SC - OT- How do you cook a pig? > LONG

[ChannonM at aol.com]

Hi list, here is some info I got off the net on roasting a pig, I was going 
to do one for an event but the cost was prohibitive.. Hope the info is 
helpful. Please note that I did not edit it for OOP content, you can 
substitute what you like. 
Hauviette

> Basic "How-To" for Hosting a
HOG ROAST:
Order your pig from a specialty meat packer, grocery store or local locker; 
often 7 days advance notice is necessary. You will also need a specially-made 
"hog cooker," a grill made to accommodate the large size of the butterflied 
hog.

Makes about 30-40 pounds of chopped pork, enough to serve 50-70 people:
· 1 75-100-pound dressed pig 
· .5 pound salt 
· 60 pounds charcoal briquets 
· Barbecue sauce 

Split backbone to allow pig to lay flat, being careful not to pierce skin. 
Trim and discard any excess fat. Sprinkle salt inside cavity. Set pig aside. 

Place 20 pounds of the charcoal in large grill; pour 1 quart charcoal lighter 
fluid over top and ignite. Let burn until charcoal has turned ash-grey. Place 
heavy gauge wire, about the size of the pig, over grill, 13 inches from 
coals. 
 
Place pig flat, skin side up, on wire surface. Close lid of cooker; cook at 
225 degrees F. for 6 hours, adding additional lighted coals as needed to 
maintain temperature in cooker. 
 
Place a second piece of wire over pig, sandwiching pig between the two layers 
of wire. Turn pig over; remove wire from top. Insert meat thermometer in 
thigh, do not touch bone. 
  
Baste meat with barbecue sauce; pour sauce in rib cavity to measure one inch. 
Close pork cooker lid; cook at 225 degrees F. for two more hours or until 
meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F. and no pink meat is visible when 
hams and shoulder are cut. 

Slice and chop meat; serve with barbecue sauce, sandwich buns, cole slaw, and 
your other favorite side dishes.
Tips:
· Allow about 1 .5 pounds carcass weight per person. 
· Do not exceed 225 degrees F. cooking temperature during the first two hours 
of cooking; the idea is to slowly cook the pig. 
· Temperature control is more difficult in an open grill; allow for 1 hour of 
cooking time per 10 pounds of pig. 
· Additional coals started in a small grill outside of the cooker should be 
added as needed to maintain proper temperature. 
· Distribute more coals under the shoulders and hams and less in the center 
for more uniform cooking. 
· Allow two quarts of barbecue sauce per 75 pounds of pork. 
Equipment For Making the Job Easier:
· Specially-made hog cooker 
· Extra small grill or "burn barrel" for starting coals 
· Squirt container of water for possible heat source flare-ups 
· Knife, cleaver, chopping block for chopping roasted hog (a new, clean 
garden hoe does this job well) 
· Thick rubber gloves for handling the hog 
· Two pieces of wire approximately 3 .5-feet x 4-feet to be used for turning, 
sturdy enough to support carcass weight 

Cuts of pork
 
· Remove the hind foot with a cut through the tuber calcis. Remove the front 
foot with a cut that is just distal to the ulna and radius. 
· Remove the leg with a cut that starts between sacral vertebrae 2 and 3 and 
which is then directed towards the tensor fascia lata. 
· The cutting line is then changed so that most of the tensor fascia lata is 
incorporated into the leg. 
· The butt and picnic are removed together as a shoulder, by a cut that is 
that is perpendicular to the vertebral column and which starts between 
thoracic vertebrae 2 and 3. The butt is separated from the picnic by a cut 
that skims past the ventral region of the cervical vertebrae at a tangent. 
This keeps the top of the picnic relatively square. 
· The jowl is removed from the picnic with a cut that follows the crease 
lines in the skin. 
· The remainder of the side of pork is split into the loin and belly by a 
curved cut that follows the curvature of the vertebral column. One end of the 
curve is just ventral to the ilium, the other end is just ventral to the 
blade of the scapula. 
· The loin 
may be divided into a continuous sequence of chops. From anterior to 
posterior these are the 
· rib chops, 
· center loin chops and 
· tenderloin chops.
They can all be cooked satisfactorily by dry heat. Alternatively, the 
thoracic, lumbar and iliac regions may be left intact as large roasts, 
 
· the rib end roast, 
· center loin roast and 
· tenderloin end roast.
· The psoas muscles may be removed from the lumbar region to make tenderloin, 
and the longissimus dorsi and adjacent small muscles may be removed from the 
vertebral column, and rolled and tied to make boned and rolled loin roast. 
· A crown roast can be made by twisting the thoracic vertebral column into a 
circle so that the stumps of the ribs radiate outwards like the points of a 
crown. This facilitates the rapid carving and distribution of portions at a 
banquet. 
· The longissimus dorsi may be cured and smoked to make Canadian Style bacon 
or (as it is more often called within Canada) peameal bacon and back bacon. 
· The rib cage plus its immediately adjacent muscles are removed from the 
belly to make the spare ribs. 
· The remaining muscles of the abdomen, together with those that overlap the 
ribcage for their insertion, constitute the side of pork. Side of pork may be 
cured and smoked to make slab bacon. 
· The picnic may be sliced to make picnic shoulder chops through the humerus, 
or it can be partly subdivided to make picnic shoulder roasts. Picnic 
shoulder roasts may be boned and rolled, or smoked and cured in a variety of 
ways. 
· The butt, or Boston butt, is usually divided into a number of blade steaks 
that are cut from dorsal to ventral through the scapula. The more anterior 
part then forms a butt roast. 
· The leg may be subdivided to create, from proximal to distal, the butt end 
roast and the shank end roast. Alternatively, the leg may be cured and smoked 
to make ham. 
 
· The feet, the hocks, the knuckles and the tail can be baked or cooked in 
liquid and consumed enthusiastically with a large quantity of draft beer