Whole Hog

[Too Tall]

This thread could go a number of ways. I've never cooked a hog and was thinking I'd give burying it in the ground a shot rather than rent a hog cooker.

Here is a starter YouTube to kick this off. *Note there are a couple videos that will play. First are the good old boys who most definitely know what they are doing...than the white collar cr

[Matthew Strongin]

I have nothing to add on how to do this, but I will tell you that there are few things as tasty as a pig roasted in a hole in the ground. With all the years I've spent in Miami I've had countless opportunities to partake as this is pretty common for the holidays or big occasions. Delicious!

[Jonathan]

Doing in the ground is not a solo endeavor. It's a gathering. Both the cooking and the eating. You have my number.

[Matthew Strongin]

Oh, and save the ears for the guest of honor.

[ron l edmiston]

-- been decades.., both back on the hoosier farms & in the paddies of rice..
enjoyed the farm way.., no "lead flys..

ronnie

[rwsaunders]

The oldest at the roast gets to kiss old Porky on the snout before the carving takes place. The youngest gets to pull a sprig of parsley from Porky's stern...hands behind the back of course.

[rydesteel]

I've done whole hogs and Lamb before but lately I'll do fresh skin on Hams and call it good. Much easier to work with, not as impressive but still good eats.

[nrs5000]

Does "hog" imply a certain size of animal? My next door neighbors did a whole young pig a few years ago. It was really good.

[Too Tall]

Does "hog" imply a certain size of animal? My next door neighbors did a whole young pig a few years ago. It was really good.

Yep, I'm going to order a small pig. As it is we'll invite about 20 people for the results and Jon you are welcome anytime hog or not. Target date is Halloween which falls on a Saturday.

No lead flys in this one Ronnie...unless J.Greene caps a local boar with his sidearm ;)

I've got a pit plan and working on a nice heavy piece of steel for the cover. This is moving along nicely.

Ronnie, I watched a video of how Vietnamese roast a small pig using a vertical hole hanging the pig by a wire and pole. The fire pit is dug horizontally to meet the vertical hole and feed with dry bamboo. It is freaking brilliant and the pig is roasted crisp in just a few hrs.

[summilux]

I helped someone do a whole hog on one of those trailer drawn rental things. It took all night and the next morning. It tasted just OK. I don't think I'd do this again.

While I'm all in for DIY, there is another way. Find a Chinatown place, the ones with the pig, duck and BBQ hanging in the windows. Most will do "custom" work. 20lbs is a suckling pig, yep pulled from its momma's breast and all that. Give them a few days notice and you'll get get great meat, crispy skin all nicely laid out. I've done this a lot. Suckling pig is like roast turkey to the Chinese crowd. I'll spend my time trying to perfect my brisket.

[Too Tall]

Summilox, I'm a process kind of guy embracing cultural methods for food prep gives me a rush.

Just to complicate this party in the making my pals Costa Rican wife wants to slaughter a fresh chicken, clean and cook it that day too. Oh dear.

[echelon_john]

I think I posted before in another thread about this. We did a pig roast about 4 years ago where we did one pig (100lbs dressed out) in the ground, another one the same size on a spit, and a lamb on spit #2.

All three came out great, but the one in the ground was the most unique and probably best overall. I had a guy with an excavator come over and dig a shallow grave, and line it with some rocks from an old stone wall. Picked up the pigs a couple of days before, and brined them in brand new trash cans that I'd cleaned and disinfected. On the day before we wanted to eat, I started a fire at about 7 in the morning, and put probably 1/2 cord of wood on the thing over the course of the day. Just a massive amount of coals.

We stuffed the thing with apples and some bourbon splashed around, and stitched it up with a chain running through the middle of it (to pull it out when cooking was done.)

Wrapped it first in a layer of cloth (I used a new drop cloth that I'd laundered with a bit of vinegar to clean and rinse any sizing out of it) soaked in apple cider & bourbon. Then bound it up with some chicken mesh, which I'd pre-burned to get rid of the galvanized nastiness.

At the appointed time, we carted the whole thing down to the pit. I soaked two flattened bike boxes with water. In rapid succession, laid the first wet box on the coals, placed the pig on the box, put the second box over the pig, put down another wet cloth tarp, then a heavy canvas tarp. Got every able-bodied man, woman & child on shovel duty, and put about a foot+ of dirt back on top. This was at about 8:30pm.

