simonkenton; October 18, 2009 at 09:04 AM.
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Old October 17, 2009, 02:33 PM   #19
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I like to keep seasoning very simple. Garlic cloves smashed with salt, pepper and small ammount of olive oil. Good rub and make sure you get it in the meat with small thin and deep stabs.

P.s. That's a beatifull cabin and the roast looks delicious. Never seen it stuffed like that.
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Old October 17, 2009, 05:03 PM   #20
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So now you've set the bar, and it's darn high as best I can tell.

Louann read the instructions along with me and I've given a link to the brother in law we hunt with. ( Who by the way left me alone at work so he could go hunting this morning! )

This is now ON the agenda for the first small hog any of us can put a hole in!

And I agree that the mods need to make this one a sticky for a couple of months so that as our seasons come in we have a quick reference and a place to post our successes......or failures.....as we try this.
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Old October 17, 2009, 05:40 PM   #21
simonkenton
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When I roasted wild hogs, I was not using the indirect heat method used here.
I just burned a fire under the hog all night.
So, of course the hair was burned off right away. The entire outside of the pig was charred, black, the skin was inedible.

The skin and fat protected the meat, and the meat was delicious.

The indirect heat method is far superior, because you have much better control of the heat.
So, I am not sure what to say about hair removal.
On domestic pigs they dunk the pig in a vat of boiling water for a brief period, and then scrape off the hair.
With this indirect heat technique, the skin is a golden brown, if you can keep hard headed assistants from putting coals right under the pig.
And the skin is just delicious to eat.
So, if you should char off the hair, with a propane torch, you may have hair stubble left in the skin that wouldn't taste good. I just don't know.

You can get a 55 gallon drum, split in half, put it over a fire and fill with water and you can dehair a pig yourself.

At any rate don't skin that hog, you need the skin to hold in the fat and juices and keep the meat moist.
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Old October 17, 2009, 05:44 PM   #22
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simonkenton, The beautiful cabin and scenary is a true outdoorsman dream. You should be proud. The detailed hog roast is 1st class also. Thanks for the thread.
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Old October 17, 2009, 05:49 PM   #23
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I thank y'all for all the kind remarks.


Here is a link to the entire pig roast album, maybe y'all can pick up some more pointers:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/Pig%20Roast/
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Old October 17, 2009, 07:40 PM   #24
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God Bless ya!
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Old October 17, 2009, 07:56 PM   #25
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I`d like to talk to Bro. Ken and find out how he got his job duties. Supervising from the front porch with a cold one in hand is a job not all can handle.
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