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With the opportunity of being given a dead pig, stripped and ready for the roast, a large'ish garden and some mates coming over from the States, I fancy doing a hog roast.
Anyone done one? What do I need to know? Where can I get the roasting accoutrements from or can I fix these up myself? How much charcoal, assuming around 7-8 hours cooking time? Any marinade suggestions? etc, etc
Cheers
You're probably best getting it baked at the local bakery. Unless you really want to go the whole hog* and create your own fire baskets and spit props. In which case Id recommend the hugh fernlea whitginstall book "Meat" on the mechanics.
* yeah, I really did type that.
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http://www.yorkshiremeats.co.uk/html/yorkshire_meats_hog_roast.html
You might be able to hire the roasting machine? Alternatively, I was at a pig-roast where they'd dug a fire-pit in the lawn. You. Could hardly see where it'd been when they replaced the turf the next day.
Makes a big job bigger though.
no experience with them but this lot;
[url= http://www.hogroasting.com/hire.html ]http://www.hogroasting.com/hire.html[/url]
seem to know what they're doing and offer advice.
Depends where you're based and who can get somethign to you in the current weather, I guess...
A pig can feed 100 people, so I hope you have a lot of mates!
So, for example, as there's a project that involves the use of a mini-excavator (on loan), I was thinking dig out a hole a foot or so deep, line it with two layers of foil with some form of insulator between them and use that as the fire basket. Possibly . then it's just a matter of building the spit above the hole and covering the hole after the fire's out
Depends where you're based and who can get somethign to you in the current weather, I guess.
Sunny Scotia, on the route of the Etape Caledonia in fact- so not for a few months yet, but getting stuf here could cost
A pig can feed 100 people, so I hope you have a lot of mates!
My sums are - 1/3 to 1/2 lb per person
aprox half the carcass will be usable, so a 30 lb (small) pig = 30-40people and some well fed dogs. That's a very small pig or a suckling pig, and i'm not sure if the free offer expends to a suckling pig or not. But with all the neighbours, including the bloke with the tractor who clears the drive in winter and will (probably) lend me his excavator, we're looking at around 10-12 people, so 30s reasonable, if we have the weather
Ok, a small pig plus you've thought about quantities etc. so sounds good.
I've done that pig roast thing a few times (actually some Cubans did the hot work) and it is very simple. All done in the Caribbean with Caribbean technology – cutlasses (machetes), optimism, rum and loud argument.
The fire is in half an oil drum (semi-circular section), spit is rebar (longer than you think), supports are forked sticks driven into the ground. Slow is the key and it is surprising how far above from the fire that means. Keep the spit turning continuously but slowly. Impossible to give a cooking time but it won’t be less than 4 hours and could go to 8
Lots of different secret recipes for rubbing, basting and marinades.
Pre-plan somewhere to dismember the beast. YOU CANNOT DO THIS ON THE SPIT AND YOU CAN’T WING IT. I use a trestle table covered with baking foil. Once you start cutting it can get pretty big on you.
Use the smallest pig you can(less than the barrel length). Problems seem to arise by the square of the size. However it very easy to underestimate how much pork drunk people can eat.
Easy on a tropical island. Brave effort in UK.
i suspect we'll be using traditional scottish technology - axes, swearing, whiskey and fisticuffs.
oil drums - briliant, and about the right size for the size of pig
dismemberment <ahem> glad that's mentioned now, not once it's on the spit - cheers
For the hole in the ground approach, Google 'Hangi'. The Kiwis have it fully sussed.