Friday, June 20, 2008

Pig Roast 2008

Okay, I'm gonna have my hands pretty full for the next couple days, and have been in southern Oregon for the past two, so this is just a quickie This is What's Going On post. Also, Happy Birthday to my sexy genius husband!

We're roasting a whole 100-lb. pig tomorrow. It will be delivered tonight, whereupon I shall slash its skin and smear a dry rub all over the shoulders and hams, and will inject the remaining parts with a spiced brine solution. Overnight it will sit in our storage freezer (turned off), in its cozy little body bag (a mattress bag from U-Haul) under bags of ice.

Tomorrow we will start bright and early getting several bags of Cowboy Charcoal (lump mesquite from Trader Joe's) going in our chimney starter, and will line our hybrid Cuban-Hawaiian cooking pit (an aluminum-lined hole in the ground with a cinder block oven built around it) with glowing coals. We will layer these hot coals with apple, mesquite, hickory and cherry wood for smoke. I might throw some branches from our quince tree on there for good measure. Every hour or so, we will add another bag of hot coals and a handful or two of wood chips.

We are building a cage of sorts out of rebar and chicken wire to support the pig during cooking, which will be conducted over the hot coals rather than in them. This will require us to flip the pig once. This is what scares me the most.

I plan to have several feasting stations when it's all ready: one for Carolina-style (buns, vinegar sauce and slaw), tacos (hot sauce, cilantro, minced onion and tortillas), a banh mi station (some julienned jalapeño and cilantro, plus I already made my own do chua that is tasting really good) and the coup de grace: the Cuban. We are going to wrap a few of the hot bricks in foil and use them as a roughshod panini press to create the mother of all sammiches. We'll have our own ham (uncured, but still) and pork, and I will bust out a jar of quickles tonight. We even already have a wedge of Jarlsberg that needs eating.

Okay, that's it for now. I need to go find a marinade-injecting syringe and make room for ten bags of lump coal in my car. I'll update soon!

22 comments:

Jen said...

Wow, Heather! I'm exhausted just hearing about it. And hungry! Have a blast.

Syd said...

THAT is the way to party! DAMN!!

Do NOT forget pictures.

Brittany said...

Wait, you didn't say what time I should be there with my plate?

Peter M said...

Happy B-day to the the man who tolerates the Voodoo Lily and I await with much anticipation to see this Lord of Rings type of BBQ!

Tif said...

Wow, wow! I was thinking about doing something like this for my birthday party but eventually decided it would be too difficult. You guys rock in my book. Cheers on the birthday and double toasts for the ambitious and heroic roasting of the pig!

-tif

glamah16 said...

Damn girt. Where was my invite? I would have flown in for that. The Mr. too!Good Luck. Looking forward to the pictures.

cookiecrumb said...

Oh damn.
I don't even KNOW you anymore.
This is beyond beyond.

peter said...

I checked my mailbox three times today, and there's still no plane ticket. Did you send it fedex instead?

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

Oh. My. Good. Lord. Sounds like what happens at one of my family reunions. You give the pig a bed to sleep in one night and then roast the shit out of the the next. Happy roasting, girl. You are off the chain. The food chain, that is ;) But you already knew that!

Emily said...

Oh, wow. AmAzInG!
Can't wait to see the results!

Happy birthday to the husband!

Norm Schoen said...

Hey there,
I am trying to figure out what wine goes with all this tremendous pork product....my son said to bring cold beer (smart boy). If you need a side dish, some charcoal or and extra hand tomorrow give me a shout. We are bottling wine in the a.m. but my afternoon is free (you are my hero!)
Note to fellow bloggers: Since I live in Portland, I actually am invited to this extravaganza...love it when that happens!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

This sounds stressful but I can't wait to hear the results. Good luck, this sounds like it will be a great one!

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Damn Heather...my invite must have gotten lost!!! What time should I come? LOL!

Can't wait to see the results!

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

Please take photos! I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Anonymous said...

This sounds so freakin' AWESOME!
Can't wait to see more!

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

Wow. I'm impressed. I LOVE pig roasts. I have been to a couple of them. My brother has hosted some and I have a friend that does them once in a while, but it's been a long time. I'm envious and totally admiring of you (because I know it's a lot of work) at the same time.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Norm, I am as jealous as hell that you got to go! Hope the weather was lovely and I can't wait to see the pictures.

Anonymous said...

God that sound good. I just slow roasted a pork butt in green tea and smoked salt last night, but it's just not the same as doing it on the grill.

I wasn't able to make it to the restaurants you suggested (we were staying in Newberg and after an afternoon of wine tasting decided it would be a bad idea to drive back to Portland). We ended up at The Painted Lady which I wrote about in my latest post... Your Drouhin rec was spot on though and we checked out a few other wineries in the area too. Thanks!

Lore said...

Wow this sounds like fun but also a lot of work! I can see you've got it all thoroughly planned.

Happy b-day to your husband!

Can't wait for the updates.

~lifedramatic~ said...

Yeah, so okay, are there any leftovers?

I think DHL will let you ship with dry ice, don't they??

It sounds wonderful! Can't wait for pictures!

C

http://lifedramatic.spaces.live.com

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Wow this will be quite the adventure Heather.I have been to a few pig roasts but never really thought of all the preparation, etc necessary to pull it off. Kudos and happy birthday to hubbie:D

Anonymous said...

Holy fukamoly...that is super ambitious and simply super cool. Loved the linked "pussy cat" pics as well. Hilarious.