Grilling A Suckling Pig

[Busboy]

There are a few threads on how to break a 100- or 150-pound whole hog into 200 or so separate dinners (a list of them are on this topic). .

But what about a cute little baby pig? Maybe not so cute, sitting there wedged upright in the fridge staring at you whenever you go in for a glass of milk. And maybe not so little, having hung at 34 pounds and probably running about 25 pounds now that its innards are being ground into the kind of hot dogs you only eat when you've been drinking hard (though hints on a pork liver terrine will be happily accepted, we have that and the heart).

Picking up the pig from Truck Patch Farms at one of DC's many local farmers' markets.

It appears HJShorter's renting a large charcoal/hardwood grill -- she and her husband declined to dig a hole in their yard -- and we have brining advice from Varmint (only 3-4 hours) and a brining recipe coming from local meat-chef legend Michael Landrum. But there are many variables. Like, once you get the soggy pig out of the brine, do you just slap it on the grill? How do you get him to lay flat? How long do you cook it? What's this about injecting stuff? Rubs? Do you cook it covered or uncovered?

Hints, advice, amusing anecdotes and side dish suggestions all appreciated.

[hjshorter]

I am profoundly grateful that it's sitting up in your fridge.

The brine calls for star anise, oranges, red onions, and a few other savories. Landrum advised to brine it in a big trash bag, inside a cooler. Sounds great, but my quest for a very large cooler so far has been futile. We might be looking at my basement bathtub after all.

[Toliver]

How do you get him to lay flat? 

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Spatchcocking?

[Busboy]

How do you get him to lay flat? 

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Spatchcocking?

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I'm guessing, but I've never spatchcocked anything larger than a 4-pound chicken. Plus I wrecked my cleaver trying to get the brains of a pig skull once. Guess I'll have to by a new one and have my wife walk me through this. Too bad birds are related to reptiles and not mammals.

[kbjesq]

How long do you cook it?  What's this about injecting stuff? Rubs?  Do you cook it covered or uncovered?

Hints, advice, amusing anecdotes and side dish suggestions all appreciated.

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Suckling pigs around here are 20-30 lbs. We did one at Christmas that was 25 lbs. Cook it uncovered at 225 degrees until it reaches 185 to 190 degrees, around 5 or 6 hours, as I recall. If the ears or other parts start to burn, cover with foil. We don't inject but do brine overnight. Put the pig inside a clean garbage bag and put the bag inside a large plastic storage container, add the brine and put the container in the refrigerator overnight. Brine includes salt, sugar, garlic, oregano and citrus (juice or cut up fruit).

I don't like brining meats in coolers because I live in a hot climate and I'm worried that the temperature may not remain consistent. If you are only going to brine for a few hours, I would probably not be concerned. But I don't see how a 25 lb. pig is going to be sufficiently brined in just a few hours (then again, I am no food scientist).

We don't generally do any rub but there is a recipe for a citrus-garlic paste from Cook's Illustrated that is very good, recipe here:

Garlic-Citrus Paste

12 medium cloves garlic , peeled and coarsely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon table salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

6 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

We let the cooked pig rest for an hour before carving. Top the meat with Mojo Sauce. Serve with black beans, rice, and fried plantains.

[Busboy]

Where's "around here?" Your recipes and sides seem very Latin/Caribbean -- much like our neighborhoods in DC (we have Mojo Sauce in the 'fridge).

Hey -- you forgot to eat the cheeks! They're the best part.

[kbjesq]

Where's "around here?" Your recipes and sides seem very Latin/Caribbean -- much like our neighborhoods in DC (we have Mojo Sauce in the 'fridge).

Hey -- you forgot to eat the cheeks!  They're the best part.

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We are in Florida. Some of our family is Cuban, and my dear friend is Filipino. Baby pigs at the holidays are extremely popular with them! Since it is summer, you might consider a black bean and rice salad, like this one from Epicurious.

However, it should be easy to put any kind of ethnic slant on your pig, just by adjusting the seasonings and sides.

BTW, they did eat all of the pig, that picture was just taken for fun by a guest.

[hjshorter]

I managed to find a rental charcoal rotisserie, so no need to spatchcock. Jumbo will be revolving in my driveway.

[jmolinari]

Depending how small your piggy is you could just rotisserie him like we did on our Weber. This one was real small. Weighed maybe 20lbs. He was split down the middle, so we put rosemary and bay leaves in between the 2 halves, then used steel twine to hold him together on the spit. Roasted for a couple of hours. SO GOOD.

[hjshorter]

Pig brine:

That's star anise, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and peppercorns bobbing in a sea of orange juice, apple juice, and molasses. It smells heavenly.

[sashorter]

I'm guessing, but I've never spatchcocked anything larger than a 4-pound chicken.  Plus I wrecked my cleaver trying to get the brains of a pig skull once.

Amateur - I've spatchcocked a turkey before. Not sure pig anatomy lends itself to the process, nor do I think we'll need it, but we have a cleaver if desired.

Edited June 14, 2007 by sashorter (log)

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

Hi there,

We did a slightly larger than sucking pig a couple years ago (35 pounds trimmed weight--head on). Picked it up the day before. Made a giant vat of marinade with broth, vinegar, calvados, onions, various spices (can't quite remember exactly what but definitely cinnamon, mustard, spicy peppers, paprika, garlic). Used our injector to inject all the meatier parts, then coated the whole thing inside and out with a dry rub.

At the time we didn't have a big enough cooler for it (we do now) or room in the fridge, so we put it in a double contractor's bag (those giant black super thick garbage bags), and then put it in the basement on top of a couple bags of ice with a couple more on top of the pig.

