Labor Day Weekend Pig Roast

[MoIzBetta]

I knew the eG had been down for the upgrade, and just now came in for a peak...dogonne, I missed the party! I have been a voyeur to all of the doings on eG and this is the most, um, exciting party I ever missed. I have pig envy now and want to get my own bath toy such as this. It is hot enough in So Calif that piggy could probably be chucked out on the pavement and just turned every couple of hours--it is de rigueur not to react to anything, no matter how weird out here, but I know I could still get a split-second reaction before unsuspecting visitors regain composure. Thanks for the laughs, the recipes and ideas!

[ianeccleston]

I thought I'd let you guys a few more details, so here goes.

4 a.m. I woke up an hour before my alarm was set to go off. Filled with piggy excitement, I couldn't get back to sleep, annd got started getting ready. Made coffee, rigged up my thermometer into a piece of cork to monitor the temperature of the oven, started cleaning the rotiserrie, etc.

5 a.m. Bredan, the sous chef / pig deputy, shows up on his bike, with a botte of El Jimador Telquila in his hand.

5:30 a.m. We still can't figure the damn rotisserie out. I thought we'd have to, um, insert the bar all the way through, but there are perpendicular braces welded to the thing. Impossible. So we cleaned the grill instead. Then we hauled the pig out on a tarp, put it on the lawn, and broke its back. Phew.

6:00 a.m. Pig is on the grill, face down. Lump charcoal is in the four corners of the grill, well away from the pig. My William-Sonoma remote thermometer is monitoring the temperature - balanced on top of the pig so that it was just inches above the hams. Later, when it was on its back, we threaded it through the skin and had it stick up. We had lots of hickory and oak smoke at 175 - 200 F degrees for 2 hours. Now that the pig is on the grill, we figure the rotisserie out - it doesn't go THROUGH the pig, it just gets clamped to it.

6:30 a.m. The first shot of tequila is had.

6:30 a.m., on. Lots of bullshitting, sitting around in the alley, some chess, some poker, as well as constant good-natured bickering about the temperature of the cooker, whether we should start more coals, etc. Lots of stares from people driving by, hellos and introductions from most everyone else. There was even a big guy a block a away who jumped up and down, yelling and cheering us on, just because he was glad someone was cooking a pig. I hadn't met anyone in the neighborhood before this -- it ended up being a great, peculiar ice-breaker.

8:30 a.m. Turned the pig over, gave it a good mop, and started to stoke the coals. It took us awhile to get the temperature: it took us awile to figure this out, but a bunch of the coals were directly underneath the chimney of the cooker, and most of this heat was lost. We'd put more and more coals over there, to naught. After we figured this out, the rest of the coals mainly went in the corner opposite the chimney.

9:45 we hit 254 degrees, and it never got hotter. It mostly stayed at 225.

11:30 the keg is tapped. Mmm, Bass.

2:30 p.m. The pig is done. The invitation said 2 p.m., so we were shooting for the pig to be done at 4 p.m. Temperature readings were coming as high as 172 degrees F, but some of the ham was at 155 - we were suprised given how cool we cooked it at, but done is done. So we rotated the beast and put the hams under direct heat for 10 minutes, lifted the hood a bit, and got ready.

2:45. Showered, changed and shaved. Got the pig on the butcher block, put the nectarine in it's mouth, and covered it in foil.

3:00 2-3 stains later, changed my shirt again. :)

4:30 Pig is served. I cut the skin along the spine, down the shoulder and down the ham. One side of the pig just comes off, and I can get to business. Unfortunately, the skin is really, really tough. I was going to grill it, as Varmint suggested, but I coulnd't see how it could have been salvaged. Threw it out. If I've commited a sin, please forgive me oh Lord of Swine.

?? half the pig is carved, and a fellow food enthusiast offers to take the reins. Gratefully, I got a beer and started to eat.

