Monday, June 2, 2008

Come to a Pig Roast!

Have you ever been to a pig roast? We have been to lots of them. It's a great way to feed large crowds of people. We have neighbors who host a pig roast every fall.

Today I'm going to take you along to Kody's graduation party. He's the son of our friends and former business associates, Ken and Leslie. They are terrific hosts and we always have a good time at their home.

A pig roast is quite an effort. It takes planning and commitment. First of all, unless you have the equipment (it's expensive), you're going to need to rent a large roaster. Here's the one that Ken was using:

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These things are very large. They're on wheels so they can be towed by a car or truck. Ken is pulling some of the meat off for a taste test. If you look closely you can see the circular wheel that turns the spit. You can also see that the pig is up high, away from the direct heat of the coals. This ensures a very slow roast.

The uncooked weight of the hog was 215 pounds!!! Most roaster spits can only hold a little over 100 lbs. but this is a special set-up, it's a very heavy duty cage that is held together with bolts. Cody is checking the pig to make sure it's done.

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The pig normally takes at least 12 hours. It's not something you put on the fire and walk away from. It requires attention since coals need to be added as the old ones die down.

Now they'll remove the bolts and lift off the cover, revealing the roasted pig.

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Ken dons his black plastic bag and the guys begin to process the meat. That's a special table that has a u-shaped channel in the center to hold the pig. There are flat cutting boards on each side for cutting the meat.

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I takes quite awhile. I laughed at Ken and the boys because they'd gone out the day before to buy these silicone gloves, but forgot to remove the tags!

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Look at this huge pan of pork. How many pans do you think were filled at the end of the processing?

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Did you guess FOUR? Yes, four large pans totally full. That's a lot of meat.

Guess who was under the table, waiting for something to drop?

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Unbelievably, the very large dog (part Pit Bull?) was not interested in this at all. I found that strange.

What was happening inside the house? The first pan of pork was ready for serving.

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Our hostess Leslie covered the island with an enormous amount of food including deviled eggs, potato salad, pasta salad, zucchini squares, buns and a bunch of different barbecue sauces.

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Look what came out of the oven. Next to yet another pan of pork are the baked beans! They're topped with lots of bacon, of course.

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It was all unbelievably delicious. We were stuffed. What appears next but a large cake. There's Kody. He's a great kid. Pretty cute too. You gotta love a kid that will pose with his cake.

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Here's a video that shows them lifting the pig out of the cooker. I'm laughing because halfway through this video I chastise the Farmer for walking in front of the camera.

"I'm making a movie here," I tell him.

AS IF I'M SPIELBERG OR SOMETHING! HA.



There are lots of pig roast videos on You Tube. This is a tradition all over the globe. Each area has a different way of cooking the pig, some bury it in the ground and some have different variations on the spit theme.

I hope you enjoyed the party. I'd love to know if you've every attend a pig roast or if you've hosted one yourself. Do you have a different tradition for serving big crowds?

11 comments:

Vee said...

Nooooo, we don't do pig roasts, but it sure does look wonderful. We do baked beans in a pit or lobster bakes on the beach.

Thanks for sharing...now I really do need some breakfast.

Thirkellgirl said...

I've been to one pig roast years ago, and it looked pretty much like yours. Around here, bull roasts are popular fundraisers for fire companies, etc. We just had pulled pork bbq at our daughter's graduation shindig a few weeks ago, smothered with vinegary bbq sauce, served with Old Bay-spiced red potato salad (if you've never tried Old Bay let me know and I'll send you some!), bbq beans (spicier rather than sweet, with red peppers), and peppery bbq chicken. (I suppose it sounds like we all like spice, huh?)

Suzanne said...

LOBSTER BAKES???? Oh my gosh. Now I'm really hungry.

Thirkellgirl - Bull roasts? That sounds really good. I love pulled pork. They served regular BBQ sauce but I love that vinegary kind that is popular in the south. Thanks for the offer of Old Bay. My best friend lives in Ocean City, Maryland so she's sent me huge containers of the stuff. I love to use it as seasoning. She also sends me boxes of my favorite - OLD BAY POTATO CHIPS. Everyone, if you have tried them, these are the best potato chips ever!

Lil_Birdie said...

I went to one of these when I lived in Miami .
The pig was cooked Cuban style covered in banana leaves and roasted in a huge pit made of CBS blocks . Tasted great but it's a lot a work .

life in red shoes said...

Mmmm, looks yummy. And as usual the music is a flashback!

Paula B. said...

fun pics! I've never been to a pig roast, much less hosted one. I did attend a bear roast in MN once...young bear, roasted in similar way...filled with oranges and lemons to remove the game-y flavor. I gotta say, it was the BEST meat I have ever eaten. Who'd a thunk it?! Yum...

BittersweetPunkin said...

I've never been to a pig roast! Lots of lobster bakes and fish frys and BBQ...I will have to try a pig roast...looks like great fun!!

Sorry about the recent theft...I keep everything locked stocked and barreled....those darn kids!
Hugs,
Robin

Anonymous said...

I've never been to a pig roast but it looks like great fun. And why did the thought cross my mind, wondering who cleans the pig roaster? Do the men carry through and do it or is it women's work? The only time I hosted a party for 150 people, I provided a huge ham, an enormous salad and a gigantic birthday cake and asked each guest to bring a favorite dish. Many people were undone at first because I wouldn't specify salad or dessert of main dish. It all worked out beautifully.

Suzanne said...

lil birdie - I've had that also. Somehow those greasy banana leaves just gross me out. But it is delicious.

Red Shoes - I love this song. I was just searching playlist with the words "barbecue" or "picnic" and bingo, there it was.

Paula - A BEAR ROAST?? Oh gosh. Now I've heard it all. A bull roast and a bear roast. I've been told that bear meat is really good. It got alot of backwoods people through the winter. There is alot of grease involved though.

Punkin - Yet another lobster roast. I'm dying here - a thousand miles from the ocean and affordable lobster. I'm just going to have to go to Outback this Friday night and order filet with lobster just to satisfy my longing for it. Although I'm pretty sure it tastes nothing like fresh lobster roasted in the open air. Yum.

Plain Jane - I don't have any clue who cleans it, but when I first saw that huge contraption I thought the very same thing. Probably because if it was around here it would fall to me. This unit was rented and my guess is that there's a cleaning charge and that they just attack the whole thing with a power washing unit.

Thanks everyone for joining us at the pig roast. Too bad they haven't invented smell-a-blog.

- Suzanne

Rue said...

Hi Suzanne :)

I forgot what I was going to say, now that I read the words "bear roast".... Um... ewwww. LOL

Oh yeah... I've been to a pig roast, but I never looked at the pig roasting. Some things are better left unknown when I'm going to be eating it ;)

rue

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pig roast. Looks a lot like ours - we have them all the time (we're pig farmers) - we roast a pig for every happy occasion like weddings and graduations and such. Our roaster is quite the low-tech, homemade affair though - doesn't have a rotating spit. Ours is a barrel, cut in half longways and hinged, with a metal grate to hold the pig and a lower drawer to hold the coals. Pig has to be turned manually every so often.