How to Roast a Whole Pig

[RayInUT]

Oh, I forgot...that $3.50 a pound was just for the dead pig. We still had to gut it too! I'll tell you what, those baby backs from costco and the kroger skin-on picnic roast we smoked were pretty damn good! We'll find a better source for pigs and do it right someday soon.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Oh hell with that... that's insanity.

the price I was talking about was for a dressed pig... totally cleaned and ready to cook. All I do is take the head off... just because it's a pain to leave on the way I cook 'em.

 

[pjj2ba]

Oh, I forgot...that $3.50 a pound was just for the dead pig. We still had to gut it too! I'll tell you what, those baby backs from costco and the kroger skin-on picnic roast we smoked were pretty damn good! We'll find a better source for pigs and do it right someday soon

That's robbery. Mine usually runs about $1.25/lb, all dressed and ready to go. It is even delivered to my house!

 

[TheFlyingSparge]

This entire post just brought a tear to my eye. God bless America and pork.

 

[Cape Brewing]

In preparation for this year's pig roast, I've been working on "Pig Pit 2.0"

I took all of the bricks outta the pit, squared it all off, and then re-bricked them in at least some reasonable way so that they weren't just tossed in there. I actually used mortar this time as well. The mortar will probably all crack and fall apart with the heat this thing will put out but I THINK walls with hold straight for a while.

The pipes you see are three inch stovepipe that is piped in as air vents (intake). They go down, elbow at 90 degrees and run a couple of feet the length of the pit. I punched a ton of 1/2 inch holes in them and then coverd them with a "hood" (a half section of the same stovepipe) so they wouldn't fill with water and dirt once buried.

I then bricked the whole thing up. Then, once I hit ground level, I did the three rows of cinder block. The cinder block is filled with dirt for insulation and now I am going to skin the outside of that with more red broick so it looks presentable.

I have had a few test fires in it and the things absolutely looks like the gate of hell when burning. I'm pysched. If past experience is any indication, this thing will cook the sh!t outta the 200 lb pig I've got coming in a few weeks.

 

[Shwagger]

you bring home pig roasting to a whole new level. i can only dream of reaching such levels. wow! awsome dude!

 

[Cape Brewing]

The other thing I'm thinking... (I just had an epifilly!) is that I'm going to make up all sorts of homemade sausage, mostly andouille and maybe some tasso and then I'll smoke those with a few briskets... maybe stuff the pig with some andouille? And then go with a creole dry rub for the pig.

I can't freakin' wait.

 

[paulthenurse]

I make a great brisket! You should try it.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Not biting.... I've got ONE thread on here that actually contributes something. I'm not nuking it.

 

[paulthenurse]

Rotflmhao

Ptn

 

[Arkador]

pretty freaking cool! My family always roasted a whole pig for July 4th. We made a rotissery and cooked it in a comverted steel barrel. I don't think ours were over 150# though! ours would start at noon the day before, and meant someone had to stay up all night drinking and keeping the fire burning (we did charcoal, and added another starter box full every hour)

 

[user 22118]

I can't understand how your wife allows you to do such thing Cape Brewing. I barely am able to put a picture up in the house, let alone dig a shallow grave, brick it in and cook a pig in it twice annually. Envy isn't setting in only because once it does I will have to drive across the country to live in your bar.

 

[Cape Brewing]

When we found out we were going to have our first child, I was mid-build on the bar. I figured, "I'm screwed... this bar is NEVER getting built now". About three months before her due date, she looks as me and says, "So, what's the story on the basement?" I'm thinking, "here it is... my basement bar dreams are about to die right here"

Me: "Umm... well... I've still got a ton of work to do on it"
Here: "Well... you better f'in hurry up. Once the baby comes, we're going to need a place to hang out and have a few drinks"

No woman has ever been sexier.

Before we fell asleep last night we laid in bed looking up and debating pasta salad recipes for the pig roast. She gets into it almost as much as I do. "Oooo, I can make THIS and I can make THAT!"

