How to Roast a Whole Pig

Wow that is a serious BBQ!..... you have inspired me to do this one day

Thats a lot different then the way I have done it and seen it done. We definitely always leave the head on too. You got to put the apple in his mouth for a little show when you open it up.

one suggestion. I would put boston butts in the the stomach cavity. increase your yeld. I used to do this in the country club i used to work at.

Second. why do you have a porta potty in your back yard

monty73741 said:

Second. why do you have a porta potty in your back yard

Click to expand...

Are you kidding? This is the best idea of the party. Try letting 75 people use your bathroom for a weekend.

Great thread! We tried this a few years back with nominal success. I definitely see the light now. I might do this for our Halloween party this year!

Yeah, I mentioned the whole leaving-the-head-on thing earlier in the post... it's your call if you ever plan on roasting a pig this way but I did it one year and it was no-good so I haven't done it since.

And oh absolutely, I've stuff the chest with all sorts of things, a butt, a few ducks, a couple pounds of bacon (you know... for more pig flavor). Anything with a fair amount of fat to it is a great call. I didn't bother this year for some reason... can't give a good excuse why i didn't.

And the porta potty is a GOTTA-HAVE. We have 75-100 people who have been power-drinking all day, jumping in and out of the pool, playing horseshoes and running around the yard.... the porta potty is a hundred bucks and worth every penny to not have people walking from one end of my house (where the back sliding glass door is) to the other (where there first floor b-room is) all day, every three seconds. Plus we have two 125 pound dogs that would be let out every five seconds, running around knocking two-year olds over and eating everyone's plates. It's just worth it for us.

It would have been alot cooler is you would have said OSHA made me do it. LOL


Dude 125 dogs knocking over 2 years olds is funny. Mine do it all the time LOL

You just took me back to my childhood. Awesome. Can't wait to do it myself one day.

I thought I might as well as some of my photos. This is from last year. I was too busy eating and drinking to take any pictures this year (9th annual). I get the pig from a local hog producer (~$125 for a 100 lb pig - delivered, ready to go!). Only homebrew the past two years!

Our next party is our annual Oktoberfest party, which is getting pretty close to everything homemade. The beer of course and sausages (30 lbs last year) and pretzels. This year hopefully the sauerkraut too, and maybe the mustard.

Here is one I did for my employees picnic a couple years ago. It got real windy so we made a wind break out of some pink insulation and the side of a building. Want to get a top made for the roaster for the next time.

This last few pics look great...

I thought about using those methods to cook our pig but after a while I just figured, "heck with it, I want it to come out good" and did it my way.

Oh c'mon... I'm kiddddddding! I keeeeed.

These are all good ways. I'm just lazy and don't feel like feeding a fire for 24 hours and I just like the way the pig comes out doing it the "pit method".

SuperiorBrew said:

Here is one I did for my employees picnic a couple years ago. It got real windy so we made a wind break out of some pink insulation and the side of a building. Want to get a top made for the roaster for the next time.

Click to expand...

Roasting a pig this Sat and another one on Sept 20. My neighbors and I made roasters out of old 55 gal drums. Welded supports across the barrels that an aluminum pan sits on. The pig can't be too big about 125 to 150 lbs live weight. I have the hide and head taken off and wrap the pig in foil. I've stuffed the pig with bread stuffing but am going to stuff it this year with potatoes, celery, carrots and cabbage. It takes about 40lbs of charcoal for this set up. The nice thing is once you close the lid you don't have to mess with it at all and 12 hours later it's ready to eat. This will be the 14th time my neighbors and I have had a pig roast. No knives needed just thick rubber gloves to pull the pig apart. I also make a spicey bbq sauce for people to put on, tastes great!

Where, precisely, in York, PA is this happening? And what time?



See you then.

paulthenurse said:

Where, precisely, in York, PA is this happening? And what time?



See you then.

Click to expand...

Are you going to be down here that weekend? If so PM me and I'll send you directions.

Sorry to necro this thread but these pigs look absolutely delicious! :cross:

Cape Brewing said:

Last year I added a little bit of fancy-pants to the thing and stuffed the pig's chest with five or six ducks.

Click to expand...

That might be my favorite sentence ever. Glad this thread got bumped or I'd never have seen it.

Ever try this with a bedsheet instead of a burlap sack?

TrannyRock said:

Ever try this with a bedsheet instead of a burlap sack?

Click to expand...

No, never tried that... The burlap usually comes out completely charred but because it's heavy and thick,.it tends to still keep its shape and hold everything together. I think a bed sheet would just burn right off.

We are NOT missing it this year

Me too. I'm either getting invited or I'm crashing, either way is fine with me.

PTN

paulthenurse said:

Me too. I'm either getting invited or I'm crashing, either way is fine with me.

PTN

Click to expand...

Oh I'm suuuuuure you're invited PTN. The pig roast is always the second weekend in November. Honest. You just sit by the phone and I'll call you with directions around November first. It'll be fun. I know I can't wait!

That does it. You can expect me and my friends Ralph, Simon, Jack and Samanderic to crash. You will like the lads, they are a load of fun and games.

Word up. Hide the pigs head. Don't want to scare the children.

