Labor Day Weekend Pig Roast

[ianeccleston]

I'm having a pig roast on Labor Day weekend with 70 - 80 people and one 100 pound pig.

I have most everything in place, but I have a couple lingering questions. I've tried to research this as best I can, from the egullet archives and the eGCI, but I've gotten some conflicting information.

1) The pig. Is 100 lbs., dressed, enough for 70-80 people? I've heard you should expect anywhere from 3/4 to 1 1/2 lbs. per person.

2) I rented the roaster for that weekend (enclosed, no separate firebox - not a caja china or cajun microwave), and plan to use lump charcoal, like the kind you can buy at Whole Foods these days (mine's generic though). I have about 80 lbs. of the stuff, and plan to buy another 40.

Is 80 lbs. of charcol enough? I've read that you should expect 30 lbs. to get it started, and then 10 lbs. for every hour thereafter. Additionally How long will it take to cook the pig? (this is the big question)

3) Should I add hickory or oak chunks in addition to the lump charcoal?

4) To baste, or not to baste? Some people seem to use a North Carolina type vinegar mop, but other people say that you shouldn't, especially with a closed cooker due to escaping heat.

5) To brine or not to brine? Again, differing opinions. I'm all for brining, normally. But some folks say that the brine doesn't really penetrate the thick skin enough to make it worth it. And I don't want the pig to be "hammy". I am planning on using a spice rub on the interior though.

As for the rest of it, I think I'll make up gigantic sides of a cabbage slaw with vinaigrette, some white beans, some cheap white bread, and a North or South Carolina BBQ sauce. I'll post pictures here the day after. Wish me luck!

[joiei]

I think the person who can answer most if not all of your questions is Varmit over in the Southeast forums, and Mayhaw Man in the Louisiana forums as a backup.

sounds like fun.

[Varmint]

1. For hearty Chicago appetites, a 100 pound pig may not be enough, but it's what you have. Don't sweat it, but make sure you have enough sides. You won't be far off!

2. I can't give you an estimate of the amount of charcoal to use, as I use hardwood, but I'd guess you'd be fine with 80 pounds. Start a couple of bags in your cooker and have a separate grill to use as a firebox (a Weber kettle works great). You want to go very low heat starting out -- 200-230 degrees F for the first 4-6 hours, allowing the fat to slowly melt and drip onto the coals. Add a shovelful of coals to the cooker as needed, but don't let it get hot. And remember, this is barbecue, which means that it's a direct heat (albeit a cool direct heat). You want the fat and juices to drip onto the coals, and not just to smoke the pig. After you flip the pig onto its back, exposing the ribs, you can increase the heat a bit, but still try to keep it at 250F or so. It should take you about 8 -10 hours to cook the pig if you keep the temperature low.

3. If you have some firewood laying around, you can use that. If the wood is dry, you could soak it to get it to smoulder and smoke rather than burn. The choice of wood makes a small bit of difference to folks with refined barbecue palates , but oak, pecan, hickory, apple, maple, cherry or pear would all work fine. Stay away from mesquite -- it should never get close to pork.

4. When you flip the pig over, put a stick of butter on each shoulder/ham and work it around. After that's melted, you can baste it as you see fit, but don't expect it to have much effect on the overall flavor.

5. I brined my last pig for about 26 hours in a bathtub, and the results were extraordinary. Don't make the brine too salty, as you end up with salty barbecue! Instead of a cup of salt per gallon, make it about 2/3 a cup per gallon.

A spice rub is fine, but don't go overboard. Let the taste of the pork shine through. That's the beauty of whole hog barbecue.

Finally, once you've cleaned out the meat from the pig, get the grill good and hot. Put the skin back on the grill, with the outside of the skin faced down. Cook the skin until it's good and crunchy -- voila, pork brittle! It's divine.

Good luck!

[ianeccleston]

Thanks so much! I feel very reassured - I fell like I've got a nice handle on it now.

]You want the fat and juices to drip onto the coals, and not just to smoke the pig. 

What else does it do besides adding smoke for the pig?

