Bob Sample
TVWBB Diamond Member
Well some of you know the back story to this post and I'm finally awake enough to complete the tale. I wish I could say all went well but.........
We were supposed to be getting 150lb whole hog to be cooked on a spit in a pit on Sunday but late Friday night my SIL forwarded me an email from the farmer who had just come from the slaughter house stating that the butcher had split the hog in 2 lengthwise and had skinned it. The email also said that the pig was a little bigger than what we asked for but he was sure we could figure it out somehow and everything would be great. So i figured ok we will wire it back together rub the whole thing and put it on the spit in the pit a little earlier than planned.
Saturday my SIL's husband, Paul, and a friend built a pit for our " a little bigger " pig from a picture I had sent them. I wasn't able to get there till later and we were supposed to enjoy some cocktails Saturday evening, prep the pig go to bed and get up early and put the pig on a spit in the pit at 5 am. I arrived at my SILs at5:30 pm and I'm barely out of the car when Paul greets me.
Paul: it's 280 lbs"
Me: f...off
Paul: really
Me:that's what the guy considers a little bigger?
Paul: can we get it done in time.
Me: if it goes on now
Thankfully Paul and Patrick, the friend, had the foresight to rebuild the pit so we could fit the big pig on the spit in the pit and had actually started a hardwood fire since we had planned on having a fire that night anyways.
So I trimmed a lot of the excess fat from the pig injected the pig with a mixture of AJ, water, sugar, salt and Worcestershire sauce, wired the 2 halves back together rubbed it at attached it to the spit with about 20' of stainless steel down rigger wire and into the pit it went at 8pm.
Now just after this is when the only real disaster happened. Because of the size of the hog, the number of coals we had going at the time, we were rushing so the hardwood hadn't completely burnt down, and the proximity of the fat on the pig to the aforementioned coals after about 20 minutes that pig went up in flames like a pile of dried birch bark would. It was really quite spectacular to see but unfortunately in all the excitement of the moment I didn't get a picture.
When we got things under control, adjusted our coals, had a few pints under our belts we decided not all of us had to stay up all night so Paul and Patrick headed off to bed and I threw on some tunes and Patrick was to relieve me at 2am. So we loving nursed that poor scorched beast throughout the night adding a little RO to the coals to keep it nice and toasty throughtout the evening. Got relieved at 2 got back up at 6 and went out to care for my pig accompanied by ever faithful and loving hound
Here's the pit. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the original one since we were limited on the number of blocks we had and had relocated it over the fire pit which was dug down about a foot already.
Patrick is a scout leader and is well set up for cooking for groups of 100 kids so my SIL had enlisted him for making the sides.He makes a pretty nice pineapple decoration also.
So at 1pm I checked both shoulders and both hams and they were at 164f so I new we actually had edible meat. I added more coal to get the temp up to try and get it more pullable by 3. We kept the pit at about 275 for the duration of the cook. At 3 pm The pig looked like this.
Me cutting up the pig. The sugar in the rub burnt when the pig went up in flames so the bark wasn't edible but it was the best tasting pork i'd had in a long time. I highly recommend everybody try out some type of Heritage organic pig at some point in their life.
So all in all it went very well. We served it with coleslaw made by my lovely wife, a warm vinegar based potato salad made by Patrick, 3 types of sauces made by me, and 5 pies made by another SIL and a good time was had by all. Especially my SIL who threw the party and did absolutely nothing to contribute to it's success, except accuse me of having an affair with a good friend of mine and my wife at 2am but that part is kind of fuzzy so I let it slide. She's already talking about next years pig roast.
Hope you enjoyed my adventure and I'll try for a better write up and pictures next year.
We were supposed to be getting 150lb whole hog to be cooked on a spit in a pit on Sunday but late Friday night my SIL forwarded me an email from the farmer who had just come from the slaughter house stating that the butcher had split the hog in 2 lengthwise and had skinned it. The email also said that the pig was a little bigger than what we asked for but he was sure we could figure it out somehow and everything would be great. So i figured ok we will wire it back together rub the whole thing and put it on the spit in the pit a little earlier than planned.
Saturday my SIL's husband, Paul, and a friend built a pit for our " a little bigger " pig from a picture I had sent them. I wasn't able to get there till later and we were supposed to enjoy some cocktails Saturday evening, prep the pig go to bed and get up early and put the pig on a spit in the pit at 5 am. I arrived at my SILs at5:30 pm and I'm barely out of the car when Paul greets me.
Paul: it's 280 lbs"
Me: f...off
Paul: really
Me:that's what the guy considers a little bigger?
Paul: can we get it done in time.
Me: if it goes on now
Thankfully Paul and Patrick, the friend, had the foresight to rebuild the pit so we could fit the big pig on the spit in the pit and had actually started a hardwood fire since we had planned on having a fire that night anyways.
So I trimmed a lot of the excess fat from the pig injected the pig with a mixture of AJ, water, sugar, salt and Worcestershire sauce, wired the 2 halves back together rubbed it at attached it to the spit with about 20' of stainless steel down rigger wire and into the pit it went at 8pm.
Now just after this is when the only real disaster happened. Because of the size of the hog, the number of coals we had going at the time, we were rushing so the hardwood hadn't completely burnt down, and the proximity of the fat on the pig to the aforementioned coals after about 20 minutes that pig went up in flames like a pile of dried birch bark would. It was really quite spectacular to see but unfortunately in all the excitement of the moment I didn't get a picture.
When we got things under control, adjusted our coals, had a few pints under our belts we decided not all of us had to stay up all night so Paul and Patrick headed off to bed and I threw on some tunes and Patrick was to relieve me at 2am. So we loving nursed that poor scorched beast throughout the night adding a little RO to the coals to keep it nice and toasty throughtout the evening. Got relieved at 2 got back up at 6 and went out to care for my pig accompanied by ever faithful and loving hound
Here's the pit. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the original one since we were limited on the number of blocks we had and had relocated it over the fire pit which was dug down about a foot already.
Patrick is a scout leader and is well set up for cooking for groups of 100 kids so my SIL had enlisted him for making the sides.He makes a pretty nice pineapple decoration also.
So at 1pm I checked both shoulders and both hams and they were at 164f so I new we actually had edible meat. I added more coal to get the temp up to try and get it more pullable by 3. We kept the pit at about 275 for the duration of the cook. At 3 pm The pig looked like this.
Me cutting up the pig. The sugar in the rub burnt when the pig went up in flames so the bark wasn't edible but it was the best tasting pork i'd had in a long time. I highly recommend everybody try out some type of Heritage organic pig at some point in their life.
So all in all it went very well. We served it with coleslaw made by my lovely wife, a warm vinegar based potato salad made by Patrick, 3 types of sauces made by me, and 5 pies made by another SIL and a good time was had by all. Especially my SIL who threw the party and did absolutely nothing to contribute to it's success, except accuse me of having an affair with a good friend of mine and my wife at 2am but that part is kind of fuzzy so I let it slide. She's already talking about next years pig roast.
Hope you enjoyed my adventure and I'll try for a better write up and pictures next year.
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