PTN

Well the first pig we roasted was like this.

BBQpork377.jpg picture by nflder - Photobucket

and ended up like this, with a turkey on the side.

BBQpork376.jpg picture by nflder - Photobucket

One tasty piece of pork. But that was several years ago.

paulthenurse said:

That does it. You can expect me and my friends Ralph, Simon, Jack and Samanderic to crash. You will like the lads, they are a load of fun and games.

Word up. Hide the pigs head. Don't want to scare the children.

PTN

Click to expand...

well, you and Babalu are both aware of the debate I currently have going on with regards to the pig roast so we'll see... I haven't totally decided what I want to do.

Something tells me there will be one or two HBT'rs there so we'll see. Details to come.

I'm also thinking about either building a good sized slow-cooker/smoker and doing all sorts of brisket or just doing something like 20 racks of the ribs I make.

I see my allusion was totally wasted on you. Neanderthal.


PTN

paulthenurse said:

I see my allusion was totally wasted on you. Neanderthal.


PTN

Click to expand...

Yup... it was... still have no idea what the hell you're talking about.

Neanderthal. How did you graduate junior high?

Sorry, it was my failure as a father.

i sincerely enjoyed reading this

I'll never be the same!! This is one of the best things I've ever seen!!

The bar has been officially raised...

SWMBO has actually stated that we should do this for a 4th of July shindig with our car club / beer club friends... Planning out my pit location now...

It's good times... This year (2009) will be year number nine for us. As I've said a couple of times over this whole thread, I really like the pit method. The meat stays super moist, tender and it all just falls off the bone. The other really nice thing is that once you have the pit built, there's very little work and no staying up all night feeding hot coals.

Not sure if I mentioned this anywhere in this thread but my latest addition to the pit is that I drilled a small hole in the middle of the lid and ran a digital thermometer probe down through it so I can take the temp in the pit at any time.

I did a 50 lb pig for a Pats game tailgate during the season and was able to make sure my temps stayed up in zero-degree weather.

Just make sure there are plenty of real wood charcoal in that sucker when you put the lid on and then just use teh air vents to control the temp... open 'em up to raise the temp and shut 'em down to bring it down.

Duckfoot said:

SWMBO has actually stated that we should do this for a 4th of July shindig with our car club / beer club friends... Planning out my pit location now...

Click to expand...

Oh no, no...you can't be doing that in GA and not invite the Tripod!!

Cape Brewing said:

Just make sure there are plenty of real wood charcoal in that sucker.....

Click to expand...

Is there anything else acceptable to use?

Stopped using briquettes a few years ago and got a chimney starter instead of lighter fluid... BLECH

Oh no, no...you can't be doing that in GA and not invite the Tripod!!

Click to expand...

I said car club / beer club folks...

I've done similar with a lamb.
Lined a pit with stones rather than bricks, burned a large fire until it was completely died down. I then used straw on top of the lot and damped that with water and then just filled the pit back in with a shovel and left it for 12 hours, no need for a chimney. The butcher delivered the lamb jointed which kinda p'd me off and I slathered half the lamb with olive oil salt and pepper and the other half with the same with chili, garlic and rosemary added and then wrapped it in foil.
It's a fantastic cooking method and everyone at the party said it was the best lamb they had ever eaten.
I plan to do it for our wedding next year again.

Just saw this thread. I want to come to your parties!!! I wish we had those kegs available.

Hop a flight to Boston... I have a tent you can borrow. The only thing is you would have to figure out how to ship a corny... this year we are jokingly calling the cookout the "Norton International Homebrew Festival and Competition". I'm going to toss a huge pig in the pit... toss a ton of ribs on... maybe some beef brisket.. and then I think a few guys from my HBC are bringing cornies to go along with the 6 or 7 beers of mine I'll have going and then we're going to have an informal competition.... so if you're coming, you gotta enter the competition.

You could always drive... Ohio ain't THAT far.

Should be a great time this year. We have folks flying in from all over. LOTS of pics to come when it's done (end of July)

ahh man that would be awesome. But we're going to TN for vacation in july. Couldn't swing two back to back weeks vacation. Maybe Next year. Sounds like a hell of an event you've turned it into.

My wife wants to go to Boston so if we ever do I will have to plan on your cookout weekend. Don't worry, I will bring beer

That is simply amazing by the way.

Love the thread. I'm lucky enough to be adopted and have a large Filipino family. Some folks were talking about Anthony Bourdain a few pages back, and recognize his authority on obscure, interesting food. He agrees with me on this: Filipino Lechon is the best type of pig in the world. Look it up, give it a try. The spicing is wonderful, the skin gets crispy and amazing... its the best. I'll quote from Bourdain's blog: Hierarchy of Pork | Anthony Bourdain

"And speaking of pig? It can now be said that of all the whole roasted pigs I've had all over the world, the slow roasted lechon I had on Cebu was the best. This puts the standings in the Hierarchy of Pork as follows:
#1. Philippines
#2. Bali
#3. Puerto Rico"

You have to try it.

Ok... I've googled and I don't see anywhere where they say how to do it... all I've seen is that it's really good.

How is it done?? I'm open to any and all suggestions.