]Finally, once you've cleaned out the meat from the pig, get the grill good and hot.  Put the skin back on the grill, with the outside of the skin faced down.  Cook the skin until it's good and crunchy -- voila, pork brittle!  It's divine.

I thought I had run out of different things to get excited about for the roast, but now I have something new. Sounds great.

On that vein, I may try to get the head early as well as the offal - I'd like to use everything but the squeal, and a little head cheese and pork pate sounds just right. Has anyone here ever made head cheese?

Ian

Edited August 23, 2004 by ianeccleston (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Dean forgot to mention something that Dr. Mrs. Varmint might not want him to forget-line your tub with something if you decide to put a dead pig and a bunch of salt in the tub. You will be much more popular among post-roast bathers.

I second Dean's rec of finding some hardwood. You will find that it adds a hell of a lot of flavor to the pig and once you get the hang of dealing with it, is very easy to cook with. Soaking works fine, but moving it around where it will smolder rather than combust is just as easy. I usually start the wood with charcoal and go from there.

And save a chunk of that skin for slicing into squares and frying as a side dish. Freshly fried cracklins are one of the joyous by products of the process.

[ianeccleston]

I'm sorry to say that despite repeated and determined efforts to woo her, my wife will come close to divorcing me if a pig touches our tub. I'll probably have to go with a new, clean, stabilized trash can. It doesn't have the drama, but it'll work.

On the other hand, it would almost be worth it to suprise her when she wakes up to pee in the middle of the night (or to see the look on the cats' faces).

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm sorry to say that despite repeated and determined efforts to woo her, my wife will come close to divorcing me if a pig touches our tub.

Wimp.

[Varmint]

What I didn't state clearly is you want to cook the pig over the coals, as the smoke created by the burning fat/etc. is as much a part of the taste as the wood smoke. Plus, mere smoking doesn't cook the exterior of the pig in the same fashion.

As far as the tub is concerned, Mrs. Varmint doesn't eat pork, beef, or any other type of animal with fur. And she let me put the pig in the tub. What kind of man are you?

By the way, expect your yard where you locate the cooker to get very, very messy.

[ianeccleston]

I'm sorry to say that despite repeated and determined efforts to woo her, my wife will come close to divorcing me if a pig touches our tub.

Wimp.

What kind of man are you?

LOL. Hey, I'm roasting a pig here! That has to give me a month's worth of protection against challenges to my manhood, shouldn't it?

I might be a wimp in this case. However, YOU try crossing the nesting instinct of a very pregnant wife with a dead pig.

by the way, expect your yard where you locate the cooker to get very, very messy

I'm suprised they don't have a spout or something to catch that tasty lard built into those cookers. I'm thinking of laying AL foil on the ground to mitigate the mess, or maybe improvising a spout with it. We'll see. I may be lucky enough to place the cooker over a drain hole.

[Mayhaw Man]

Dean and I will be holding classes on eGCI on how to be a man in the kitchen and around your own home. As experts in the manly arts, we feel that many people can benefit from our many years of experience and we are here to help those in need get their lives back on track. You might want to think about signing up, as you seem to have some trouble with priorities. Courses will include, but not be limited to

1)How to keep dead animals in the tub and have your wife like it

2)How to build a whole hog cooker in your backyard and have your wife love it

3)How to clean fish in the kitchen sink and keep your wife from killing you

4)Yes! You can use your dryer as a fish scaling device and not get a divorce. (This course will include a lab for 1/2 credit)

5)Manifold or Dishwasher Fish Steaming 101

6)How to turn your childrens swingset into a useful cooking device and have them love you afterwards.

These are just a few of the upcoming courses at eGCI and we hope that you will plan on attending.

Now back to the topic at hand:

A little info on Headcheese and a couple of recipes and even a resource or two

And a thread that Bleaudevergne started about a little project of her own that contains some headcheese chat (now there's a phrase that you don't hear everyday )More chat about pig bits

[Varmint]

Dean and I will be holding classes on eGCI on how to be a man in the kitchen and around your own home.

I'm handling the "Testosterone in the Kitchen" segment. Brooks will lecture on wearing the pants in the rest of the home, as Mrs. Varmint is the one who wields the chainsaw and nail gun in our abode.