Next day we speared it with the rotisserie bar, stuffed some apples and onions in the cavity, wired it up, and put it on the smoker (our CharGriller). It was a bit much for the rotisserie motor, so we ended up having to hand turn it until some of the liquid rendered out.

Mopped it with a fairly standard smoking mop once an hour (although with Calvados added to keep with the apple theme), and voila!

We put an apple in its mouth as per traditional and then added sunglasses as another decorative touch because it was a summer bbq.

I can't tell you how fast the thing was devoured.

I would add a pic, if I could figure out how to do it.

Hope our experience helps!

Anna

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

Oh btw, re: giant coolers (someone above mentioned they couldn't find one).

Costco has these dinosaurs from Igloo (165 quarts--approx 5 feet x 2.5 feet, although my husband says I'm terrible at ballparking measurements) for, I think $70.

I fit half a Dexter cow cut up into primals (2/3 the size of a regular cow) and eight chickens into one, and am planning on fitting a whole regular-sized pig (minus head) into it for the 4th of July (although I think the head might fit too). Needless to say, I think I could easily fit myself into it (at 5 foot 7) without having to scrunch much.

Anna

[Busboy]

Thanks, Anna. Maybe I'll have to hunt down an injector now. And a mop.

What was your rub? And how long did you brine?

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

Thanks, Anna. Maybe I'll have to hunt down an injector now.  And a mop.

What was your rub?  And how long did you brine?

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The rub was much the same as the marinade (I like to do the two, because I think they both have different effects on the meat): kosher salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion salt, dry mustard, brown sugar, and a bit of cinnamon to keep with the apple theme.

We didn't brine it, per se (i.e. fully submerged in a vessel, since we didn't have a big enough vessel at the time)--that's why we injected it and put the dry rub on at the same time. So it marinated/brined from the inside for approx 20 hours or so before going into the smoker.

For the bigger one we're doing this 4th of July, now that I have a proper vessel/cooler, I will probably properly brine it for at least 2 days, but I will also still inject the meaty parts. Then dry it off and put the dry rub on a few hours before cooking.

Enjoy! Nothing like a whole grilled animal (both for effect and for the taste the bones impart).

Anna

[hjshorter]

I got an extra large plastic bin at Ikea for $9.99. The ice and pig should fit inside comfortably. We'll be putting it and the brine inside a contractor trash bag, then icing it down.

[budrichard]

Cooking a 'suckling pig' is one of things that it is almost impossible to get wrong. Whatever your seasonings, brinings etc, the pig will correct for your errors!

After 30+ years of 'Suckling' to whole hogs, I can truly tell you that simplest is best. But This fall I will try the La Caja China which calls for a spathcocked pig. -Dick

[hjshorter]

Some lessons:

1. Getting the spit through it's mouth was definitely a two person operation.

2. A 34 pound pig takes longer than you think, and yields surprisingly little meat.

3. It's worth it to rent a rotisserie.

4. It could have brined longer than overnight.

5. Remember to pin down the ears and tail before putting it over the charcoal.

6. Baby animals are delicious.

Pictures to follow.

[crouching tyler]

Some lessons:

1.  Getting the spit through it's mouth was definitely a two person operation.

2.  A 34 pound pig takes longer than you think, and yields surprisingly little meat.

3.  It's worth it to rent a rotisserie.

4.  It could have brined longer than overnight.

5.  Remember to pin down the ears and tail before putting it over the charcoal.

6.  Baby animals are delicious.

Pictures to follow.

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For some reason, I imagine the above list, written out in calligraphy, on fine paper, framed and matted, with a nice line drawing of a pig with pins in his ears and tail, looking sort of sheepish ( not to say the pig looks like a sheep, but that the pig looks embarrassed at having pins in his ears and tail).

[hjshorter]

I call this one "Sunlight Gleaming On Crackling Skin"...

[Carrot Top]

I call this one "Sunlight Gleaming On Crackling Skin"...

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Now *that's* art.

It looks sort of like a bomb that's getting ready to be sent somewhere, though. A Happy Bomb. One to make friends with.

[hjshorter]

Charles carving the pig:

I was carving the other side when this was taken. Note the rapturous expression...

[hjshorter]

The devastation:

I absolutely want to do this again with a larger pig.

[Busboy]

Cooking a 'suckling pig' is one of things that it is almost impossible to get wrong. Whatever your seasonings, brinings etc, the pig will correct for your errors!

After 30+ years of 'Suckling' to whole hogs, I can truly tell you that simplest is best. But This fall I will try the La Caja China which calls for a spathcocked pig. -Dick

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Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone. We'd like everyone to believe it was a complex and artful undertaking, to be successfully executed only by the culinary elite!

The whole project fueled my desire to recreate an Alice waters meal for which she had a sow who had recently given birth almost entirely on garlic, which then got into the mothers' milk and from there into the hogs. Might also try a sheep, too.

Heather is right, a 35-pounder is a little small, but the meat was like velvet, clearly different from that pulled off larger pigs. I'd also like to try a gadget with hood, so we could smoke it up some more.

Altogether, though a thoroughly enjoyable evening and wjhatever errors we committed, the pig covered up for us quite nicely.

The brine, for those keeping score at home, was apple juice, orange juice, anise, cinnamon black pepper and onion, and imparted and understated but excellent taste.

[hjshorter]

If you're in the DC area and want to try this at home, call or email Brooke Rental Center for the grill and rotisserie.