Cooking a whole pig

[IslandTractor]

Cooking a Whole Pig Hawaiian Kalua Style

Yep. Tastes different than spit roasted pig. Both ways are excellent but the Kalua pig is pretty much fool proof (even if the beer is flowing) once the thing is buried. Your neighborhood grocery store may not have banana leaves but they are pretty easy to come by via internet etc.

 

[RobertN]

I have done 4 rotisserie pigs in the past. The first three times, a friend from the fire station had a rotisserie. The last time we rented one. A 100lb pig was kinda on the large size for the rotisserie we used. 75lb was about perfect.

We took 10 heads of garlic, cut the stemmy head off, then broke them up and got as much paper as we could easily, off. Quartered 8 jumbo red onions, and kinda broke them apart. Threw that in the cavity with a cup of rock salt, some rosemary, thyme, and sage. Then sewed the cavity closed with cooking yarn. Put it on the spit, then wrapped with chicken wire. Put the spit thru it, and put it over hot coals. Went thru about 100lbs of briquettes, plus some oak. Basted with beer(pale ale and stout...), and sprinkled with garlic powder. Every 15-20 minutes, especially as it was really cooking, we'd use pliers, and twist on the chicken wire to keep it tight around the pig. Sometimes had to rearrange coals so the thicker parts got more heat without burning the thinner parts of the pig.

A meat thermometer is nice to use.

8 or so hours later, it was awesome. Especially the ribs, and all those garlic cloves...

 

[nunyabinis]

Have you thought about just renting a whole-hog cooker? Here's a pig I cooked on mine:

Cook 5 hours at 300 degrees skin side up.
Flip hog.
Cook 2 hours at 300 degrees skin side down.
Pull meat off bones.
Using the skin as a serving tray, pile meat into four quadrants on the skin and put a different kind of BBQ sauce on each pile of meat.

I usually pour a mustard based sauce on one pile (my favorite), a tomato based sauce on another pile, a vinegar & pepper sauce on another and I usually leave one pile plain for folks that don't like sauces.


.

 

[toppop52]

First you need a really big frying pan....

 

[dmccarty]

First you need a really big frying pan....

Cast iron, stainless steel, or some sort of no stick pan?



Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Gotta tell ya, the one thing that is exceptional down in Miami is the Cuban-style Roast pig. Here is a link with some information about it:
How to Roast a Pig Cuban-style | eHow.com

It is the one thing I will miss not living here.

Back in school I knew a Cuban girl. Her family had a XMAS pig cookout one year. The cooked a small pig in the ground which was awesomely good. :thumbsup:

About the only thing I miss from South FLA is Cuban food. Cuban Bread, Cuban Sandwiches, etc. One summer I worked in Tampa and Publix of all places was baking really good Cuban bread. I ate Cuban sandwiches at work for lunch and Cuban bread for dinner.

Later,
Dan

 

[jmurray01]

All that pig talk is making me hungry - Luckily I'm eating a ham sandwich as I type this

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Besides, as long as I keep a keg nearby, I am sure to have lots of help with the project.

I have had trouble with alcoholics when I bought a keg. They wrap themselves around the tap and drink themselves into a stupor. I wish there was a gracious way to disinvite people who can't handle their booze.

 

[phiferpharm]

Back in school I knew a Cuban girl. Her family had a XMAS pig cookout one year. The cooked a small pig in the ground which was awesomely good. :thumbsup:

About the only thing I miss from South FLA is Cuban food. Cuban Bread, Cuban Sandwiches, etc. One summer I worked in Tampa and Publix of all places was baking really good Cuban bread. I ate Cuban sandwiches at work for lunch and Cuban bread for dinner.

Later,
Dan

Your right on target Dan, it will be one thing I'll have on the few occasions I have to come back to Miami after next week. One of my co-workers took me over to a walk-up called Papo Llega y Pon on 29 Street. They serve the lechon with some of the skin chopped up in the sandwich that is amazing.

 

[bullbreaker]

Your right on target Dan, it will be one thing I'll have on the few occasions I have to come back to Miami after next week. One of my co-workers took me over to a walk-up called Papo Llega y Pon on 29 Street. They serve the lechon with some of the skin chopped up in the sandwich that is amazing.

Good food but watch yourself around there espeicially when it turns dark !
If your friend lives there bring " HEAT". I know that area well.

Boone

Heat