[snowangel]

I'm sorry to say that despite repeated and determined efforts to woo her, my wife will come close to divorcing me if a pig touches our tub.

Wimp.

My family would know better than to argue with me if I wanted to brine anything in the tub!

Jeez, it's just a tub. Easily cleaned. Plus, I would have the distinction of having a tub that had not only bathed babies, but brined an animal! Badge of honor.

[ianeccleston]

Dean and I will be holding classes on eGCI on how to be a man in the kitchen and around your own home. As experts in the manly arts, we feel that many people can benefit from our many years of experience and we are here to help those in need get their lives back on track. You might want to think about signing up, as you seem to have some trouble with priorities.

Too funny to even attempt a comeback.

(I haven't turned the corner yet, but I'm making progress. My wife pointed out at dinner that we will have four houseguests that weekend, and only one bathroom. Her resistance is crumbling though; I will keep on fighting the good fight)

The headcheese links were interesting. I can only think of a couple of people that are coming that will be as excited about the cheese as I am, unfortunately. I still haven't seen a recipe that includes a whole head yet (man, I'm going to need a big, new stockpot), but I haven't looked into it thoroughly.

How long does headcheese keep for? I will be busy getting the pig, cooker etc., and tending to guests on Saturday, so I'm worried how much time I'll have to prepare it. We'll see if I actually get to it. It sounds like fun, but that porker will be my priority. Ah, screw it. I won't have an excuse like this to make real head cheese - I'm going for it.

Ian

[Mayhaw Man]

It freezes nicely, as does in my opinion most forms of liver/pate, but.....be forewarned- When a man (or a woman) treads the headcheese highway he or she is stirring up some stuff that can really, really stink up the place. The end results are completely worth the trouble, but this may not be something you want to do with houseguests around (unless they are extremely well humored). It is also alot more time consuming than it would seem so once again, unless your guests are going to help, you might want to put it off to another time.

[ianeccleston]

...be forewarned- When a man (or a woman) treads the headcheese highway he or she is stirring up some stuff that can really, really stink up the place. The end results are completely worth the trouble, but this may not be something you want to do with houseguests around (unless they are extremely well humored). It is also alot more time consuming than it would seem so once again, unless your guests are going to help, you might want to put it off to another time.

Ah, the stink. My sister-in-law will not be humorless, but neither will she let me hear the end of it. And then, as this family is wont to do, the story will be passed on and elaborated upon. By the time I'm 50, according to the family, the stink will have grown to epic proportions: I will have marinated a pig in the tub, boiled a pig head and made lye soap to boot. There will be another opportunity to make headcheese, perhaps. A nice pork liver pate and a pork shoulder pate will still be in order however.

Ian

[ianeccleston]

Victory! The pig is going in the tub. As agreed, I am also purchasing "the largest can of Comet ever."

Cheers,

Ian

[Jensen]

Victory! The pig is going in the tub. As agreed, I am also purchasing "the largest can of Comet ever."

If you want to earn some real brownie points and repay your lovely and beautiful wife for giving in to your porcine wants, hire a cleaning service to come in and give the house a once-over.

(You will be taking pictures of the bathing beauty, won't you?)

[Mayhaw Man]

You could save yourself a bunch of comet, not to mention grief, if you just line the tub with visqueen or some heavy kind of plastic sheeting. You can just throw it away and voila! No dirty ring! (or dirty comments or looks from those who are a bit leary of pigs in tubs )

[ianeccleston]

You could save yourself a bunch of comet, not to mention grief, if you just line the tub with visqueen or some heavy kind of plastic sheeting. You can just throw it away and voila! No dirty ring! (or dirty comments or looks from those who are a bit leary of pigs in tubs   )

Actually, that's part of the agreement too - it's staying in the heavy-duty bag from the butcher. I still have to clean the tub though. :)

Ian

Edited to say: we already planned on the cleaning lady - 70 drunks coming through our place to use the bathroom necessitated that...

