Friday, September 14, 2012

Manly Man Pig Roast

We decided in honor of the start of football season to have a pig roast.  It was the most American thing we could do.  Pig roasts aren't nearly as common as they were when I was growing up.  Our neighbors had a pig roast every summer, pig roast for weddings and reunions, and about any occasion.  But it seems the tradition has fallen off in recent years.  So we hosted the first annual Porkapalooza

There are several methods to roast a pig, none of which are easy.  We followed a recipe and methodology we found online.  Three Cuban Guys that have been on the Food Network several times roasting pigs among other Cuban dishes.  I figured if they were good enough to roast a pig for the Food Network then it would be a good enough system for us to use.


 The instructions said to build a pit or a fire box out of dry-stacked cinder blocks.  We didn't want 50 cinder blocks hanging out in the yard till next year so we decided the easier route would be to dig a pit.
 The pit is roughly 5ft by 3ft and about 30 inches deep.  We made the rack out of 1/2 inch rebar that you can find at any local lumber store or concrete supply store.  But most Lowe's and Home Depot's don't carry the 10 ft long pieces.  We held the pieces together with annealed wire that is normally used to hold rebar together in construction and should be easy to find when you pick up the rebar.
 To make a better cooking surface and to keep the rack out of the dirt we lined the edge of the pit with concrete pavers.  Then got the fire going, we started with a 20lb bag of charcoal. I recommend going to GFS and getting their charcoal as the briquettes are much larger.  I believe Wal-mart also sells some of the larger sized charcoal.  We bought 100 pounds, but only used 60.
 We bought a pig from a local farmer and it was considerably larger than what we thought it would be, pigs are deceptively dense.  We decided to only roast half of it based on the number of people we had showing up.  We had the space and the means to butcher our own pig, though I would not reccomend it as there is a steep learning curve to learning butchering.  Most butcher shops should be able to get you a whole pig of what ever size you need.
 We wired the pig into the rack, this is the reason I liked this style the most is the pig is sandwiched between two racks.  So to turn the pig you flip the whole rack over and it keeps the pig from falling apart trying to move it.
 Once the coals burned down we used a rake to pull them back to the ends, you don't want any of the coals directly under the pig.  It essentially makes for indirect cooking which is much better for low and slow methods like this one.
 We put seasoning salt on the meat side and put it on the grill.  We started it skin side down so the skin would hold the juices in better.
 We covered the rack, pig and pit with two pieces of roofing tin to help hold the heat in.
Half way through we flipped the pig to let the other side cook, The smell alone will let all your neighbors know what is going on.  The skin crisps up and essentially becomes cracklins and if you like pork rinds you'll love the skin.  We served the pig on the ract on top of some saw horses and let everybody dig in.  About 35 people showed up, and The first annual Porkapalooza was a success.  Hopefully we can keep doing this every year.