The pork is great - juicy, rich and tasty. Not very smoky though, which suprised me, as I had it stoked with hickory and oak for a good long while... Maybe if I had gone with the firewood, as suggested here, it would have been better. Also, I didn't brine it (I know, I know). Still dang good though. Sides were well received - the preserved lemon that accompanied the hummus was a hit, as were the fennel-seed-cucumber pickles. Great vibe in the yard - kids running around, drawing chalk pictures, parents are relaxing and people are meeting people. Good fun.

It get blurrier from then on, but I'll say that the keg got killed, the party got raucus after that when people started drinking scotch instead of beer. Near the end, we had 4-5 guys with knives getting the rest of the pork of the bone, with flashlights. We were lucky that no-one lost a finger.

Again, thanks to everyone for all the advice and encouragment.

[Varmint]

You have taken the first steps in pigcookery, Grasshopper. With these baby steps, you have learned the basics and can consider now yourself a member of an exclusive club. Your training, Grasshopper, is only just beginning. You will learn about true wood-based pigcookery. You will learn that temperatures closer to 200 are better than those closer to 250. You will learn not to flip the pig until it's nearly cooked through. You will learn to pick the pig without the help of a knife. Yes, you have crossed a most important threshold, Grasshopper, but the journey has just begun.

Strong work.

[ronnie_suburban]

Sounds awesome. Thanks for the report and thanks again for the excellent pics.

=R=

[Mayhaw Man]

  Near the end, we had 4-5 guys with knives getting the rest of the pork of the bone, with flashlights. 

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This is EXACTLY the kind of detail that should be contained in all reports-pig pickin reports, police reports, whatever.

Sounds like you had a great time and I am pleased that it went so well. And it is the same way everywhere, I am happy to report, neighbors you have never met or barely know start showing up when you have a whole hog laying on a grill or a giant cutting board. How do they know?

Thanks for the pictures.

Brooks

[ianeccleston]

You will learn that temperatures closer to 200 are better than those closer to 250.  You will learn not to flip the pig until it's nearly cooked through.  You will learn to pick the pig without the help of a knife.  Yes, you have crossed a most important threshold, Grasshopper, but the journey has just begun.

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Thank you, Master. It was YOUR technique to flip the pig over after two hours, as posted in your pig pickin' thread. You too were a grasshopper once.

I did do some greasy pickin' without the knife, but the texture of the pork was more like roast pork - probably due to cooking it at too high of a temperature. Now I know.

This is EXACTLY the kind of detail that should be contained in all reports-pig pickin reports, police reports, whatever. 

Sounds like you had a great time and I am pleased that it went so well. And it is the same way everywhere, I am happy to report, neighbors you have never met or barely know start showing up when you have a whole hog laying on a grill or a giant cutting board. How do they know?

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I should also mention that the police DID come by. After setting off some fireworks for some very excited children, Evanston police showed up 1 minute after the smoke cleared. Remember, always answer "no", as I did, to any policeman that asks if you are setting off fireworks, even if it smells like sulphur, you are holding a lighter, and it is completely obvious that you are guilty as charged.

Other details along this line: a wasted friend telling me repeatedly that I still know how to "throw down", in appreciation of the party; drunken frisbee in the dark -think "where did it go?", foreheads, and "ouch!"

[Carolyn Tillie]

Ianeccleston, I think you have a new Avatar!!! Pig Kissing - a classic!

[ianeccleston]

Thanks MoIzBetta, Ronnie.

Carolyn, thanks for the advice.

[mklynch]

Why did you take out the eyes?

Did you at least keep them in a jar for Halloween?

[ianeccleston]

Why did you take out the eyes?

Did you at least keep them in a jar for Halloween?

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I threatened my wife that I was going to put them in vinegar and keep them in the medicine in the bathroom - I was too kind to surprise her with them, but it could have been fun...

[col klink]

Ianeccleston, I'm in love!

[ianeccleston]

Ianeccleston, I'm in love!   

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With my shoulders or my hams? ;)