Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Roasting a Pig Underground?

Our family reunion tradition was the pig in the ground. My grandad's technique was to dig a large pit and then build a fire in the bottom that was allowed to burn to a bed of coals. Large stones were then placed on the coals. It is important to use rocks that will not explode when heated. The pork was then wrapped in aluminum foil and then burlapped and secured with tie wire.The burlap was then soaked with water and the wrapped porker was then placed on rocks and then covered with soil and left to cook slowly all day while spirits were distributed.
The pork was always falling apart when dug from the pit. Thanks for reminding me of this! I might have to revive this tradition.

Justin Wilson had a cooking show about roasting a pig one time and he said that Cajuns were too lazy to dig and undig a pit so they made a cajun microwave. It was basicly a large steel top on legs that they built a fire on and a large wooden box on wheels that they put the pig in and rolled it under the steel top. You might do a search and come up with more about it. miles

Buy a smoker and learn how to cook low and slow
I haven't bought a smoker as yet but the low and slow bug has bit me hard.I have cooked beef briskets and Boston butts on my gas grill for as long as 12 hours.Sooooo good and tender as your mouth has never savored.

Here's a starter for you and probably the last word on Bar-B-Que.Go to forums and sign up for free.Awesome site.


www.thesmokering.com

The sheet tin on the hot fire I think produces what Jamacians called "jerked pork" which is also excellent.

Southern BBQ (which is the only kind fit to eat) is low heat, long long cooking time.

The Pig in the Ground is succulent, and of course does not rely on hot sauces for its flavor. A Carolina Pig-pulling is pretty close.

All the pigs I have done have been above ground over a big bed of coals on a homemade rotisserie- it is way too much work. I have pit bbq'd a bunch of lambs though. I even took one on an elk hunt and slaughtered it halfway through the hunt when we ran out of meat reserves.

Dig a hole about 3' deep. If you can put some rocks in the bottom, great, but not crucial. Build a hot fire with hardwood (I use mostly mesquite and whatever local ornamental tree can be salvaged)

I prep the sheep by cutting into 15# chunks, season heavily with dry seasonings, wrap in laundered cheesecloth or thin, cheap white dish towels (I get them at Smart&final) and then in, again, laundered gunny sacks. It is important to either wash them in the washing machine or soak them OVERNIGHT- otherwise they don't absorb sufficient water.

Wrap the meat in gunny sacks and then with tie wire with loops for grabbing. Have all the meat ready to go at once- you need to get it in the pit and covered fast so you don't lose your steam.

Drop the meat right on the coals. place tin over the hole and then cover with dirt. When no smoke or steam is coming out- you have it good enough.

Let it cook for about 8 hours.

Meat should be falling-off-the-bone-tender.

In a small suburban pit- we cast them out of concrete with fire clay mixed in. I made an expanded metal grate that fit perfectly in the hole. I would pack the boneless meat in 5-10# bundles rolled in double thick layer of foil, heavily seasoned with a homemade mixture of salt and spices.

Prepare the fire as above and then lower the grate stacked with meat into the hole. I would usually add fatty pork roast to lean meats such as elk.

I could then drop the foil packets into an ice chest and transport them to whatever shindig they were slated for.

If, you do it like Heeman says,

Guarantee fo' come out ono (delicious), I promise!!!

We do it all the time !!!!

Aloha,

Late-Bloomer

I used this method last year with very good results. The marinade is good (more garlic, though and lots of black pepper) and the roasting technique works great. Materials and pig (dressed and scalded, 80 lbs pig for 50 people) ran about$120 in NM. If you do it, don't get impatient or worry about having enough fire. I started off with too much fire and ended up getting the skin too dark. Just keep a little fire going in each corner of the roaster and figure on an extra hour or cooking if you're worried about getting it fully cooked.

Stacking up a couple of rows of cinder blocks is much easier than digging a hole in the ground.

MDM


280Rem. wrote:
"I've never personally done it but seen it done...so I can only provide you with what seems like a very good link:

http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html"