Edited August 28, 2004 by ianeccleston (log)

[ianeccleston]

Cooking for an army

(blog/advice seeking)

To be made with these ingredients, from left: Hummus (a non-traditional pre-BBQ snack, I know), 1 gallon of Northwest & Southeast Carolina BBQ Sauce, 8 pounds dried beans for bean salad (EVOO, lemons, maybe rosemary), 6 cabbages for slaw, 30 lbs. of potatoes for potato salad, made with 10 cups of mayonnaise. Above, fennel & garlic pickles for the potato salad & snacking, and Paula Wolfert's preserved lemons 'cause they're pretty.

We plan to cook the beans on Wednesday and store in their cooking liquid until Sunday, at which point we'll drain and sauce. Friday, we'll make the potato salad (recipe a combination of Alton Brown's cold-fashioned potato salad & Jacque & Julia's), Saturday we'll pick up the pig, cut the cabbage with the Cuisinart, make the BBQ sauce. Sunday, we'll start the pig at 5 a.m., make the hummus, drink some beer, dress the slaw & beans and take a nap (not necessarily in that order).

Does that sound like a reasonable schedule? I think all the food will be pretty fresh if I make this stuff ahead of time.

The challenge will be to find big enough pots to cook everything in, and have the storage space for them afterwards (for instance, until last night I was planning on storing the beans in the pot I was going to cook them in, until I realized that I'd need the pots to cook the potatoes). We'll probably have to borrow the neighbor's refrigerator.

Restaurants do this kind of thing all the time, but for a home cook throwing the biggest party of his life, there are a lot of logistical challenges! Does anyone have tips for the logistics of cooking for a crowd?

I went to Sam's Club for the first time, a life saver. Besides plates, napkins, mayo, etc., I got a bunch of foil pans to serve the potato salad, slaw, etc. in. I can store the food in them, right? I'm worried that the vinaigrettes will corrode them, or the AL will give an off-taste.

If it rains, we're screwed.

[Mayhaw Man]

All those beans and all of that cabbage! Are you cooking with charcoal or gas?

Those foil things hold up pretty well, I certainly wouldn't worry much about them falling apart in four days. I am using one to take a bunch of Crunchy Cole Slaw to a picnic this afternoon, in fact, and I like them because I don't have to be concerned about getting them back after the party.

Good looking pickles. Did you make them?

I never have any luck with preserved lemons. They always turn out kind of sour and sweet.

[ianeccleston]

I will be sure that the grill is extinguished before we eat the beans and cabbage. I don't want to make the papers: "Backyard BBQ Backfires Because of Beans and Brassicaceae"

Yes, I made the pickles on Wednesday, with the kind help of the eGCI and jackal10. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm excited to see what they are like by the time they 'ripen'.

Paula's preserved lemons are the bomb. I had to start making extra jars so I had some to give away...

[BrentKulman]

I'm going to nominate this for the best thread ever on eGullet award.

If there is an eSaver fare from Charlotte next weekend, I might just have to crash your party to provide an official North Carolina sanctioning for the event.

[ianeccleston]

LOL; you're welcome to crash my party. But if egulleters start showing up, I'm going to have to double the size of the pig.

[Rachel Perlow]

I'd dress the slaw and beans on Saturday. Don't you want it to marinate for a day in the dressing? I'm worried it won't wilt enough if you dress it on Sunday. Also, that's a heck of a lot of cabbage. Anyone know how many people each head feeds when turned into slaw? Oh well, they're cheap. (The beans too, you're going to have like 4 gallons of bean salad I think.) Have plastic containers (the disposable Glad or Ziploc kind, or ziploc baggies) arounds, so if you have tons leftover, you can make people take some home. After you dress the slaw (and bean salad), store it in white kitchen garbage bags tied with twisty ties (or gallon ziplocs, then put the ziplocs in a large garbage bag, in case the seal breaks). Even though the foil pan won't fail, I wouldn't store anything with an acidic sauce in them, because it might create an off, metalic, flavor. For service they should be fine. Also, the refrigerator storage possibilities are more flexible with bags vs pans.

You want to use a white (or clear) garbage bag for storage because you can then label them with a sharpie pen (label before putting in the food). Don't want anyone thinking that black Hefty bag is full of actual garbage.