Good baste for a whole pig roast?


 
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Darcy Poulin

New member
****o. I'm helping a buddy cook a 100 pound pig tomorrow, and was wondering what I should baste it with. Neither of us have ever done a pig before, and quite frankly he doesn't even bbq much. We've got all of the other details sorted out, the guy he is buying the pig off of is also supplying the bbq, charcoal, and is putting it on the spit for him. All we have to do is get it lit, get it turnin' and giver a basting now and then. Oh ya, then comes the fun part of trying to figure out how to carve it.

Suggestions for a baste?
 
Hi Darcy, this one has always worked for me.

Pork Baste
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1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Place ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well to combine before each application
 
Darcy, are you rotissin' a whole hog that is not split open? Basting a hog that has only the skin and not any meat exposed is a waste of time. You be better off to inject the above baste or just douse the cavity with it before sewing the stomach cavity up. The rotation of the hog makes it self basting.
A 100 lb hog should take 5 hours with proper fire management. Did a 125 lb hog last Saturday and it took almost 6 hrs.

good luck...
 
Thanks guys. Ya, we're roasting a whole hog on a rotisserie. Maybe I'll break out the injector, and do it that way.

A couple of other questions, since I've got your attention; what temp should the bbq run at? And, should I throw a few chunks of apple wood, or maybe cherry wood in with the charcoal to give it some smoke?
 
Is the rotisserie enclosed? I did several in an enclosed pit and I kept the temp around 350 deg. My rotiss is open and I use indirect heat, with higher heat at the shoulders and at the hind quarters.

Good luck and let us know how it came out.

joe
 
Darcy... be careful with the fire management. Don't place any fire directly under the hog but place it to the side. And more heat at the thickest part of the hog.

joe
 
Well, the cook went pretty good. It took 5.5 hours, and the temp ran at about 300.

The only problem was that at the end, the pig split in half and partially fell off of the spit. Not much meat was lost, most of it was still attached to the spit. There seemed to be a bit of a flaw in the design the butcher used to keep the pig from spinning...he used two bolts around the backbone, and clamped them on each side of the pig. There was one of these at each end. The only problem was the 2' gap in the middle that had little support, and as the meat got more tender it got so weak in the middle it just broke. Oh well, lesson learned for next time. Everyone really enjoyed the meat, and the party was fantastic.
 
Hmmmm...I have seen where a cage of chicken wire is used to wrap the animal and keep it all together during the cook. That configuration avoids the loss.
 
Good job Darcy! Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. I will describe and explain how I fasten the hog to the spit. There is no need for a wire cage. Just a large nail, a cross bar and some tie wire. Haven't "lost a hog" in the 50 plus years I been doing it. Neither has my dad, his brothers before me.

I am cooking for a family gathering this afternoon but I will write you later. Have a great day...

joe
 
Hi Darcy, the problem of the hog coming apart is "normal" for those doing it for the first time. As I said in my previous post my 'system" is very simple if one understands the anotomy of a hog. The front end, shoulders with head and the hind end are the heaviest part of the hog and it is connected by the ribcage and the backbone. The key is to securely fasten the front end and the hind end. The rib cage cannot handle the constant turning of the hog especially towards the end of the cook. The backbone is a held together by cartilage which is not structurally strong.

I drive a large nail through the snout and the pipe (spit) and use a cross bar and tie the hind legs, with wire, to it. As long as the heaviest part of the hog is securely fastened you should not have any probs.

As for cages or exterior braces that run along the exterior of the hog, we never use them...

joe
 
Thanks Joe, I'll keep this in mind if I ever do another one. I'm gonna try and post a pic showing how the butcher fastened it. Hopefully it works.

picktk.jpg
 
Thanks for the picture. The forward and hind ends are not secured enough. What is preventing the shoulders and hind end from spinning on the spit? It appears that only the rib cage is secured. As the hog cooks the backbone will weaken. A large nail through the snout and a cross-bar at the rear to tie the hind legs to is all that is needed. If you do that the clampimg device on the backbone is not needed.

joe
 
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