I married smart... what can I say?

 

[babalu87]

When we found out we were going to have our first child, I was mid-build on the bar. I figured, "I'm screwed... this bar is NEVER getting built now". About three months before her due date, she looks as me and says, "So, what's the story on the basement?" I'm thinking, "here it is... my basement bar dreams are about to die right here"

Me: "Umm... well... I've still got a ton of work to do on it"
Here: "Well... you better f'in hurry up. Once the baby comes, we're going to need a place to hang out and have a few drinks"

No woman has ever been sexier.

Before we fell asleep last night we laid in bed looking up and debating pasta salad recipes for the pig roast. She gets into it almost as much as I do. "Oooo, I can make THIS and I can make THAT!"

I married smart... what can I say?

MEH
Call me when she does a triple infusion mash for a Hefeweizen :rockin:

 

[user 22118]

Ahh, when my SWMBO helped me HAND CRANK my grain when I first got my Corona mill. That let me know that I should keep her around for a while. New shoulders were needed after that.

 

[paulthenurse]

CB,
Did you get my smoker up and running? How did it go?

PTN

 

[Cape Brewing]

I haven't... I wasn't really planning on firing it up until Friday sometime.

I have about 15 pounds of homemade andouille sausage that smells un-freakin-real. So I'll have to get those in there. Then I want to do some briskets. The problem is, I am NOT staying up all night feeding wood into that bad boy. I got outta that whole routine a long time ago with the pig... I'm not heading down that path again.

It'll get fired up... don't you worry.

Pig Pit 2.0 is turning into a thing a' beauty. I've got more of it bricked in... I'm really happy with it. And I think it'll cook the ever-loving-sh!t outta the pig this year.

I talked with my "pig guy" earlier tonight. 263lbs on the hoof... he's thinking it'll end up just a hair over 200 dressed. MWWWWAA!!!! AHHH !!! AAAAAHH!!!!!

Now I just have to pray that the seven beers I have fermenting that are going into kegs this week for the cookout don't suck.

Oh, and thank you again for letting me borrow your baby. Don't worry, I'll treat her nice.

 

[paulthenurse]

Ya, that's the only problem with Bertha, she's not airtight and she burns up the wood. When I do pigs in her I figure adding a piece of firewood every hour or so. That gives me a nice low fire that will produce a reasonable amount of smoke and heat. If I were going to smoke your sausages I'd use real wood charcoal and add just enough to maintain a burn in the firebox so you keep the temps down. Wood would be too hot. Throw a chunk of that wood I gave you in on top of the charcoal, just enough so that you get smoke. When the piece of smokeing wood burns down just add another but not too much, you aren't trying to cook them in advance just cold smoke them.

You are going to need to put in some late hours on Friday if you want your brisket done for Sat at noon. If you want to serve your brisket at 4pm you need to get up early. I may be able to come over and help you on Friday night. ('Help cook brisket' in Bertha means I'll sit up in the driveway with you, shooting the sheet and drinking beer until morning.) I'm assuming you are doing whole (flat and point) briskets, those take around 12 hours at 200*F in Bertha,so you need to backtime accordingly. Ribs need around 5. I don't mind getting up, really. And it has NOTHING to do with the Duchess.
PTN

Edited to add a caveat... Bertha is WICKED top heavy and if you aren't careful when you lift her top up she can just fall right over on her back, spraying pork juice everywhere! And while I can see where that could make a young man sit up and pay attention, in practice it's not nearly as fun as it sounds. I usually take a 2 X 4 or 2 and prop them at a 45* angle between the two outside rods( The rods that hold up the cooking surface, shove them in from the back and put the 2 under them where they poke out of the back) and the ground.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Yeah, that's exactly what I had planned on doing for the sausage. And on the brisket... I might get up crazy early, start them and go back to bed... because I'm NOT pulling an all-nighter. We've got people coming in from all over and I really don't fee like being a zombie all day Saturday. Plus, Saturday night is usually the really good time, and I'm not missing that.

