Yuuuuuuum!

Second picture took me a few tries to figure out!

It does look good. Haven’t had pig roast in a while.

Ricky, this is "off topic" but you have an email coming at ya!

Smiles,

Sooz

Very impressive, Ricky!

Most whole hog BBQ I have seen are done rotisserie style.

Questions:

1. What kind of fire did you use?

2. What are those 4 "balls" under the hog?

3. What happened to the other half of the hog?

Thanks for sharing.

dcarch

2. That’s the one that I got hung up on. Cabbage.

Cabbage?? And here I thought they looked like something so awful I can't even say it. But the pig looks delicious. The only time I've ever had whole hog was when my sister got one of those metal boxes that the Latinos use here in Florida, best pork I've ever had but they know how to do it with all the flavors that they use in and on the meat.

I had no idea this was happening until I got there, so a lot of what you see was improvised. It was a half a hog and no head (no cheeks, damn!) In order to keep all the fluids in the body cavity, Sean cut a couple of heads of cabbage in half and wedged them under the body so that the rib cage and the cut spine would be level.

Rita - La Caja China is the metal box you've seen in South Florida. It's an amazing cooker, but it's not a smoker. I've had hog from them several times over the years and even considered buying one

DC - it was cooked on a modified Lang 84 with oak and all-natural charcoal.

Ricky - Since you’re familiar with La Caja China, perhaps you can answer something I’ve been wondering for a long time: Is it effectively just an oven that can hold a lot? Since the heat comes from above a metal lid, I’m assuming there’s no inherent wood/charcoal/smoke/bbq flavor to it?

foas - you are correct. It's a convection oven that gets REALLY hot and very fast. The internal temperature, that you have no control over, gets to almost 700 degrees and no smoke flavor reaches the meat.

La Caja China website

Here in the South it's called a Pig Pickin'.

Yeah - it's not like smoked BBQ - if you know a Caribbean Hispanic that knows the ropes with these things, by all means make friends, it's to die for pork. They use all the spices and citrus juices (like sour orange) that makes this so succulent. And the one my sister had didn't hold anything bigger than a suckling pig.

Ricky, that does look good.

My oldest daughter, Amanda, had a pig roast at her wedding reception but it was a whole hog, done over a rotisserie, complete with cheeks. It was really good and there was none left, unfortunately.

Annie

He's enjoying this way too much. Makes me wish I was there .... *grin*

I'm soooooo envious......

Thx for the pix and the details!

Our country club had a whole pig roast every 4th of July for a lot of years. They had an oil barrel cooker with a rack and sort of a "thing" so the pig could be turned over.
My son worked at The Club summers when he was in college.....and tells of arriving very early to help set up the pig roast, definitely feeling the effects of the night before....and being given the task of sawing the trotters off the pig....
That was a cookie tossing event!

lol, Linda, cookie tossing, for sure!

I've only had whole roast pig once at a wedding reception a couple years ago. Good grief it was good!

My SIL was married to a Greek guy and they'd roast a whole lamb each Greek Easter. Some of the best I've ever had. As I recall, they considered the head a delicacy. :-/