Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Pig roast - what do I need to know.....

Been talking about having a pig roast for a few years with my buddies. This is the Spring to try it.

I have a large New Braunfels charcoal rectangle grill with lower and upper drafts that I installed an electric rotisserie unit. The grill is large enough to cook a full pork tenderloin.

What size pig do I need for 10 to 15 people?
Time to cook per pound?
Marinade?
Other good to know items.

There is an Asian market that has a great butcher shop, I need some info on what size to order.


Thanks

I would cook 4-5 Boston butts and forget about the rotisserie/whole hog. Pull the pork for sandwiches, and a good time will be had by all.

Mike

Was also considering the pork shoulder roasts. What cut of meat is the Boston Butt?

Thanks

Consider cooking a small pig (30 lbs or so)partially split down the middle so he lies flat. Smaller ones are easy to cook. Then on another grill, or the same one if its big enough, cook enough butts to feed the crowd. Now, use the small cooked pig as a centerpiece, and pull the butts apart and arrange the meat around him. Lots easier, and if the whole pig is cooked right (read cooked slowly) you can eat him too. If you mess him up, you still got the butts. Don't forget a red apple for his mouth (prop it open with a stick before you cook him) and some greenery to go around his head. Your guests will like it.

Mikem2,

Boston Butt is actually a front shoulder cut. Why it is named that, I have no idea.

Mike

Cooker look like this ??

http://www.deltablues.net/roast.html how to cook a pig.

Man, that's some hog cookin time.

Because Yankees don't know one end from the other?

High Entertainment Value (HEV) event!
Appreciate all the info....
Just need to find the time for a multi-day event based on the link!

Anyway, now I am tracking on the 'Front Shoulder Cut', that I can spot even if the sign in the meat case is in Korean! The counter guy and I get along just fine by pointing to what I want.

Mike--have a good cookout. Don

You could also do a cinder block pit if you still want to go whole hog.

http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2007/03/cooking-whole-hog-on-cinder-block-pit_19.html

ETA : I think when she talked about splitting the " spine " she was referring to the sternum

Actually you have to split the spine to get it to lay flat. You don't want to go clear thru the tissue as that's what holds it together.

Well, the first thing to do is get a pig.................

I stand corrected . Looked like they were just cutting the breast bone , I see now how the back would also need to be let loose so to get the flat spread .
Good blog anyways

Yes, gotta find a pig.....!
Have a solid option on that, if necessary will go with Pork Shoulder.
Really like that Redneck Microwave in the link above.

What about marinades, rubs or BBQ sauce recipes?

I'll bet if you can si habla espanol you can pick up a few south of the border reaaaaaal cheap right about now!

Dizzy Pig makes great rubs and are available in some Whole Food stores. If not you can get online. We do competitions and win with their stuff. Also good is the goyo mojo found in the Mexican food section of Walmart. More of a Cuban flair but really good. As for sauce I start with Bone Suckin as a base and add my own sourwood honey and vinegar. Good mop too. Lastly, I agree with those who suggest using butts instead of whole hog. Just make sure they are bone in and for best results cook using indirect heat at or around 225-240. I start mine at 6 in the evening on Big Green Eggs and let them go until about 10 or later into the next morning to an internal pull temp of 198. Important to know that a low and slow cook will create a cook situation whereby the pork will almost seems to stall at about the 160-165 internal temp mark and stay there until the plateau breaks and all the collagen is melted into the meat. I have seen this plateau break take up to 8 hours but it's worth the wait!!! Especially, when you pull the meat and find little-to-no fat.

If you're cooking pig then there's no other way than carolina style.

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/2199-how-to-make-carolina-bbq

I was born and raised a true Sandlapper from the great state of South Carolina and would agree that this is all good. Again, however lowwwww-and-slowwwwwww! Difference in BBQ to we Palmetto state natives are the sauces (4 kinds) not the pork. Oh yah and BBQ is a noun not a verb!