Haven't gotten the Duchess... still working on it.

and yeah, I figured out the top-heavy thing. I'll handle it.

Hey, how offended would you be if I knocked a little rust off the old girl? She's a beauty but could use a good cleaning and some touching up.

 

[paulthenurse]

You can do almost anything you like to her. Berthas is a VERY accomodating lass. But no painting racing stripes down her sides or anything crazy. I don't want you tarting her up

 

[paulthenurse]

Hey, I'm curious. When you saw her for the first time you, like every other guy, said , "Wow, she's beautiful!". What did Courtney say when you rolled her up the driveway?

Probablly not that?

 

[Cape Brewing]

Ok cool... I might clean her up a bit if I have time between now and Saturday. No, I'm not thinking racing stripes or anything crazy. Don't worry.

Courtney? Are you kidding? I don't think she even blinked. She's lived with me way too long to be phased by something like that. If she had any reaction at all it was a simple shake of the head while she mumbled "God I married an idiot" under her breath.

 

[paulthenurse]

Courtney? Are you kidding? I don't think she even blinked. If she had any reaction at all it was a simple shake of the head while she mumbled "God I married an idiot" under her breath.

Damn near Sig worthy.

 

[paulthenurse]

Al was noticably excited when she noticed Bertha was gone. "You didn't put the BBQ out in the trash, did you?" she asked with a big smile.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Oh c'mon... she's a beauty. She would never go in the trash as long as I was around. I think Al's jealous. Tell her Bertha can stay with me for a while if she doesn't like her. Jsut knock a llittle of the rust off on the inside and she looks like she'll do some big time cookin'.

 

[paulthenurse]

The inside? She's rusty on the inside now? I figured the inch thick coating of smoke and grease would have prevented that. Oh wait, given her most recent 'moisture issue' I guess I can see where she might get a little rusty on the inside too.

PTN

 

[Cape Brewing]

The 15 pounds of homemade andouille is FINALLY freakin' done. Christ, I started them the other night. GADDAMN, they smell good!!! Bertha will smoke those bad boys up on Thursday

 

[jaginger]

So is the pig roast this weekend? Sounds like you're pretty stoked.

Hey I have a question about the Pig Pit 2.0. I saw in your pic you stacked the cinder blocks pretty high above ground level, even though it looks like there was plenty of depth in the pit itself. Just curious what the purpose of that was.

This whole thread describes pure genius.

 

[Cape Brewing]

It was last weekend...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/how-roast-whole-pig-version-2-0-a-130032/


Pig Pit 1.0 was just a bunch of bricks tossed into the pit (the pics at the beginning of this thread show it).

I got tired of my back yard lookin' the way it did and wanted something a little nicer so I took all of the bricks out and then bricked them in straight (or relatively straight) with mortar. The problem was when they were just tossed in, the walls flared out at the top... so the bottom of the pit was three feet wide but the top was four feet wide. When I bricked everything in straight, the whole thing was only three feet wide all the way up. It was also not as long at the top once bricked in.

I wasn't sure a pig would fit...

so I decided to have the bottom brick part as just the "firebox" for whole thing and then the cinderblocks would be where the pig sat and cooked. 1) It would give me a lot more cooking room 2) I think it looks a lot nicer (or it WILL look a lot nicer once I completely finish skinning the cinderblock with red brick). I filled the cinderblock with dirt so it is insulated really well and then the red bricks I'm skinning it with will just add to the insulation. The lid is insulated with Nomex (that white cloth you see in the vid) so that is completely insulated like an oven door.

I am really pysched though because the new pit works absolutely perfectly. I couldn't have hoped for it to work any better.

Take a look at the vid on the new thread I linked above and you'll see how the pig comes out.

 

[user 15951]

oh.my.damn.