Next day at about 4:00, the ground was steaming, you could get a faint whiff of pig, and it was time. We went at it archaeological dig-style; start with big tools, and work down to smaller ones as we got to the pig. Crazy hot process.

Cut the remaining top tarps away, and got folks on either end of the chain to suspended-carry the bound pig package up the hill to the table and assembled throng.

Clipped the chicken mesh with snips, then cut along the pig through the 1st layer of canvas. When we got to cutting the skin, the ribs literally clicked from standing to laying down like dominoes, as all the connective tissue had dissolved into the meat. Click-click-click-click.

The result was incredibly juicy, flavorful meat that was already off the bone. The apples had turned into applesauce with a hint of bourbon (could have used more sugar there) and the whole things just had this mellow, smoky flavor.

Only downside was that the skin wasn't crisped with this method, but in this case the quality of the cooked meat made up for it. I was just worried that the thing would burn to a crisp in the hole, hence the moist wrapping, etc.

Pics are on my other computer but I'll try and put some up.

I built two spits for the day, using gear reduction motors, pillow block bearings and stainless pipe. Also used pipe roller stands to allow the spit to spin. Since then, we actually poured a concrete pig pit with a 2-spit capacity, but have not christened it with a roast yet...hopefully this coming Columbus Day.

I fucking love this stuff. I'll post some pics of the spit assembly as well.

[Too Tall]

John thats fantastic. Would love to be part of the process. Agreed, this stuff is a blast.
The pig skin is a big deal for some thus the attraction of renting a chinese box. I am more interested in well rendered meat and the funky process of burying dinner.

This is how I was going to BBQ the pig and it's still in the running:

[mg2ride]

Is it safe to assume you will photo document the process in detail?

The hole in the ground thing seems to be more work than I would take on but I would love to watch others go through the process.

The cinder block cooker seems more along my lines.

[Jstone]

John thats fantastic. Would love to be part of the process. Agreed, this stuff is a blast.
The pig skin is a big deal for some thus the attraction of renting a chinese box. I am more interested in well rendered meat and the funky process of burying dinner.

This is how I was going to BBQ the pig and it's still in the running:

This cinder block method is the norm in my neck if the woods....plus a 55 gallon drum burn barrel, with rebar placed about a foot from the bottom of the bottom to form a grate, and a hole cut into the bottom to allow a flat bottom shovel to be used shovel out coals from this burn barrel.

I see quite a few "pit cooked" joints in the country that still use open dirt pits, with corrugated metal topper, stoked with oak coals. Most open Friday & Saturday only, & serve fried pig skins along with pulled pork.
image.jpg
Scott's isn't too far from home...it is as authentic as it gets.

[Too Tall]

Pics? Of course.
Jon, if you find a pic of that rig pls. Post it.

Is it safe to assume you will photo document the process in detail?

The hole in the ground thing seems to be more work than I would take on but I would love to watch others go through the process.

The cinder block cooker seems more along my lines.

[summilux]

That picture even smells good!

Good on you for doing the chicken slaughter thing. My wife brought the family to a "learn to kill chicken" day at an organic farm in Maine one year. It was a definite eye opener. It's a fair bit of work to pluck a chicken.

[Jstone]

Pics? Of course.
Jon, if you find a pic of that rig pls. Post it.

I found these photos online; they are just what I see around many back yards.
I nene r seem to take pictures....I've got my priorities right, plus I'm usually up to my elbows in porky goodness.image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

[Too Tall]

You rule all. NOW i get it. That is brilliant. Makes the business of setup/take down much simpler for a one time thing.
Note to self - don't recycle empty NFS 55 gallon drums. Clean them and make a firebox.

[Jstone]

You rule all. NOW i get it. That is brilliant. Makes the business of setup/take down much simpler for a one time thing.
Note to self - don't recycle empty NFS 55 gallon drums. Clean them and make a firebox.

If you're going all in, pour a slab that extends several feet around the perimeter of the pit. That way won't risk dropping hot embers in your lawn....& you may as well build a small pole barn roof over the whole enchilada...you'll thank me down the road when it starts to rain/snow/or you just want shade.