SC - pig roast

[SigridPW at aol.com]

oops!
I accidently sent this message before I was through!  Technology can be soooo
tricky!

A couple other pointers:

4) poke holes in the skin.  This serves two functions.  One, it keeps the fat
melting off, which makes your meat nice and moist without being greasy, and,
two, it will take care of that basting dilemma.... your piggy is virtually
self-basting!  

5)  As the pig cooks, the skin will draw up (shrink).  where it is closest to
bone, it will crack as the bone will be REALLY hot.  This is where hole-poking
is very important.  The second time I did one of these up (a 125 lb. guy!), I
had someone else turning the pig as I attended to some side dishes.  "A
quarter turn every quarter hour".  Well, 45 min. or so later, I came back, and
Mister Pig was still on his side as I had left him.  Cooking so long on one
side had caused the perforations to cook closed, unbeknownst to me, but the
skin had split all down said piggy's back.... I quickly turned the pig a
qurter turn so his feet were up in the air, and all the fat that had melted
while Mister Pig was on his side poured down onto the charcoal in a sheet.  It
was spectacular!  I was told the flames were about eight feet in the air!
Thankfully grease fires are short lived.   :o)

6) Just remember that cooking a pig in his skin is like cooking him wrapped in
foil.  You can do almost anything to the outside, and the inside will still be
wonderful.  The head is a little tricky.  If the ears, etc. start to look too
done, wrap them in foil.  As the feet cook the tendons will shorten and the
forelegs will curl up.  You can wrap these in foil, too since they have a
tendency to burn being so much closer to the fire.  And PLEASE us charcoal.  I
know of one group that tried to do this only they used live coals from a wood
fire in a single layer.  Not much heat there.  

A couple questions:

How big a pig are you cooking?
What kind of spit set-up do you have?
How much help do you have?
Are you responsible for more than the pig for this meal?

I've done 5 or 6 of these now, and pretty much have the bugs worked out.  If I
can offer any further assistence, please allow me to.  It would be my pleasure


Sigrid Pigwoman
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